Declan seems to snap out of it and looks down at my daughter, who is blatantly staring at the giant man in front of us. He’s the one who looks shocked now. His eyebrows hit his forehead, and he looks from my daughter, to me, and back again.
“You’re huge,” my daughter says with wide eyes and no tact.
“Autumn!” I scold. “You need to apologize. You can’t just say that to someone. You could hurt their feelings, baby girl.”
“You did.”
My eyes snap towards Declan’s voice. “Excuse me?”
He raises an eyebrow and shoves his hands in his jeans pockets. “You called me a Viking… and large. It’s the same thing.”
“I…uh…” I have no words. Because he’s right. I did say those things.
“You should apologize, mommy.”
The moment is stolen by a full belly laugh from Declan, something I wasn’t expecting in the slightest. The sound is warm, a stark contrast from his gruff demeanor earlier in the day, and Autumn and I both stare at him while he gets control of himself.
I can’t help but notice he’s changed his T-shirt from earlier, and the white cotton accentuates the color of his tattoos. His skin is otherwise golden, and the contrast is mesmerizing.
“You have art on your body.”
My eyes flick to Autumn, and it seems I’m not the only person in the room who is checking out the man in front of me.
Declan’s laugh subsides, and he looks at Autumn quizzically. “I do. I’m a tattoo artist.”
“Can I get a tattoo?”
“No,” Declan and I say in unison. We stare at each other for a beat, and he’s the one to break eye contact.
This interaction is just as awkward as it was in the coffee shop, with minimal words, stunted conversation, and weird stares.
My daughter doesn’t sense the awkwardness, though, and moves toward Declan with an outstretched hand like a grown human. “My name is Autumn, what’s your name?”
He stares at her hand, and I reach for her shoulder, ready to pull her back. Surprisingly though, Declan takes a step forward and grasps her hand for a half a beat before pulling away just as quickly. “My name’s Declan.”
“My mommy’s name is Penny.”
An involuntary blush rises to my cheeks, and I scold myself for not getting out of this situation sooner. I don’t know why, but I didn’t want him to know my name just yet. He’s going to put two and two together, especially since my name and nickname are pretty synonymous, and it’s going to be awkward as hell. I wanted to avoid it for a little while longer.
I don’t say anything else, and he clears his throat. “Anyway, I heard voices on the landing and thought I shouldintroduce myself.” He tosses a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll let you guys go. I’m sure your husband wouldn’t want you talking to a strange man. I’ll have to introduce myself to him sometime.”
“I don’t have a daddy,” Autumn says, and I mentally facepalm myself. I’ve been doing that a lot lately.
Declan just stares at me, and I give him a tight-lipped smile because what else is there to say?
“We’re just gonna… go,” I tell him and grab Autumn by the shoulders to move her into the apartment.
“Bye, Dec!” she yells, looking back in his direction, and my gaze whips around to see his reaction to the nickname.
He’s still standing where we left him, and I swear I see his lip twitch, but he down nods to me and turns to go into his apartment.
Once I shut our door, I let out a shaky breath. That went… horribly. I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t that.
“I like him, mommy. He’s really big.”
“You’re not wrong,” I mutter as she strips out of her shoes and jacket.
I focus on getting her ready for bed, the ice cream long forgotten by the surprise of our new neighbor, and we settle into our night routine.
