65. Chapter 65
Chapter 65
On Sunday morning, as Paige was getting Sputnik his breakfast, her phone alerted her to an incoming text from David.
DAVID: Jacob and I would really like it if you could join us today at noon in Monterey Park for a picnic. We’re looking for new stomping grounds.
The invitation had her feeling somewhat conflicted, and ironically, she wondered if this was how David had felt, when he’d been hesitant to spend time with her.
Before she could respond, he texted again.
This time it was a selfie of David and Jacob both wearing pleading expressions, with Jacob in front of David, his hands clasped in prayer. It was cheesy and so staged that it couldn’t help but make her smile, even through the subtext at looking for a new park because the old favorite had been badly tarnished, made her want to frown.
In the end, even though Jacob was likely being shamelessly used to tug on her heartstrings, she relented.
PAIGE: Okay. I’ll meet you there.
DAVID: Really? That’s great.
PAIGE: Can I bring anything?
DAVID: Just yourself.
The weather was unseasonably nice for December—sunny, with just a mild chill in the air, so Paige dressed in jeans and a sky blue, fleece zip-up hoody over a white shirt.
She found David sitting on a blanket off to one side of the main playground, which had the typical assortment of slides, swings, jungle-gyms, and a giant sandbox. There were kids everywhere, and it took her a few moments to locate Jacob, who was climbing like a monkey up some kind of netting made of rope to get to a raised, wooden fort.
When David saw her approaching, he got to his feet and gave her a kiss on the cheek, which surprised her a little bit. Had he forgotten already that she was mad at him?
“Thank you for coming,” he said as they sat down.
“You’re welcome.”
She set the small bag she’d brought next to her on the blanket, and looked David over. His hair was down and slightly windblown—damn him—and he was wearing her favorite cargo pants and a long-sleeved, thermal Henley. She was thinking about how unfair it was for him to look this good when she saw his heavily bandaged hand, and the image of her slamming the door on it ran through her head, making her flinch.
“Are you sure that’s not broken?” she asked.
“It’s just bruised,” he assured her. As promised, he’d gone to Urgent Care where x-rays had been taken and determined his hand was only badly bruised. “But the doctor wants me to keep it bandaged and immobile for a few days.”
“How are you going to work?”
“I’ll be doing what I can, and my assistant, Kim, will pick up the slack.”
After a long beat, she murmured, “I’m sorry. Oh, my God.”
He chuckled softly. “It’s okay. Really. I might need you to cut the sandwiches I brought, though.”
Paige covered her face with both hands for a long moment, and when she removed them, it was to find that David had moved closer to her.
“At the risk of sounding extremely creepy, um … what perfume are you wearing?” he asked in a low voice, leaning into her space. “It smells good.”
“I can’t remember the name of it,” she said, resisting the urge to scoot her ass a few inches to the left and re-establish the distance she’d initially put between them. But she had a feeling if she did, the next time she glanced away, he’d be right next to her again, and that could go on all afternoon, the two of them scooting around on the blanket like idiots.
He gave her a skeptical look. “You can’t remember the name of your perfume? I don’t believe you.”
“Why would I lie about that? Don’t you forget things?”
He ignored her second question. “I think you’re lying because you’re embarrassed to tell me the truth.”
“What truth would that be?”
“That it’s called ‘Passion’s Flame’ or something like that.”
She moved a few inches to the left, unable to stop herself. “It’s not called ‘Passion’s Flame’.”
“How do you know? You said you couldn’t remember the name.”
“Okay, well, I remember that isn’t the name. I would never buy anything called ‘Passion’s Flame’, no matter how good it smelled.”
He shifted, bringing them close together again. “I know you know what’s it called, so just tell me.”
She pursed her mouth. “Fine. But you cannot give me shit. Promise? And I mean promise on your life.”
“I promise on my life.”
“Actually, you need to promise on your balls.”
“That seems excessive, but okay. I promise on my balls.”
“It’s called … ‘Fantasy’.”
He smirked, and then quickly tried to hide it.
“You promised on your balls,” she reminded him.
“I know,” he quickly agreed. “But I think I’m missing part of the story. What are you not telling me about this perfume?”
“It’s from Britney Spears, all right?”
David chuckled, unable to help himself.
She glared at him. “You promised on your balls.”
“I’m laughing, not giving you shit. Two different things.”
A whisper of a breeze teased her with the scent of his cologne, and she resisted the almost physical pull toward him by focusing on Jacob, who was cruising down a slide. As he landed feet first in the sand, spraying it everywhere, he looked over and saw Paige sitting with David. She gave him a wave, which he returned before running over.
“Hi, Jacob,” she greeted him when he got to the blanket and sat down. Like David, Jacob was also wearing cargo pants, only his were adorned with an army green camouflage print—and that, coupled with his buzzed hair made him look like a tiny soldier.
It was adorable.
“Hi, Paige,” he returned, cheeks pink from his exertions. Then, turning to David, he announced, “I’m hungry.”
David had packed quite a picnic lunch, with sandwiches, chips, apple slices, granola bars, and even potato salad. There were also bottles of water, juice boxes, and a couple cans of Dr. Pepper, one of which Paige immediately popped open.
While they ate, David hung back and watched Paige and Jacob interact, almost in a repeat of their first meal together. The conversation flowed fast, veering all over the place as Jacob kept up an impressive chatter about mostly nonsensical stuff, and it was clear by her smiles and laughter that Paige was enjoying herself. What was more apparent to David, though, was Jacob’s enjoyment. He, too, was smiling and laughing, but more importantly, appeared to be basking in Paige’s attention, and it struck David that the only other woman Jacob had responded to like this was Valerie.
When they were done eating, Paige leaned toward Jacob. “Did you leave room for dessert?”
Jacob nodded enthusiastically and reached for a granola bar.
Paige gave him an exaggerated Are you crazy? look. “That’s a snack, not dessert,” she said, reaching into the bag she’d brought and pulling out three Moon Pies, giving them each one with a flourish. “This is dessert.”
Jacob just looked at it. “What’s this?”
“What do you mean? It’s a Moon Pie.”
“What’s a Moon Pie?”
“You don’t know what a Moon Pie is?”
He shook his head.
“You’ve never had a Moon Pie?” she asked, as if that was outrageous. She then looked up to the heavens, as if seeking guidance from God.
Jacob shook his head again.
“Well, this is your lucky day.” After setting hers down, she took Jacob’s Moon Pie, ripped opened the clear, cellophane wrapper, and reverently removed the Moon Pie. Then, with great showmanship, she broke it in half and showed him the inside. “They’re two graham crackers with marshmallow filling in the middle, covered in chocolate. They come in a couple of different flavors, but chocolate is the best. You’ve really never had one?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Jacob shrugged.
She looked at David, who quickly defended himself. “They’re full of sugar.”
“That’s what makes them so good,” Paige whispered loudly to Jacob, who smiled in response.
She handed Jacob his two halves, then picked up her own Moon Pie and freed it from its wrapper to take a bite. Jacob followed suit and as soon as he did, his eyes widened and he started to chew with childish vigor.
“When I was a kid, I thought they were made from part of the actual moon,” Paige said, talking with her mouth partially full, uncaring at the moment if it was bad manners.
“Are they?”
“No. And that kind of made me sad, because I thought eating part of the moon would be cool.”
Jacob tilted his head. “But what if you ate them all? Then the moon would be gone.”
She tilted her head in return. “You know, you’re way smarter than I was at your age, because I never thought of that.”
Once the Moon Pies were history, David used a wet wipe on Jacob’s hands and then told him, “Go play some more. Burn off that Moon Pie.”
He immediately jumped up and ran off, making Paige chuckle in wonder. “I would kill for that kind of energy.”
“Same,” David agreed, as he began cleaning up the remains of their picnic.
She waved him off. “No. I’ve got this.”
It didn’t take long, and when she was done, she settled back, legs stretched out in front of her. A few seconds later, Paige felt the slight weight of David’s hand on her shoulder, and when it stayed there, she turned to look at him.
“I’m just elevating my hand,” he explained innocently. “I’m supposed to do that as often as I can to help reduce the swelling.”
She almost snorted at that oversell. “Right,” she said, instead, before turning away from his stupidly handsome face.
For a while they sat in fairly comfortable silence, watching the action on the playground, but when David began lightly stroking the back of her neck with his thumb, she knew she needed to distract herself from it, because even though her body was willing to respond to it, her mind was still a little disconnected.
But, God, she’d missed his touch.
With sheer force of will, she returned all of her attention back to Jacob, who seemed to have acquired a sidekick—a girl his own age.
“That’s … interesting,” Paige murmured, amused.
“It’s always like this.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yeah. Even at preschool, his ‘boy’ friends are outnumbered by ‘girl’ friends,” David said. “They really seem to be drawn to him.”
“Probably because he’s very sweet.”
“He is, for the most part,” David agreed. “But he can be a typical little boy, too.”
Shortly after that, as if to illustrate David’s point, Jacob started to argue with the girl about something, which brought her to tears.
“See?” David asked. With a sigh, he got to his feet and headed over toward the pair, where he was joined by the girl’s mother. Paige watched as tears were dried, questions were asked and answered, and after the ‘dispute’ appeared to be resolved, the girl and Jacob were apparently given the green light to continue playing. To Paige’s amusement, they ran off in different directions … ostensibly in search of new (and better), playmates.
What wasn’t amusing to Paige was the fact that David and the girl’s mother continued talking to one another long after the kids were gone. With a frown, Paige noted every telltale sign of flirting, from the woman’s coy smiles and laughs, to her incessant hair flips. And while Paige couldn’t really blame the woman (because David was hot, and hot, good single dads were probably like unicorns), she was only going to put up with that shit for so long.
The moment the woman pointed with concern to David’s bandaged hand, then looked like she was actually going to reach out and touch it, Paige decided she’d had enough. “For God’s sake,” she muttered, grabbing her phone to fire off a quick text.
PAIGE: Get away from that woman.
She knew the second David got her text, because he gave the woman an Excuse me smile, then proceeded to dig his phone out of his pocket with his good hand and read the text. When he was done, he returned the phone to his pocket with a smirk on his face, then did his best to clear it before looking at the woman again. Whatever he said next was clearly a disappointment, and he offered her a polite nod before turning and leaving.
“Sorry about that,” David said, as he sat down next to Paige.
She didn’t know if she believed him, because he seemed pleased. “Are you really?”
“Yes,” he answered. “But I’m not going to lie. I like it when you get territorial because it’s a huge turn-on. Not to mention, it helps me think that I’m still yours.” He gave her a long, serious look. “Something I desperately need right now.”
She felt her eyes sting a little and quickly glanced away. “So what were the waterworks about?” she asked, stepping over his admission and changing the subject.
“It was Jacob’s fault. The little girl asked him if he liked something that she liked. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but it was something purple and he said no. He then told her he thought it was ugly, and she didn’t like hearing that, so she started crying.”
“You haven’t taught him to agree with everything girls say yet?”
“Am I supposed to?”
“Yes. And the sooner the better. Life lessons are important.”
“What if it was genuinely ugly?”
“Doesn’t matter. He made a girl cry.”
“Maybe she was just being overly sensitive.”
“Again, doesn’t matter.”
Shaking his head and stifling a laugh (because the banter felt so good), he reached over to take her hand, then held onto it for the next hour, only letting go when it was time to pack up and leave. Then, he held it as he and Jacob walked Paige to her car, wanting to maintain that contact for as long as possible.
“This was nice,” she said, addressing both of ‘the boys’ (as she had started calling them in her head) after opening her car door. “I had a really good time.”
“So did we,” David returned. “Didn’t we, Jacob?”
Jacob nodded. “I really liked the Moon Pie.”
Paige smiled at him. “I’m glad.” Then, kneeling down, she leaned in to whisper, “Do you go to the grocery store with your dad?”
He nodded again.
“Good. Next time you go, make your dad buy some—maybe put a box in the cart when he’s not looking. Make sure you stick to the chocolate ones, though.”
“Okay.” He gave her a smile, then surprised her by asking, “Will you make us brinner again?”
Paige could tell by David’s expression that he was surprised by Jacob’s request, which made it sweeter, knowing he hadn’t been coached into issuing the invitation. “Absolutely.”
“Today?”
“Jacob,” David admonished.
Paige chuckled. “Not today. But how about—” she skipped over every day of the following week because her work schedule was total garbage, and landed on, “—next Sunday?”
“Okay.”
He was obviously disappointed, so Paige told him, “It’ll be worth the wait. I promise.”
Standing up, she turned to David.
“Thanks for coming,” he told her quietly.
“You’re welcome.”
Then, while Jacob became preoccupied with looking at something on the ground, David planted a kiss on her.