6. Mia
6
MIA
“ I don’t know, kiddo.” I winced at the restaurant up ahead. I’d never been here, but I knew what kind of place it was. In short, expensive. It was also a sought-after place for romantic dates.
Henry claimed it wasn’t a date, but I wondered if this Ann woman thought otherwise.
“Come on,” Jason urged, tugging on my hand. He skipped, grinning from ear to ear as I swung him with our joined hands. “Daddy said we should meet him and then go play at the arcade.”
That’s what I get for agreeing to put that call on speakerphone. I regretted letting Jason listen in to my call to his dad. In hindsight, it might have been smarter to have an adult conversation first.
“I know, but…”
But what if he is enjoying his night out? What if Ann is a woman he wants as a partner to grow old with?
All day, I let Eddie’s comment get to me. I knew he hadn’t said it to disparage me. He thought highly of me—as a Dunn secretary. Still, hearing such a cast off like that stung.
“We’re almost there,” Jason said, his voice louder with excitement. “I see him. I see him! Daddy!” He waved his free hand, using his whole body to emphasize his enthusiasm. When he tugged on my hand, I held on tighter, always afraid of him getting this close to the curb. He’d grown up in New York City, unlike me, a transplant from upstate. Jason inherently had more street smarts than I did, in a way, but I couldn’t switch off this maternal-like fear of him darting out or getting hurt.
Henry stood from a seat in the outdoor dining area. Waving back—without putting his whole sexy body into the motion in a childish manner like Jason did—he smiled and watched us come closer.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this. No one came here to eat and not call it a date. I never dated, lacking the time to do so while holding down two jobs. I also never wanted to date, secretly clinging to the fantasy that Henry was the only man I’d ever want. But even I knew this place was simply where couples dined out for a romantic evening.
Sure enough, when we came to their table, I saw evidence in the flesh. Ann had to be the blonde sitting across from Henry. In a chic white summer dress, her hair perfect, makeup on point, she glowered at me like a porcelain doll. An angry one. She flicked her haughty gaze from me, to Jason, then back to me. One look from her clarified that she disapproved. She couldn’t be pleased about us interrupting, but more than that, her scalding sneer made me feel less-than and frumpy. I debated my short khaki skirt and the bright blue and green blouse. The bangles on my wrist seemed cheap now, not fun. And the dangling beads that got snared in my hair probably looked ridiculous among all these fine and elegant diners.
“Excuse me, the hostess stand is?—”
“Oh, no.” Ann lost her pissy look and smiled demurely as she held a up hand to the waiter. “They’re not getting a table. They’re not staying.”
“It’s our game night,” Henry said as Jason jumped up into his arms.
My heart melted at the sight of their tight hug.
Ann huffed. “But we ?—”
“Hey, it’s cool,” I interrupted, smiling quickly at the waiter too. “We’re not staying. She’s right.”
Henry nodded, smiling at Jason. “Ready for skee ball?”
“You’ll never beat Mia,” Jason argued playfully, and loudly. More than a few diners glanced at his outburst, and I caught the sight of Ann glowering at me again.
This was no place for a rambunctious kid. And it was no place for a third wheel like me, either. “Listen, I’ll take Jason home,” I offered, smiling at Henry and wanting to melt all over again at the soft expression he gave me. “Then we can order pizza and hang out until you’re done with this date.”
“Aw, man,” Jason pouted, squirming to be put down.
Henry lowered him, still looking at me. “It’s not a date.”
I did my best to ignore Ann shooting daggers at me with her spiteful eyes. As long as Henry had his back to her, she’d carry on giving me the clear message that she thought this was a date.
“I wanna go play skee ball, Daddy.”
“Then we will.” I scooped him into a hug and a quick spin, risking the distraction with so many tables close together. My trick worked. He laughed and squealed.
“I’ll take you to skee ball, okay? Then next week, he won’t have any hope to beat either of us.”
“Yeah!” Jason held his hand out for a fist bump.
“We can set up another time to get to know each other,” Ann told Henry, her tone sugary and sweet.
“No.” Henry sighed, glancing at me and Jason, then back at her. “You’re not here to get to know me.”
Henry, don’t be so dumb. Wake up and open your eyes. She thinks she is.
“You’re here to get to know the city.” He signaled for the check. “I told my father I’d show you around, so I may as well get to that now. I can show you the area where you said you’re interested in buying a place.”
“Oh. Well, there’s no rush to leave and?—”
“No, I said I’d show you around, so I will.”
I pulled my lips in and fought the urge to grin. I knew that tone. I recognized that no-nonsense manner of Henry trying his best not to say this is how it’s going to be . He was a take-charge man. He had to be as the CEO of a huge business. And he wasn’t shy to have control in his personal life as well.
He was acting like he did when he wanted to get an annoying task over with.
“I’ll take him home, then,” I said again, hugging Jason to me as we backed up to leave.
“Thank you, Mia.” He signed the check but glanced up to smile at us. “I’ll see you at home, Jace.”
I sighed, leaving before the waiter or hostess would come back and harass me to get lost again. Disappointment filled me, swarming in with the ache that Henry had chosen to stay with Ann instead of going to the arcade with me and Jason. We did it every week. It wasn’t like the opportunity wouldn’t come back. Still, it was our thing, and I hated to be a secondary person in his life.
He’s your boss. You’re not supposed to be a person in his life. Just a staff member at his office.
Jason groaned as I carried him. “Why’s he gotta stay with that cranky lady?”
I smiled, turning so he could crawl behind me and I could carry him piggyback style. “Don’t call her cranky.”
“Do you know her?”
“No. But it’s not nice to label people.”
He sighed, sounding so much older than his seven years. “I know. But she looked cranky!”
She looked pissed off. Threatened. I rolled my eyes at the irony.
Pull your claws back in, cranky Ann. No threat from the woman who’s just an employee, standing in as a babysitter.
“Well, we’re not cranky. Let’s go have some fun.” I hopped in my step, then did a silly sidestep around a garbage can. Hearing Jason laughing and feeling him hold on tight chased away the irritation of Ann’s attitude toward me. This little boy could always make me feel lighter. He had the power to turn all my frowns upside down, and that was just what we did at the arcade.
Over pizza and ice cream, we goofed off and played our favorite games. He beat me at skee ball, only because I wanted him to win half of the games we played. Jason was good company, and by the end, as we checked our ticket count on our cards, I realized how different it felt without Henry here. He always teased us about having a faulty count, even though a computer did the tallying. Jason must have felt his absence too and missed his silly joke because he looked at me with a frown. “Mia? How come you never go on dates? Like Daddy is with Cranky Ann?”
I laughed, trying not to. “We can’t call her that,” I reminded him.
“You started it.”
“I think you did.”
“We both did.” Setting his hands on his hips, he shrugged. “We gotta face the facts. She looked cranky.”
I mussed up his hair. “Okay, but that’s not nice to say.”
“All right. All right. But why don’tcha?”
“Go on dates?” I asked as the arcade worker, Penni, handed back our cards.
“Not bad, little man.” Penni winked at Jason. “Better luck next week, Mia.”
I shrugged. I hadn’t played my best, too distracted with the same thing that was on Jason’s mind—Henry being out with Ann.
“What about Henry?” she asked.
“He’s on a date,” Jason piped up.
Penni arched a brow, looking at me. “Oh. I thought…” She shook her head, familiar with us coming every week but clearly reading the situation incorrectly if she assumed Henry was “with” me.
Jason and I left, but on the walk to his home, he asked again. “How come you don’t go on dates? Grandpa worries that you’ll never find someone to ‘settle down’ with.” He frowned. “What does it mean to settle down? Like a cat curling up in a circle to lie down in a bed?”
I smiled. “Sort of. It’s complicated.”
“I can’t wait for you to get a cat! Daddy’s never going to let me have a dog.”
The current hope we had was that as soon as I moved into a different building that allowed pets, I’d finally get a cat like I’ve always wanted. Jason already put first dibs on visiting rights.
“Is you not going on dates complicated?” he asked, switching from animals to dates. He was prone to jumping around in conversations, like most kids were, I imagined.
Shrugging, I counted on another distraction to avoid answering. I lifted him into my arms and he crawled around to get another piggyback. “What isn’t complicated?” I didn’t want to answer a child’s question with a question, but I wasn’t sure how to tell this boy that I didn’t date because I wished I could date his daddy, my boss.
“But Grandpa worries you’ll be alone forever.”
Talk about a vote of confidence—not. Still, I was amused. Eddie was like the dad I never had, but I laughed off his concern.
“Forever is a long time,” I reminded Jason.
“I don’t want you to be alone.”
I laughed, looking up at him. “I’m not. How can I be when I’ve got you?” Then I skipped and hurried, letting his laughter and squeals of excitement erase the depressing thoughts that I might end up alone after all.
Because if I had my heart set on my boss, on Henry, I was in for a long duration of not getting what I wanted.