Chapter Ten
CHAPTER TEN
Balloons, check. Tablecloths and napkins, check. Gifts, check. Cupcakes, plates, forks, and gift bags, check, check, check, and check. Pizza, to be delivered. And all the rest, maybe check.
“I know you’re running through a list in your head,” Natalie’s mother said. “I printed a checklist out for you several days ago, if you recall. If you didn’t use it, that’s on you. Besides, I have things well in hand.”
Resisting the urge to snap at her well-meaning mother, Natalie turned and smiled. “Of course I used your checklist. I’m just…double-checking everything.”
Hazel pushed through the doors of the clubhouse carrying gift bags. “Oh, it looks amazing in here, Nat. Christopher is going to go bonkers.”
“Thanks. Hopefully Sean will actually deliver him and his sister on time.”
Her mother frowned. “Why are the kids with Sean when it’s your weekend?”
“Because it’s Christopher’s birthday, and Sean asked if he could spend half the day with them. He said they were going to have pancakes and a mini party this morning.”
“Aww, that’s sweet. And very nice of you, Nat,” Hazel said. “I’m sure Christopher loved being able to spend time with his dad on his special day.”
Natalie hadn’t wanted to give Sean any time with the kids. But that was her relationship with him, and Sean was trying to do better about carving time out of his schedule to actually be with his kids. And he’d asked for only a few hours on the morning of Christopher’s birthday. She’d have to be a royal bitch to deny him that.
“We should clear an area for the kids to run amok,” Hazel said.
“There’s a playground right outside.” Natalie motioned with her head to the area where the playground stood.
“Oh, I see,” Hazel said. “They’ll all love that.”
“And, even better, they can scream and yell and it’ll be outside.”
“Right. Like they won’t also do that here.”
Natalie laughed. “You’re probably right about that, Mom.”
Hazel rubbed her back. “It’s all going to be fine and Christopher will have a blast. Now let’s get this place decorated.”
Her sister was right. It was time to settle in and get ready for this party. She was going to make it the best party Christopher ever had.
The door opened and she saw Linc come in, followed, surprisingly, by Eugene.
“We ran into each other in the parking lot,” Linc said, carrying bags. “I guess we both showed up early to help.”
Eugene came over to Natalie, smiling at her, making her lose all focus. “The more hands the better, right?”
Why was it that his mere presence made her neurons cease firing? “Uh, right. Thanks for coming.”
His grin also made her tingle in all her feminine places. “Wouldn’t miss it. Where are the kids?”
“With their dad. They’ll be here soon.”
He stepped closer. “Where do you want me?”
She lifted her gaze to his, her thoughts running amok as his question rolled around in her head.
Where did she want him? On top of her. Underneath her. Behind her. Pushing her against a wall. Hell, she wanted him inside of her in any way she could get him.
The room got hotter and she shook her head to shake off the sex thoughts. “How about you put the tablecloths on for a start?”
“You got it.”
After he walked away, she finally took a breath.
Hazel tipped her head over Natalie’s shoulder. “Can’t breathe around him, huh?”
“Shut up. And don’t let Mom know that I’m going out with him. You know how she is.”
“Oh, believe me, I know.”
Speak of the devil, she walked right over and entered their circle. “Who’s that young man spreading the tablecloths?”
“That’s Linc’s brother Eugene,” Hazel said. “He just moved here recently for work.”
Mom eyed Eugene, then nodded. “It’s nice that he’s here to help.”
“Well, he’s—” Natalie gave her sister a wide-eyed look, so Hazel nicely pivoted. “He’s just a great guy, and Linc’s his only family here, so Natalie thought to invite him.”
“Aww.” Mom patted Natalie on the arm. “Aren’t you sweet?”
“Thanks, Mom.” Natalie tried to get her pounding heart under control and went about decorating the clubhouse. They had just gotten the gifts set up when guests began to arrive, along with Sean and the kids. She went outside to greet them, and the kids ran into her arms for a hug.
“It’s my birthday!” Christopher gave her a hug and a wide grin. “Daddy got me a go-kart!”
She cast a disparaging look at her ex. “A go-kart?” She watched Sean pull it out of the back of his SUV. “Tell me that’s not supposed to go to my house.”
“It’s not like I can keep it at the condo, can I?”
She rolled her eyes. “Sean. That is the most—”
“Hey, little dude,” Eugene said as he walked outside. “Happy birthday.” He held out his fist and Christopher bumped it.
“I got a go-kart!”
Eugene grinned. “Whoa. You did? So cool.”
“Eugene,” Natalie warned. “I was just explaining to Sean—”
“Hi. I’m Eugene Kennedy.”
“Sean Parker.” They shook hands and then launched into a very excited conversation about the go-kart, to include her five-year-old son. Disgusted, she turned on her heel and stormed into the clubhouse.
“What’s going on out there?” Hazel asked.
“Sean. He bought a go-kart for Christopher.”
“Really? That’s kind of cool.”
Natalie frowned. “What? It’s dangerous. He’s five, Hazel. Not fifteen.”
“I don’t know. It looks appropriate for his age. Sean bought him a helmet to go with it. And he’ll have a lot of fun driving it around the cul-de-sac. And Cammie can drive it, too.”
Natalie groaned and walked away, went to the window where all of Christopher’s little friends were gathered around the go-kart, shouting excitedly. Sean, Eugene, and Linc stood around grinning like a triplet of asinine fools.
Ugh.
Obviously it was some kind of conspiracy. Couldn’t everyone see that her baby boy had no business riding around in that death trap?
When everyone piled inside, she decided to push away thoughts of the evil machine and focus instead on Christopher’s party. They played games, had pizza, let the kids run around on the playground, then had cupcakes. By the time they cleaned up and she took the kids home and unpacked the car, she was utterly exhausted, and the kids were on an epic sugar high, but at least they were outside. All she wanted to do was hide in the bathroom and cry.
And then the doorbell rang and she wanted to kill whoever was on the other side of that door.
She opened the door, surprised to see Eugene there.
“Why are you here?” she asked, knowing her words came out bitchy, but she was just so tired.
He held out a bag. “I stayed behind to chat with Linc and I noticed you left this behind at the clubhouse, so I thought I’d deliver it to you.”
“Oh. Thank you.”
He handed the bag to her. “Well, you look tired and I’m sure you have a lot to do, so I’ll let you go.”
With a sigh, she realized she was behaving terribly. “Would you like to come in? The kids are outside running amok. I’m sure they’d love to see you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m sure. We’re going to have hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for dinner. Nothing fancy.”
He shrugged. “Sounds good to me. Thanks.”
· · ·
After spending an hour hanging out with the kids and with Natalie outside, it became clear that Natalie was utterly exhausted. He couldn’t blame her. It had been a long day, and kids would go and go until you forced them to sit still for five minutes. He’d been an active kid himself and never allowed himself any downtime because as soon as he sat still he might fall asleep.
He took over grilling the hot dogs from her and suggested some veggies to toss on the grill as well. Maybe the kids wouldn’t jump on the veggie train but Natalie had smiled at that idea, so he grilled them both while she made the macaroni and cheese. She hollered for the kids to have their baths while he finished off grilling, and then they came out looking fresh and freaking adorable in their pajamas.
“Did you have a good birthday party today, Christopher?” he asked as they all gathered at the table to eat.
“The best. I got lots of presents and my friends came to my party.”
After setting applesauce on the table, Natalie took her seat. “You had lots of friends there.”
“And Jack has a birthday next weekend and I’ll get to go to his party.”
“Fun.” Natalie gave Eugene a tired smile.
After dinner, they cleaned up while Natalie told the kids to get books and get in their beds.
He laid the dish towel on the counter. “Mind if I read to them?”
She gave him a questioning look. “You. Want to read to them.”
He moved into her, his shoulder brushing against hers. “This might surprise you, but I do know how to read.”
She shoved her shoulder against his. “I know that. But we have a bedtime routine. And they abuse it every chance they get.”
“Okay. Tell me about it.”
“They get one story each. They’ll try for more along with trips to the bathroom and glasses of water.”
“I think I can handle it. Why don’t you pour yourself a glass of wine and put your feet up.”
She kept giving him incredulous looks. “You really want to do this.”
“I do.”
She shrugged. “Fine. Call me when you’re ready to surrender.”
He laughed and headed down the hall to Christopher’s room.
Christopher was sitting up in his bed, his covers tucked around his hips. A stuffed dinosaur sat next to him. God, the kid was cute.
“Where’s Momma?”
“She’s…busy, so I’m going to read to you tonight, if that’s okay.”
Christopher nodded. “Okay.”
“Great. What are we reading?”
Christopher handed him an awesome-looking book about some amazing dragon and his adventure, so they settled in to read. From the kid’s constant yawns, he figured he wouldn’t get to the end of the book before he was asleep.
He was so wrong. It took four books, one trip to the bathroom, and several sips of water resulting in another trip to the bathroom before Christopher finally fell asleep while they were talking about his go-kart.
Okay, so maybe he didn’t have it all in hand.
Camryn, on the other hand, was sweet and smiley and said it was her job to read to him. She read three chapters of a book about a little girl detective that was really kind of cute. He was disappointed when she said she was tired and ready to go to sleep.
“Thanks for letting me read to you, Eugene,” she said, her little face earnest and oh so sleepy.
“I want to know how the rest of it comes out. Maybe you’ll read to me again soon.”
“Maybe. Goodnight.”
That was a definite dismissal. “Goodnight, Cammie.”
She told him to turn her colorful light globe on, which he did before he turned off the overhead light. Then he popped his head in and checked on Christopher. He stared down at his pink-cheeked little face and felt a pang of something he’d never felt before.
These kids were adorable for sure.
He wasn’t at all ready for kids, figured he wouldn’t be for a long time.
But Natalie’s kids were easy to like.
He made his way downstairs. “You were right. That took a—”
Natalie was on the sofa, curled up in a sleeping ball.
There was that flood of warmth again. Eugene smiled and walked over to pull the blanket from the back of the sofa. He covered her and started to leave, then thought about it for a second before taking a seat on the sofa next to her, picked up her feet and laid them in his lap. He picked up her untouched glass of wine and took a long swallow before taking out his phone to check his emails.
· · ·
Natalie woke, her back and neck aching. She frowned and blinked her eyes open to realize she was lying on the sofa. And, not alone, apparently.
Eugene was asleep, sitting up, his head lying against the back of the couch. And her feet rested in his lap.
Wow. She must have really passed out hard last night. But why was Eugene still here? And, more importantly, what time was it?
She grabbed her phone to see it was four a.m., immediately breathing a sigh of relief. The last thing she wanted was to have to explain to the kids why Eugene spent the night.
She sat up and ran to the bathroom to pee, making an ugh face as she looked in the mirror. Wow, her hair was a wreck, and she hadn’t even washed off her makeup.
Whatever. She needed coffee more than she needed to look pretty. But it wasn’t even time to get up yet. First, she needed to get Eugene out of her house.
She made her way to the living room to see he was awake and stretching. She made her way to the kitchen and turned the coffee maker on, poured water in, and slid a pod in the slot, breathing in the smell of the coffee as it poured into the cup.
He groaned. “Oh, my freakin’ back.”
“You fell asleep.”
“Yeah. Sorry.” He got up, went down the hall and into the bathroom.
Okay, calm down, Natalie. The kids wouldn’t be up for hours so there was no reason to panic. Eugene would leave, and she’d go wash her face and get in bed.
Eugene came back in. “Sorry. I meant to only sit there and finish your glass of wine and make sure the kids stayed asleep. Guess I fell asleep, too.”
“That’s okay,” she said, handing him his cup of coffee. “Thanks for staying. Though I’m sure your body is regretting sleeping sitting up.”
He took a couple of sips of coffee. “I’ve slept in worse positions. Your couch is comfortable.”
“It is. Anyway…”
“Yeah, I need to go.” After another long swallow of coffee, he laid the cup on the counter.
She walked him to the door, regretting that he couldn’t stay, that they couldn’t tumble into her bed together and cuddle. And do other things together.
“Thanks for coming to Christopher’s party.”
“It was fun. Everything with you is fun.” He leaned in and brushed his lips across hers. “Talk to you soon.”
Her breath caught and she momentarily lost the ability to speak, so all she could do was nod. He smiled and walked to his car.
He’d kissed her. Not a deeply passionate kiss—just a brief brush, but enough to set her body on fire, to make her want more.
So much more.