“Oh, no. I can’t. It’s for you two.”
“There’s enough for us all,” she assures me, placing a small plate of food in front of Connor.
“Ba-na,” he says excitedly, stuffing a bite of PB and banana sandwich in his mouth. “Ba-na!”
Rosie giggles and hands me a sandwich triangle. “I never know with Connor, so I always have extra. Some days he takes two bites and says done, and some days he—”
—toddles over to my lap, plops himself in it, and takes a bite of my sandwich, apparently. All while growling like a bear and still holding onto his own sandwich, which is, to be honest, highly fucking impressive.
“—doesn’t stop eating,” Rosie finishes with a sigh. “There’s no such thing as mine in our home. What’s mine is his, and what’s his is…well, it’s his too. I get the scraps.”
As if on cue, Connor offers his mom the crust of his sandwich. “Mama.”
Chuckling, I tickle his side. “You’re trouble, just like Mama, aren’t you?” He snickers, squirming in my lap before munching another bite of my sandwich. “Little trouble, that’s you, huh, buddy? That’s okay. I’ll share my sandwich with you any day.”
Connor takes one last bite before holding the crust up to my mouth, and I eat it without thinking.
“Probably not the kind of germs you were thinking of swapping, huh?” Rosie murmurs before her eyes widen. “Not that you were thinking of swapping any germs at all. Not, like, my germs and your germs. I didn’t mean that. I didn’t mean, like, you were thinking of kissing me or anything ridiculous like that.”
“Uh-huh,” I muse, watching as she snatches up the garbage and leaps to her feet, hauling ass to the trash can.
Speaking of ass, the full curve of hers is out of this fucking world in those denim cutoffs.
“Are you looking at my bubble butt?” She slaps two hands over it, and I wanna fucking do that. Sinking back down beside me, she hides her shy smile in her muffin. “It’s not like yours.”
“You don’t have to rub it in, Rosie. I’m sensitive about my butt. I know yours is better.”
She stuffs the straw of her water bottle into her mouth, hiding her grin. “Shut up.”
“You’d have to make me.” I wink. “I can think of a few ways to do so if you’d like.”
She manages to make spluttering water all over herself cute, and Connor thinks it’s so funny he starts trying to do it too. They’re a perfect pair, looking like twins as he snuggles into her lap after lunch when she pulls out his favorite book, The Wheels on the Bus . I smile as she sings every word as he passes out in her lap, his thumb in his mouth, Rosie’s fingers running through his hair.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you last night,” Rosie says quietly, eyes dancing with vulnerability, an explanation she doesn’t owe me but wants to give me anyway. “I wasn’t trying to hide it, it’s just…I don’t date a lot. Besides it being hard to find time, it’s been such a letdown. The first date I went on after Connor was born, it was someone I’d talked to a few times while waiting in line for my morning coffee. I genuinely liked him, and when he asked me out, I was so nervous to be with anyone, let alone tell them I was a mom. But he was so nice, I told him about Connor fifteen minutes into the date. He barely spoke for the next ten minutes before excusing himself to the bathroom. He came back, said he wasn’t feeling well, and left. I ate by myself, trying not to cry. On my walk home, I saw him on the patio of the bar three doors down.” Her nose wrinkles. “Made it home to bed before I let the tears come. I think what I felt worst about was that I’d missed out on my son’s bedtime for someone who didn’t care about us.”
Covering her hand with mine, I give it a tender squeeze. “I’m sorry he didn’t recognize what he could’ve had, Rosie.”
“It’s no big deal. I just realized we wouldn’t be for everyone. I decided after that I wasn’t interested in dating. But my roommate and his boyfriend always try to get me out there every once in a while.” She lifts a shoulder. “I go, but with no expectations. It’s my policy that I don’t bring Connor into anything unless I feel a genuine connection. I’ve never had a second date with anyone, so…” Her lower lip slides between her teeth, and she swallows. “I’ve never had to deal with the rejection again.”
“Does this count as our second date?”
Wide, hopeful eyes collide with mine. “Do you want it to?”
I rub the pad of my thumb over her pretty purple nails before lacing our fingers together, marveling at how perfect her small hand feels in mine.
“I’m already planning the third.”
CHAPTER 10
MY PEEN HERO
ROSIE
“Is this date number two or three?” Marco pops his chin on his fist and cocks his head. “Or technically four?”
“Four,” Archie answers. “’Cause technically their park date with Connor was two, and then their dog hike this morning was three. Right, Ro?”
“I donno,” I mumble, twining my fingers through my hair, tying my French braids down, leaving the back free. It’s definitely date four. This morning when I found him and Bear out front of Wildheart, waiting for me and Piglet, he took my hand and said it was date number three. He even had his own backpack, filled with fruit and cookies for dessert after lunch on the bridge.
I slip a lilac barrette onto each braid and spin around, groaning when my two-piece bathing suit is thrust in my face.
“I’m not wearing that.” I shove it away, reach for the one-piece hanging on the back of the bathroom door, and then change my mind. “Actually, I don’t think I’ll bring a bathing suit at all.”
Marco’s brows rise. “Okay, Rosie’s going all in. Skinny-dipping. Adam will love that. Tits and ass is always the right choice.”
“I’m not going nude.” I elbow past him and into my bedroom. “I’m just not gonna swim.” So what if that’s what he invited me over to do.
Archie squeezes my shoulder. “If you’re not comfortable swimming, Ro, just tell him so. He’ll understand, given what’s happened.”
“It’s not that.” It’s definitely partially that. “Plus, he doesn’t know what happened.” I shake my head. “Okay, I’m afraid of freaking out in the pool, but mostly, he’s just so pretty . I caught a glimpse of his abs that first day on the trail, and it wasn’t even a six-pack. I swear, there were at least eight of those things. And he has that…” I gesture toward my crotch. “That stupid V that points right to his…his…”
“Anaconda?”
“Magic stick?”
“Dickmatizer?”
“Hospitalizer?”
I wave away their words. “Yeah. That.”
Archie shrugs. “So? He’s hot as fuck, what’s your point?”
I look down at myself, the body hidden behind my flowy summer dress. I love my body for everything it’s done and the world it’s given me, but it’s far from perfect. “How do I stack up to someone who looks like that?”