Hattie lifts her drink from the cup holder and says, sarcastically and just to irritate my mom, “To marrying rich!”
Mom groans, and I laugh, tapping my cup to hers. “Hear, hear!”
Chapter Eleven
“Sometimes to get her attention, you have to show up when she doesn’t even know she needs you.” - Graham
DEREK
Showing up unannounced at the house of the woman you were massively falling for, with nothing more than a little plan to take her and her daughter on an all-day outing, is probably not my brightest idea.
However, this only really occurs to me after I’ve already knocked on the door.
Inside I can hear music playing and a little girl’s voice belting out a song. I smile at the image I create in my mind of the girl, probably in her Elsa pajamas, making her mom dance with her.
The door creaks open, and Elizabeth’s eyes widen in surprise. “Oh! Derek! What are you doing here?”
“Hey,” I start, then clear my throat when I feel something stick in it. Just the sight of her makes me lose my words. “I thought I could treat you and Aurora to something fun today,” I say, and I can see her surprise grow. “Unless you’re busy,” I add quickly, sending up a prayer that she doesn’t blow me off.
Though she has every right, given that I gave her zero warning.
“Um.” She glances down and behind her, obviously contemplating something. Whatever it was, she shrugs to herself and opens the door wide, letting me pass. “Sorry about the mess.” She gestures around, and I see a big pile of laundry on the couch waiting to be folded. “It’s our reset day, so it’s a bit chaotic.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, turning to look at her fully for the first time, and I hiss when I see her face. “Ouch. Spend too much time outside?”
Her hand flies up to her nose, where she gingerly pats it. “Oh, yeah.” Her eyes crinkle as she cringes at herself. “We went out on my parents’ boat yesterday and got a little sun.”
I shake my head. “That’s not a little. What’d you put on it?”
“Oh, just some ice and a cool rag last night. It’ll calm down.”
I turn then, heading into her kitchen and helping myself to her tea I saw in here last time when I was looking for glasses and plates.
“Oh shoot, Derek, I’m sorry. I should have offered you a drink.” Elizabeth starts to reach around me, grabbing a glass when she notices the tea. “Did you want it iced or hot?”
“Elizabeth,” I state, turning to face her. I just now let myself fully take her in. Her long, thick hair is piled high on her head, random frizzy pieces falling from it. She’s got a sleep set on that’s just a flimsy tank top and shorts, and her tan legs lead to white-painted toenails.
And she’s my absolute fantasy.
“I’m not thirsty,” I finally say, my eyes reconnecting with hers. If she noticed me checking her out, she’s good at hiding it. “I’m getting you something for that burn. You don’t need your skin to be hurting tomorrow at work.”
“Oh,” she says, setting down the glass she’s holding gingerly, and I scoop it up, needing it anyway. “You have some secret remedy you’re willing to share with me?”
I glance over, wondering if she’s flirting with me.
Everyone at game night was sure she was dropping hints at wanting to go out, but then she threw me by going out with someone else. I was starting to really wonder if I wasthe problem here, and that was precisely why I gave in to my desire to see her today.
I was dying to. I couldn’t stand the thought of waiting for her to need me to babysit again and losing a chance to show her that I’m a good time.
“I’m willing to bet I can trust you with my secrets,” I say, throwing a wink her way and watching as her lobster face gets just a tinge redder.
God, I love the way she blushes, the way she flusters around me with nerves. It tells me she cares what I think about her, though I doubt I could find a single fault, but it also makes me feel better knowing we were both feeling similarly toward one another.
My chest fills with something I haven’t felt in a long time. That pesky little bit of hope pops up and makes me lose my cool every time. I go above and beyond, almost too beyond, and that’s exactly what happened in my last relationship.
I let the woman walk all over me, call every shot, make me miss things with my friends, and made me doubt everything they ever said to me.
She’d say things like,they think you’re stupid, they think they’re better than you, they hate what we have because they’re jealous.
