My cheeks turn pink.
“Really?” he asks, genuine surprise in his voice. “Usually when I offer, I don’t get such a quick rejection.”
I press my lips together. “You drive too fast, drink too much, and throw temper tantrums. I’m good.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “And you’re my little sister’s best friend who’s way too young for me anyway.”
“Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page.” A hummingbird chooses that moment to flap his wings at a million miles per hour and hover beside me, and I duck down and pull the baby in closer to me to protect him.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Dex asks me.
“Protecting the baby!” I practically scream.
“From…a hummingbird?” He’s laughing at me, and I don’t care. “It’s gone now. You can stop freaking out.”
“Look, I was attacked by one once, okay?” I say as I straighten, and my cheeks are burning again.
“Hummingbirds don’t attack humans.”
“I had on a bright floral shirt when I was a kid, and I was standing near a feeder. It landed on me and scared me. Now you know my most embarrassing secret. I’m terrified of hummingbirds. And butterflies.” I purse my lips and try once again to pull it together, this time as I look at him.
Dammit. It’s a huge mistake, especially when he grins at me.
That smile is really something else. It’s like it’s lighting up this entire playground.
“Okay, Birdie.”
I roll my eyes. “I liked Warrior Queen much better.”
“But this one just fits you so much more.” He shrugs.
“I hate you,” I mutter.
“No, you don’t,” he retorts, and honestly…he’s probably right about that.
I hand the baby to Dex, and he holds him awkwardly as I climb up the play structure since the only way to the top is via a rock wall or a ladder. “Hand him up to me,” I say.
“How?”
“What do you mean,how? Just hand him over.” I bend down over the side of the structure since I’m up high, and he sort of lifts him up as ungraciously as he can. I grab hold of the baby and pull him up toward me, and then I sit on the twirly slide, put Jack on my lap, and slide down.
Dex is waiting at the bottom for us, and even he smiles when he sees the look of glee on his son’s face at his first ride down the slide on Auntie Ainsley’s lap.
Jack giggles and kicks his feet, so I hand him off to Dex once more and climb back up. I motion for him to pass him over again, and again, I end up reaching over and grabbing him before we slide down.
Dex is waiting at the bottom for us again.
“Do you want to slide down with him?” I ask.
“That’s okay,” he says, and I don’t push it.
Instead, I go down the slide probably thirty times with Jack on my lap, and then we move over toward the baby swings, where we buckle him in and take turns pushing him. “Did his mom ever take him to the park?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I have literally no idea what she did with him.”
“I’m sorry, Dex. I can imagine how hard all this has been on you, but he’s in good hands now.”
He presses his lips together as if he doesn’t really believe that to be true. “Yeah. I got lucky when I ran into you.”
