19. Mrs. Patel
Mrs. Patel
SAM
It was day two of my three days with the boys—well, mostly Henry—and so far, it was going great.
If you didn’t count Tommy slouching down in the front seat on the drive to school far enough I was worried he was going to pool into a puddle in the passenger wheel well.
I’d tried to talk to him the day before, but he’d straight-up ignored everything I asked him.
So today, I just talked to Henry. Which at least got Tommy to say “You know he can’t understand you, right? ”
I considered this a win.
Today, after dropping Tommy off in Greenville, we stopped at my condo so I could grab a ball cap. It was hot, and I’d geared Henry up properly, but not me. Save the bathroom, my place was one single room and I kept it pretty neat. Not that I had many personal belongings to mess it up with.
I sat Henry down in the middle of the floor with his rice cracker. “You wait there.”
I opened the single closet, which was a dozen feet away from Henry, and dug around for maybe two seconds to find the hat I was looking for. But when I turned around, Henry had vanished.
“Henry?” Panic shot through me.
I made myself calm the fuck down. He couldn’t be far. The windows were locked. I spun around, but he was nowhere.
Then I heard a noise. “Hay!”
I sprinted in the direction of his voice.
I found my son in the bathroom, his diaper-heavy butt sticking out of the cupboard.
“Henry!” I quickly grabbed him by the waist and slid him out. A whole pack of toilet paper came with him. Luckily that was all I kept down there.
“Are you trying to kill me, kid?” I asked, prying his iron-grip off the plastic and picking him up. I pressed a kiss to his cheek, my adrenaline still on high.
That’s when he whacked me over the top of the head.
“Ow!”
He squealed at that.
Henry somehow had a wooden comb in his hand. He hit me with it again. “Hay!”
“Are you saying hair?”
Bonk. “Hay!”
I couldn’t help grinning. “You learned a new word!”
“Hay!” He whacked me again.
I pulled the comb from his hand and rubbed my head on his belly, making him explode in giggles. “I’m so proud of you, baby! Wait until we get home and tell Mom about this.”
I paused in the mirror. The way I said that made it sound somehow like we were a family. Like we had a home together. I felt sick with how much I liked the thought of that.
“What do you think?” I asked Henry in the mirror. “Do you like the sound of being a family?”
Even though it was ridiculous, my heartbeat ramped up from saying it out loud, and I found myself waiting on pins and needles for some kind of sign from Henry that he agreed.
Henry wrinkled his nose, which was not the response I’d been hoping for. But then he opened his mouth and abruptly sneezed in my face. Baby spit misted over my face, which was a little gross. But the sound he’d made was adorable.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said, reaching for a towel.
I chose to ignore the fact I was pretty sure I’d take anything as a yes.
Once back in Quince Valley, we headed for the town square, where I stopped to grab a coffee.
I sat down on a bench, while Henry kicked back in the stroller next to me with his bottle.
We spent the next twenty minutes hanging out, me soundly humbled by just about every woman who passed by.
Several stopped to swoon at Henry, each one completely ignored me.
When members of Henry’s fan club weren’t in attendance, we chatted about all the things happening around us.
Like the bird trying to pick up the crusts from someone’s sandwich on the sidewalk. Or the car screeching to a halt across the street, causing the vehicles behind it to honk angrily.
When the door to that car opened though, I groaned. “Oh no.”
It was my mom’s friend, Mrs. Patel. And her eyes were laser focused on us.
Last week, I’d finally told my parents about Henry. My mom had started crying, and my dad had just sat there nodding like a ventriloquist’s doll. Like he couldn’t quite comprehend the situation—or the ventriloquist had gone to lunch.
“Mom,” I’d said. “I’m sorry, I—”
“Sorry?” she’d shrieked. “This is fantastic news!”
It was then I realized she was sobbing tears of joy. This was truly a shock to me. I’d have thought for sure my mom would lose her mind that she’d been left out of the whole process—intentionally or not.
“Anaika told me just the other day your father and I could have a perfectly full life without grandkids. She’s always bragging about her little grand-babies. Ha!” She’d actually crowed.
Anaika was Anaika Patel, and she was slamming her car door now. She strode across the street with no regard for the cars that had to stop for her once more.
“Sam! What a marvelous coincidence seeing you here!” she crowed once she reached us.
Mrs. Patel, I could see up close, had a glint in her eye that made me seriously wonder if she’d been roaming the streets looking for me.
She loved me—and normally I loved her. She’d always slipped me treats when she came over to visit my mom when I was little, and I’d been friends with her daughter growing up.
But her spotting us here was a coup for her. Exactly, I knew, the fodder she was looking to bring back to the town’s sewing circle. Particularly to my mom.
“Oh, isn’t he precious?” Mrs. Patel said when she reached us. “Look at those eyes! Can I hold him?”
I grimaced. I already knew I was in enormous trouble for letting one of Mom’s friends meet Henry before her. Especially Mrs. Patel, with whom mom had a fairly longstanding rivalry with, mostly over their kids’ various accomplishments.
“He’s just having a snack right now,” I said, trying to put her off.
The fiery look of victory in Mrs. Patel’s eyes made me feel like an absolute ass.
I needed to bring Henry to meet my parents.
But I wanted Mom to meet Ellie at the same time, and I didn’t know how to broach the topic with her.
I didn’t even know how I was supposed to introduce her.
My friend? The mother of my child? A woman I can’t stop thinking about, but who refuses to get involved with anyone, because she’s convinced it’s what’s best for her kids?
Who even if she did want to date, wouldn’t even consider a future with me, and for good reason because I’m a fucking flake.
Not to mention the shit I pulled the other night in her room.
I felt so stupid for that hopeful thought this morning.
I was so busy spiraling I didn’t notice Mrs. Patel had reached for Henry’s buckles with the stealth of a cat burglar until he was nearly out.
I jerked the stroller sideways, standing up. “Sorry, we’re in a bit of a rush.” I buckled Henry back in.
“Oh really?” Mrs. Patel narrowed her eyes.
Diya, Mrs. Patel’s daughter, used to complain in high school that her mom could smell a lie from three towns away.
“It doesn’t look like you’re rushing anywhere,” Mrs. Patel said. “It looks like you’re enjoying this beautiful day with your coffee and your handsome son.”
Mrs. Patel wasn’t wrong. That was exactly what we were doing.
“Well, yes,” I admitted. “But now we’re done and have to leave.” I downed the last of my coffee, then threw my paper cup in the nearby trash bin, taking the stroller with me lest she get any more ideas.
“Where are you rushing off to?”
“We’re uh…” Why was I letting this lady intimidate me? I set my shoulders back. “We’ve got plans.”
“Lunch plans? Because I could—”
“Yes, actually,” I said. Could she see the sweat on my brow? “Yes, we’re bringing Henry’s mom lunch.”
Mrs. Patel grinned like the Cheshire cat. “Is that right?”
That had been the wrong bluff. Mrs. Patel had latched her claws into the fib like she was a cat and it was a mouse with broken legs. “Let me take you. I’ve got a car seat in the car of course, for my darling little—”
“Nope. We’re going on foot. Saving the environment.”
Henry tossed the empty bottle onto the ground as if underscoring my lie.
“Really?” I whispered to him. I picked up the bottle, stuffing it into the bottom of the stroller.
Mrs. Patel fisted her hips. “Your mother said she hasn’t even met this girl yet. I could meet her, pass on her hello?”
She was relentless. I felt a newfound sympathy for Diya.
I smiled politely. I also felt the need to stick up for my mom. “That’s okay. We’re having dinner with the family next week.”
Mrs. Patel’s left eyebrow lifted again.
Okay, so maybe we would go to dinner. If Ellie was available. And willing. Fuck.
“Yes,” I said, meaning it. I stared her in the eyes. “So, maybe some other time.”
I guess that might have come out a little forcefully, because she blinked, and said, “Oh.”
Well, it worked. “It was really nice seeing you!” I waved. “Say hi to Diya for me.” I started angling the stroller away. Luckily, I hadn’t left Mrs. Patel with any other openings.
She huffed behind me, then sputtered, “Well, tell your father to be careful on those walks he’s taking. My cousin fell on his health walk. Cracked his head open like a melon.”
Good lord, that was ominous. “Will do!”
Dad was being careful. Wasn’t he?
“And I still think you should have taken Diya to prom.”
Diya and I had nearly puked when her mom had suggested it back then. She was now happily married with two kids.
I waved, letting Mrs. Patel have the last word.
Okay, so now I needed to ask Ellie about dinner, and probably the sooner the better. “Maybe we should visit Mom for lunch, huh?” I asked Henry. She’d rushed out the door without packing one, I knew that much.
“Ba!” he said from the stroller.
Good enough for me.