“Okay, that sounds good.”
After Deacon left, I looked down at my daughter, who was now laughing and splashing the water with her palms. She’d just started sitting up on her own, so bath time was a lot easier.
“What did you do to Deacon, huh? You couldn’t wait till I got home?”
She cooed.
I bent down into the tub to kiss her head. “I missed you so much today.”
After I dried Sunny off and got her dressed, I brought her out to the living room and placed her on the playmat.
A few minutes later, Deacon knocked.
When I opened, he handed me my coffee.
“Oh, you’re the best,” I said, taking the stopper out of the lid.
At the sight of Deacon, Sunny started crying.
He shook his head. “Oh no you don’t. Your mommy’s home now. You don’t need me to carry you.”
My mouth dropped. “Don’t tell me she cried all day until you picked her up?”
He hesitated. “Not all day—not during her nap.”
“Oh my gosh, Deacon! You can’t let that happen. You have my full permission to let her cry when she does that. Otherwise, she’ll never leave you alone.”
“I know. But she does this whole sad-eye, pouty, quivering-bottom-lip thing. And I just…cave.”
“She’s totally playing you.”
Deacon sat down on the couch and rested his head back. “Seriously… I walked outside just now, and it was like I hadn’t been out there in years. How do you do it every day?”
“It gets easier. The first time you take care of a baby is overwhelming. And in the beginning, it was like that almost every day. But you do get used to it.”
“Well, you have my mad respect.” He sighed. “Tell me how today went.” He gave my leg a smack, and his hand lingered on my thigh for a couple of seconds before he abruptly slid it away, almost as if he’d caught himself doing something he didn’t think he should have.
And of course, my body reacted instantly. I felt the effects of that minor contact long after it was over. I cleared my throat. “Today was truly awesome. Cynthia showed me around the office. I have my own cubicle, and it’s big. We went through some of the press releases the previous public relations person had put together. She also had me study up on the company—how many dancers, their names, backgrounds, their ranks, stuff like that. The day flew by, and then she randomly told me to go home at two thirty. Sent me home with more reading to do. But I was thrilled to be able to come back here.”
“And I was thrilled when you walked in.”
“Was that good timing or what?” I laughed. “Seriously, though, you saved my ass today, Deacon. The good news is, the nanny company assures me Sharon is all set to come tomorrow morning, so we won’t run in to this problem again. Apparently, it was a false alarm with her husband, and he’s home resting.”
“It wasn’t a problem. As much as she made it challenging by insisting I hold her, it was cool getting to hang out with her.”
I knew he was just being nice. I really did owe him.
“Oh…” Deacon snapped his fingers. “I figured out she likes mirrors.”
“She does. How did you discover that?”
“I took her next door so I could grab my laptop and a couple of other things, and when I stopped in front of the mirror, she started laughing.”
“Yeah. She gets a kick out of herself.” Deacon’s eyes lingered on mine, prompting me to ask, “What?”
“Nothing. You look really nice. I don’t know if I told you that this morning.”
His compliment gave me goosebumps. “Thank you.”
It would have been easy to take that the wrong way and think maybe he was interested in me—especially with the way his bedroom eyes were fixed on me right now. But I knew better. Even if he were attracted to me, I suspected he wouldn’t cross the line—especially after seeing firsthand what my day-to-day life entailed.
Still, I appreciated his company and his friendship. “Can I make you dinner this weekend?” I asked.
He took another sip of his drink and placed it on the coffee table. “You’re working all week in between taking care of her, and you want to make me dinner?”
“You literally saved my job. I know how you are, that you won’t take money from me. It’s important that I pay you back in some way for today. I feel like the best way I know how is to make you dinner. I really like to cook. I just don’t do it too often, since it’s just me.”
He nodded for a few seconds, seeming to think it over. “Okay. Yeah, sure.”
I smiled, trying not to seem overly excited. “Yeah? You choose the night. Friday or Saturday.”
He checked his phone briefly. “I can do Friday.”
I smiled wide. “Then it’s settled.”
“Can I bring anything?”
“No. I insist you don’t. But because I know how you are, and you’ll likely bring something anyway, a bottle of wine will do.”
* * *
The rest of that week went off without a hitch. My new sitter, Sharon, showed up on time the following two days, and Sunny seemed to like her almost as much as she liked Deacon. Then I worked from home on Thursday and Friday as planned. Cynthia said she wanted me to come into the office at least two days a week for the first few months, if possible, but she let me choose the days. Sharon seemed amenable to that arrangement, and we decided we’d choose the days based on her availability each week.
Because I worked from home on Friday, I was able to get most of my stuff done early so I could prepare dinner for Deacon. My online grocery order arrived on time, so I got started preparing the food around five. I’d decided to make breaded chicken with a side of risotto, Caesar salad, and roasted Brussels sprouts with cranberries, bacon, and almonds. I ordered a store-bought chocolate cake for dessert. I’d told him to come by at eight thirty, which would hopefully be after Sunny fell sleep.
After slaving away at the stove, I decided to sneak in a shower once I put Sunny down at eight. It was probably the fastest one I’d ever taken because I needed time to get dressed and put some makeup on before Deacon arrived.
As much as I knew this was an innocent, friendly dinner, I couldn’t help the butterflies swarming in my stomach. I was incredibly attracted to Deacon, even if nothing would come of spending time with him. My expectations needed to remain low. We were in two different places in life. He had all of the freedom in the world and seemed to be taking full advantage of that, milking the single life. That’s likely what I would be doing if I were in his shoes.
And he’d flat-out told me that we were “friends.” So the fact that his coming over made me nervous was pretty silly.
I slipped on a gray, fitted sweater dress that landed several inches above my knees and high leather boots. Maybe it was overkill for a night in, but I’d had a really productive week and felt like celebrating in style. I made up my face and had just put the last stroke of mascara on when I heard a knock on the door.
My heart hammered in my chest as I walked to answer it, proof that whatever I tried to tell myself about the platonic nature of our relationship was a crock of shit.
Deacon held a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine.