Caroline pats my arm. “It’s okay. You’ll get there, big guy.”
That feels insulting. “Absolutely I will.”
She smiles and turns with a hair flip, practically bouncing her way to the front door. “Bye!”
“Bye.” The door is already closing behind her.
She’s eager for her plans.
I suddenly feel a little lonely.
It’s not a comfortable or familiar feeling.
“What should we do?” I ask Evelyn.
She smacks my arm before pitching forward and biting my shirt.
“You might have eaten, but I need to find something. I haven’t eaten all day.” I head into the kitchen and scrounge up some leftover Chinese takeout to eat.
Eating with one hand and holding Evelyn is harder than I anticipated. She knocks multiple forkfuls of rice onto the counter before it makes it to my mouth.
It’s when I’m cleaning up the mess that I realize Caroline’s cell phone is on the counter.
It lights up. I glance at the screen automatically, not because I’m trying to be nosy.
It’s filled with notifications from a dating app.
She’s matched with Mitch.
And Trevor.
And Rashid.
I shove it in my pocket.
Food can wait.
“We have to return Caroline’s phone,” I tell Evelyn, then wonder if it’s normal to narrate my whole life to a baby.
It just seems like common courtesy to tell her what the fuck is going on.
As is returning Caroline’s phone. There’s nothing more to it than that. Just common courtesy.
CHAPTER8
Cas
Caroline Bell is perfect.
She’s even better than I expected.
She came over for dinner after she finished at Grayson’s for the day and it’s been delightful. She and James chatted while James made a simple but delicious Mediterranean chicken sheet pan dinner, and I put Noah to bed.
Caroline told me stories about James in high school while we ate herbed chicken and vegetables sprinkled with feta cheese and olives and drizzled with a tangy sauce, along with crusty bread and wine.
We laughed and talked, and I loved watching James and Caroline—or Caro, as he calls her—together. They have a natural, comfortable chemistry that comes with knowing someone well for a long time.
He casually touches her lower back when moving past her, squeezes her hand when she tells a story, even reaches over and brushes an errant hair away from her cheek. She puts her hand on his arm and even his chest when she laughs at something he says. And whenever they look at each other, it’s with warmth and affection.
