Chapter 3 – Bea
After Marco showed me how to bring up the streaming services he had, I picked The Princess and the Frog, one of my favorites.
“I have to warn you, though. It is a little scary,” I say before pressing play. “Are you guys feeling brave tonight?”
They both nod.
“Okay, here we go.”
Marco brings us some snacks, and before he sits down, I silently pray that he’ll sit beside me. But instead, he goes next to his daughter. So, the two girls are between us.
Of course, he’d sit by them, I tell myself. However, the curiosity about what his muscular, hairy body would feel like against mine does not stop there.
At one point, I was resting my arm across the back of the couch, and he yawned and extended his hand on top of mine, but he immediately pulled away.
“Oh, sorry!”
“It’s okay.” I look away and grin from ear to ear. Although it only lasted a few seconds, it was enough to make me feel tingly all over.
It doesn’t take long after that for his children to fall asleep—one against me and the other on him. So, we turn the movie off and carry them upstairs.
He wakes them up just enough to wash their faces and brush their teeth, but then we tuck them in.
“Good night, love bug,” he says before kissing Aurora’s forehead.
“Good night, Daddy.”
“Good night, cookie monster.” Then it’s Alessia’s turn.
“Night, Daddy.”
“Wait! You have to kiss Randall goodnight.”
She holds up her stuffed otter that I have been told countless times she cannot sleep without.
“You’re right. How could I forget? Mwahhh. Good night, Randy.”
“He says thank you.”
Marco chuckles. “Okay, I love you.”
“Love you too,” his girls say in tandem.
He cracks the door closed, and we’re left alone in the hallway.
“Uh, I should probably get going,” I whisper.
“Yeah, okay.”
We both turn to walk down the stairs together and bump shoulders.
“Oh, sorry,” he says.
“That’s okay.”
Then, he seems to lean closer toward me, and for a very brief moment, I think—and hope—that he’s going to kiss me.
But instead, he just removes a fluff of some kind from my hair.
“It’s probably from Aurora’s ratty baby blanket. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve found similar particles on my person and around the house.”
I don’t know how else to respond, so I just chuckle a few times.
Then, we finish our ascendence back to the first floor of his home.
“Can I ask your opinion on something?” he seems to ask out of nowhere.
“Um, sure.”
“Sorry, I know you want to get going—”
“No, it’s okay,” I say as I check my watch and see that it’s only nine o’clock.
“Okay. Care for a beer or glass of wine?”
“Sure. Wine, please.”
“Red or white?”
“White.”
“Here you go,” he says after pouring me a glass. We’re sitting on the island.
“Thanks. So, what did you want to talk about?” How much do you want to ravage and rip my clothes off? I wish.
“It’s about the girls.”
Damn. But fair.
“Do you think their attachments to those inanimate objects have anything to do with Clara leaving?”
“Oh . . .” I’m not sure what I was expecting him to say, but it certainly wasn’t that.
“I just worry that they are using them to make up for the security their mother should provide.”
I take a big swig of the alcohol before me, take the clip out of my hair, and then use my fingers to flip it to one side. “I mean, I’m not a child psychologist—but I really don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
“No?”
“No. They’re little girls. I think it’s normal to be attached to stuffed animals and blankets.”
“Were you at their age?”
I pretend to think back—as if I still don’t keep my childhood teddy bear, Mr. Peaches, on my bed. “Actually, yeah.”
“And when did you eventually grow out of that?”
Oh, you know . . . still haven’t. But those are my own issues.
“Probably around sixth grade?” I lie.
He sighs in and out. “Okay. That’s good to know. Sorry that I sometimes have to rely on you. It’s just that I was never a little girl.”
“I really don’t mind. I’m happy to help.”
“Well, thank you.” He takes his first swig of his beer, and I marvel at the sight of his pronounced jaw muscles. “I’m not sure what we would’ve done without you the last couple of years.”
I look down and smile. “I could say the same.”
“How so?”
I replay the words that just escaped my lips in horror. The liquor must be getting to my head quicker than I realize.
“Uh . . . it’s just that I love being around Aurora and Alessia. They’re the best.”
“Thank you. I’m trying my best to raise them right.”
“I think you’re doing a wonderful job.” Then, I lean over and grasp his hand.
What the hell are you doing, Bea?
In a surprise turn of events, he actually grips it back and starts rubbing my skin with his thumb.
Then, we look at each other.
He lit a candle earlier in the evening, and its flame dances beautifully in his dark, mysterious eyes.
“Um.” His touch feels even more intoxicating than the wine running through my blood system.
Then, he flinches away. “I—I’m sorry.”
I open my mouth to say something, but he interrupts me.
“Oh, gosh. It’s going on at 9:30. I have a deposition tomorrow that I haven’t even started preparing for. I have to be up super early.”
“Ah, of course. Do you need help getting the girls to school?”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“Why not?
“Because you already do so much for us.”
I really wish he’d stop with that.
“It’s not a big deal. I don’t have to be at work until eight. Plus, their school is on the way to the store, so it’s not like I’ll be going out of my way.”
“You’re truly the best. I hope you know that.”
“You give me too much credit.”
“On the contrary, I don’t think you get enough.”
I don’t want to risk finishing the entire glass of wine and throwing off my sugar levels, so I announce that I really should get going.
He walks me out by the door, and yet another moment of lingering closeness seems to happen before we finally part.
“Good night,” I call from the driveway. He’s standing on his porch and holding the front door open with his body.
“Good night, Bea. Please text me after you get home safely.”
“Will do.”
“See ya.”
“Yeah.”
Then, I awkwardly turn toward my car and get inside.