Chapter 7
DID HIS PART
“Polly’s mommy wants a play date,” Becca said on Friday afternoon when his daughter came running over to him.
Shit. He’d thought he’d gotten out of a second date with Celia.
He got one text on Tuesday that she had a good time. Awkward in these situations, he gave her a thumbs-up in return.
He wasn’t going to lie and pretend he’d enjoyed it too. The only good thing about his date with Celia was the clarity it gave him that he definitely didn’t want a second. She was exactly the kind of woman he didn’t want in his life… or anywhere near his daughter, aside from being a friend’s mom.
Guess she didn’t get the hint with his reply or lack of communication and now she was putting his daughter in the middle.
Just another shot against her.
“She told you that?” he asked, picking his daughter up.
He was looking around for any signs of Polly, hoping the child was gone already or they could get out of there before Celia showed up.
They didn’t always cross paths. Never in the morning, but at pickup it happened more frequently than he preferred.
Becca nodded her head. “This morning when she brought Polly in. She came over and said that Polly has been asking for me to come over to play or if Polly could come to our house. If I’d like that.”
He bit the inside of his cheek. “What did you say?”
He put Becca down to get her jacket on her. “That I like Polly and I wanted to play with her.”
“We’ll figure it out.” It’s the best he could do right now.
“Did the toys come?” Becca asked.
She’d been asking him for days. “They did. I received a notice that they delivered them earlier today.”
“Do I get to play with them first?”
He laughed. “No. We can’t take them out of the box.”
“Ahhh. No fun.”
“Remember, they aren’t for you.”
“Can we see Alana tomorrow?” Becca asked.
That was the plan, but he wasn’t sharing it with his daughter. “If she’s there I’m sure we’ll see her.”
“Brennan.”
Urgh. He should have realized that unpleasant tingling at the base of his neck was Celia. Like clawing to drag him in.
He turned. “Hi, Celia.”
“Did Becca tell you that Polly wanted to have a play date?”
“She did,” he said.
“I’m off tomorrow if you’re around.”
“Sorry,” he said. “We’ve got plans.”
“Oh,” Celia said, her bottom lip coming out in a pout much like Becca often did.
Not sexy in the least.
Why did women think that was? He assumed Celia would have practiced those moves in the mirror.
“Maybe one night next week when I’m off?”
“Nights are hard,” he said. “I’m not positive when I’ll get out of work and then Becca is in bed pretty early once we get our routine down.”
Celia put her hand on his arm, her nails almost tapping against him. He fought hard not to shiver. “I like when a man has a routine. My kids come home all wound up. They will be at their father’s the following weekend, so maybe in two weeks?”
“We’ll see,” he said. “Getting close to the holidays then. I might have my work Christmas party that night.”
At least he thought that was the night. Hoped it at this point. Any excuse he could find.
“Definitely after the holidays,” Celia said.
“Daddy, I’m hungry.”
“We are going,” he said. He picked Becca up and put her on his hip, then grabbed her bookbag next to her. “Have a good weekend.”
“I will,” Celia said, a big cheesy grin on her face. Forced for sure.
He got Becca buckled in the back, then climbed in the front.
“What’s for dinner?”
He hadn’t even thought of it. It was just one of many on his list of chores and things to do in life.
“What are you in the mood for?”
Normally she replied with grilled cheese or chicken tenders. Both were easy and always in massive quantities in the house.
“Tacos.”
Not something he had in the house and he didn’t feel like going to the store for it.
“How about we have them tomorrow? When we go to the store, we can pick everything up then.”
“I don’t want to wait though,” Becca said, crossing her arms. The joys of seeing her in the backseat from his rearview mirror.
Yep, there was the same pout that Celia had.
“You’re going to have to. I’ll give you three choices to pick from.”
“I like choices.”
“Spaghetti and meatballs, grilled cheese, or fish sticks and fries.”
“Spaghetti,” Becca said.
“Then that is what we’ll have.”
He parked in the driveway a few minutes later, grabbed his daughter out of the back and unlocked the back door, which was closer to the bottom of the driveway.
He set her down and she rushed to take off her jacket and boots, leaving them on the mat for him to move out of the way once his coat was off.
She was off and running for her toys. She knew the rules. Play in the dining room where he could see her while he cooked.
The water was on the stovetop next to a pan of sauce with four frozen meatballs he’d chucked into it to warm up also.
He made his way to the front door, unlocked it and grabbed the box off the porch. Becca heard him and was on his heels. “Open it so I can see them.”
“Remember, they aren’t for you to play with.”
“I know. They are for kids in need. Do you think Santa knows they need more? How come he doesn’t give it to them?”
He hated questions like this. There was never a good way to answer them.
“Santa has to divide everything up evenly so he can’t always give so much more to other kids.”
His daughter was too young to know or remember that some kids got more from Santa than from their parents. He wouldn’t do that. One or two gifts from Santa and that was it. The rest of it came from him.
She’d get something from Rene, but whether or not she saw her mother was still up in the air.
He expected to hear from his ex soon. Probably last minute asking him if she could stop over.
She’d have a longer trip to get to him this time.
If she remembered, which he doubted. He’d sent her a text to let her know and never heard back.
He did his part, like he always did.
“What do you think Santa will bring me this year?”
“I don’t know. Do you think you’ve been a good girl?”
Becca was nodding her head up and down rapid enough to have her ponytail swinging around.
“I think you’ve been a good girl too.”
“Then I should get what I ask for.”
“You asked for a lot,” he said. “You won’t get it all.”
“I should if I was good.”
If only life was that simple.
“I guess you’ll find out in a few weeks. But you won’t get upset if you don’t, right?”
“I’ll try not to.”
He heard the sizzling and rushed to the kitchen and turned the sauce down where it was bubbling. The water was boiling so he dropped the pasta in and stirred it around.
Hours later when Becca was in bed, he pulled his laptop out to try to buy as much as he could for Christmas that was on her list. He wouldn’t go overboard. She’d get spoiled by his mother, so he’d limit it now.
At the end of the night, he stood up and stretched, happy to get that over with. It was pretty sad he felt accomplished over Christmas shopping weeks early.
What happened to those Friday nights he was out with friends? Hitting on a cute girl in a bar?
Never flirting with a coworker like he’d been trying to do with Alana this past week.
Guess it wasn’t meant and it’d be too messy anyway.