Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
Love is hugging.
I glided into the living room and spun in a circle to show off my yellow polka-dot skirt.
I’d paired it with a wide-collared white sweater that hung off one shoulder, and the wedges that added an extra two inches to my height.
I wanted to look like I cared, especially since this was the first of the three blind dates Ali and Mae had arranged for me.
Honestly though, my heart wasn’t in it. I hadn’t been joking when I said I was ready to give up dating. After a nice, long break, maybe my man picker would recalibrate.
“Okay, O, what do you think? On a scale of one to ten, how’s this for a first date outfit?” Yes, I was asking my six-year-old for fashion advice. He’s been my right-hand man his entire life. Who else would I ask?
But Oliver wasn’t sitting on the couch where I’d left him with his encyclopedia of dinosaurs.
Nope, he was over by the window next to Gil who was on his knees trying to pry the window open.
It was one of many in this house that had been painted shut.
Since moving in, Gil had been on a mission to fix them.
Something about a fire hazard, but I’d been too busy staring to listen.
Gil and Oliver had developed a bit of a relationship over the last couple of weeks.
If Gil made an appearance, Oliver was sure to be following him around.
For his part, Gil was good with him, patient and soft-spoken.
It was sweet to see the two of them with their heads bent over a dinosaur book or Oliver standing by while Gil calmly explained how he fixed the toilet. No, no, that wasn’t the problem.
The problem was that Gil was wearing his toolbelt.
That’s not some weird euphemism. It was a real toolbelt. Bright yellow and slung low on his hips and full of tools. Hammers and wrenches and screwdrivers, oh my.
That man knew how to use all of them.
Oliver was enamored. He’d even asked for his own toolbelt for his birthday. Not that I blamed him. I might have followed Gil around a time or two. Secretly watching him fix things had become a weird new hobby of mine.
The other day he used a wireless drill and…phew. I wanted to fan myself just thinking about it. I may have discovered a latent obsession with handymen.
Both swung their heads in my direction.
“Oh, um, Gil, I didn’t know you were here.” Did my voice sound a little breathless?
He stood slowly. “Thought I’d work on a few things tonight.”
“I, ah, have a date with…” What had Ali said his name was? I couldn’t remember a single detail about him suddenly. “Oliver, we need to go in a few minutes so I can drop you off.”
“Mommy, you look very pretty,” Oliver said, after inspecting me from head to toe. “Mr. Gil, doesn’t Mommy look pretty?”
I laughed, twisting my hands at my waist. “Buddy, Mr. Gil doesn’t need?—”
Gil settled his hands on his hips, right above that toolbelt. His eyes traveled down the length of me, leaving a tingling trail in their wake. “Very pretty.”
“You don’t have to sa?—”
Gil’s head tilted. He wasn’t exactly smiling, a facial expression that, I was learning, was not common for him. “I never say anything I don’t mean. A man’s word is his promise. Right, Oliver?” He held a fist out.
“Right.” Oliver fist-bumped him. “We say what we meaned and we meaned what we say. We learned that in our Man Club.”
“Your what?”
“It’s a club for us guys to talk about guy stuff. Like when you go and see the aunts and talk about girl stuff.” Oliver puffed his chest out. “I need a club for being a man. I’m the president. Mr. Gil is the vice president.”
“Oh, really?”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about all this.
Oliver had never seemed all that interested in knowing about his dad.
I knew one day he would be, of course. At the very least, there would be questions.
Chris and my dad had done a great job stepping up as role models and Oliver loved his Uncle Chris and his Papa.
But I’d never seen him become attached to a man unrelated to us, except for Ollie.
Oliver had adored Ollie, and the feeling had been mutual.
My phone rang. I scooped it off the coffee table and answered. “Hey, you’re on speakerphone.”
“Can’t. Watch. Oliver,” my brother said.
“Why do you sound like you’re running a marathon? Is everything okay? Is it the baby?”
“Yes. I mean, no, but yes.”
I heard someone shouting in the background. “Is that Mae? Where are you?”
“We’re at the hospital and—” His voice became muffled, but I could clearly hear him say, “Yes, I’ll put it on speakerphone. Calm down.”
Mae’s voice was loud and clear when he did just that. “…did not tell me to calm down.”
“It was an accident.”
“An accident? Like the one that will happen to you when you disappear?”
“I panicked, okay? I’ve never had a pregnant wife. I promise I won’t say it next time.”
“Next time? Nope. We’re going to be a one-and-done family. We’re getting separate beds after this. In separate bedrooms. Maybe in separate houses.”
“Aw, Sprinkles. It’s not so bad, is it?”
There was a loud clatter and, if I were a betting woman, I would say Chris had just had a projectile of some kind thrown at him.
“Hey, hello,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“She thought she was having those fake contractions,” Chris said.
“Braxton Hicks,” Mae said. “That’s what they’re called.”
“Yeah, those. But then they didn’t go away like they usually do and so we called and the doctor told us to head to the hospital,” Chris said. “Since she’s still four weeks from her due date, the doctor gave her something to stop the contractions. They’re keeping her overnight just in case.”
“Oh, bummer,” I said.
Mae groaned. “I cannot wait for this kid to get out of me.”
“I wanted to call and let you know we can’t watch the O-Man tonight.”
“Oh, right.” I glanced at the time. “It’s not too late to cancel. No big deal.”
“No!” Mae shouted. “You are not allowed to cancel.”
“I can’t take Oliver with me on a date,” I said. Although judging by my previous dating experience, Oliver would be a much better companion.
“Someone in town can watch him. Call Iris.”
“The last time your sister watched him, she put red streaks in his hair, let him stay up too late and eat as much ice cream as he wanted. Which he puked up at two in the morning. Hard pass.”
I turned and smiled at Oliver, but he was deep in conversation with Gil, their two heads pressed together as they whispered.
“I’m sure someone’s around. What about Susie next door?”
Susie Alcorn was in her late seventies and blinder than a bat wearing noise-canceling headphones. Also, she hated kids. Even Oliver, who was the best kid in the world. “Not happening.”
Gil nodded at something Oliver said and straightened, his toolbelt jangling merrily. Had he grown several inches since I met him? I was sure he’d been shorter. But even with my wedges on, he was taller than me. Maybe that toolbelt had secret powers.
“Let me think,” Mae said.
“It’s fine. I can reschedule. Oliver and I will have a movie night, or something.” And to be honest, an evening of secretly watching Gil fix things wasn’t the worst thing that could happen.
“I’ll watch him,” Gil said.
I shook my head and waved him off.
“It’s no problem. I’ll keep him busy.”
“Who said that?” Mae asked. “Is it Gilbert? Say yes, you dummy. Then run out the door.”
“That’s nice of you to offer but it’s Friday,” I said. “You always leave for the weekend on Fridays.”
He shrugged. His hand settled on the handle of the hammer in his toolbelt. I forced myself not to look. “I’ll leave early tomorrow. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“No. You clearly have plans. I don’t want to inconvenience you.”
It only took him three long strides to reach me. Gently, he pulled the phone from my hand, his fingers brushing mine, and spoke into it. All the while his gaze never left mine. “I’ll watch Oliver tonight.”
“Hey, Gilbert,” my brother said. “That would be great.”
“It’s no problem.”
“I’ll owe you one,” Chris said.
Gil’s eyes crinkled in the corners—a not-smile smile.
No, I thought, I think I’d be the one to owe him something. I just wondered what it was he’d want.