“WHAT ARE WEdoing today?” I set my plate of pancakes and bacon on the table and took a seat next to Victoria. Since she arrived a couple of days ago, the three of us had been nonstop. Sara was shocked there was so much for a kid to do this far upstate, and when I’d first researched places to take a nine-year-old, so was I.
Her nose crinkled as she leaned back and crossed her arms. “Can we just hang out here? Get a movie. I’m tired, Drew.” Her lips pursed as she speared the last piece of pancake.
“Tired?” I laughed and nudged her sock-covered foot under the table. “You’re the kid, pretty girl. You’re supposed to have a ton of energy.”
“I ran out of it.” Victoria scrunched her nose at me. “Can’t we stay here?”
“Did I ever tell you,” Sara whispered as she draped her arm around me from behind and kissed my cheek, “when you’re not here, he makes me run on the track at six o’clock in the morning.”
Victoria gulped her glass of milk and set it down, gaping at the both of us. “Six o’clock? That’s too early!”
I craned my head to plant a quick kiss to Sara’s lips. “I’m guessing you want to be lazy, too?”
“Lunch and home for a movie isn’t lazy.” Sara tilted her head with her sexy lips twisted in a smirk. If we were alone, being home all day would have been fine with me.
“Yes, it is! It’s a beautiful, sunny day. I’m dragging you ladies out.”
“It’s supposed to be freezing today anyway.” Sara’s hair was piled on the top of her head and she wore my T-shirt over her leggings as pajamas. So beautiful and somine—in my clothes and in my apartment. I wasn’t looking forward to letting either of them leave on Wednesday. “It’s not who you are, but let’s be lazy.”
“Yay!” Victoria lifted her arms in victory. “Netflix and chill.”
I sputtered on my coffee before I lifted my gaze to Sara’s. She bit her lip, holding in the same laugh as I was.
“You know what that means?” She giggled at the crinkle in my brow.
“It means watching movies and vegging on the couch. Why? Does it mean something else?”
“Not to you.” I snickered at the gruff tone in Sara’s voice.
“All right, lunch and movies for your next to last day with us.” I couldn’t peer into those innocent green eyes and say, “Netflix and chill,” although it meant something totally different to her. “Sound good?”
“Sounds great!” Victoria popped out of her seat and scurried back into the living room. I loved how easy she made herself at home here. She didn’t complain about sleeping in a strange room, not even searching for her mother after the lights went out. Sara and I made quick and quiet love behind a locked door while her daughter was in the next room in case she wandered out. I guessed if we shared an apartment, this was how it would be.
Maybe most guys my age would see it as an inconvenience—a chance wasted to have your girl all to yourself, having your way with her anytime you wanted versus inviting her young daughter to stay with you. But I loved every moment I spent with them. I loved the private jokes Victoria and I shared from texting back and forth since Christmas, and I loved how purely happy Sara was when she had both of us in the room. With her daughter so far away, Sara always had a glint of sadness in her eyes because of how much she missed her. This week, she had both Victoria and me, the two people in this world who saw her for the amazing person that she was and loved the hell out of her for it.
The more time the three of us were together, the more I wished it was always like this. If my post-graduation plans came to fruition, it very well could be.
Sara leaned over to pick up Victoria’s plate, and I took that opportunity to pull her onto my lap.
“You’ll still be here Wednesday afternoon, right? I wouldn’t mind a little Netflix and chill then—naked,” I whispered in her ear before biting the lobe.
“How are you not sick of me yet?” She giggled as she turned and flung her arm around my neck.
“Sick of you?” I huffed. “I may hide your clothes, so you can’t leave, and change the locks so those tools can’t get back in.” I cupped her neck and pulled her in for kiss.
“Mommy.” I held in a groan and dropped my head to Sara’s shoulder when Victoria burst in from the living room. My frustration was my own fault, but it was hard to be around Sara without my hands all over her. Victoria’s visit was an exercise in restraint.
“Your phone is ringing.” She handed the phone to her mother before turning back into the living room. Sara stayed on my lap as she grabbed it and accepted the call.
“Hello? Oh . . . hi, Aaron.” She glanced at me with a wince. Tension seized my body at the mention of that fucker’s name. I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, but I was certain he had no good reason to call her at ten o’clock in the morning on her day off.
“My daughter is here, I can’t work the whole day.” Her eyes clenched shut before she lifted them to the ceiling. “If you’re in a jam, fine. Only four hours though. I’ll come in at twelve and leave at four. I’m sorry, but she’s only here for a couple days. I cleared this with your father.”
I leaned in but couldn’t hear anything cohesive from the babbling on his side. He knew she was off and was with me. This was graduating from an annoying crush to a growing obsession. I’d waited for her after work plenty of nights that he kept her late for some bullshit reason.
“Hold on,” she blurted into the phone before turning to me. “Can you stay with her for a few hours? I’m not staying a minute past four. I promise.”
“Sure, baby. We’ll come pick you up at four,” I answered much louder than I had to and kissed her lips with a loud smack. Sara’s mouth flattened at my attempt to piss around her over the phone.
