Walkingalong the sidewalk in downtown Lake Spark, I take in the fact that it’s getting colder outside. The cool air is needed, maybe it will snap me out of my mood. Since the laundry room entanglement the other day, April and I have done our best to avoid one another, only keeping to small talk when Hadley is around, as my daughter is, unbeknownst to her, a peacekeeper.
I only have half an hour before I need to pick up Hadley, but it would have been a wasted drive home only to turn around. Plus, I can imagine April is in the kitchen making something ridiculously delectable yet again. A quick stop at the drug store to pick up razors that I don’t really need is clearly a more thrilling option.
Looking ahead, I notice a familiar tail and slow wobble. My eyes draw a line from Pickles up his leash to the blonde walking in my direction, her glare strong.
Clearly no escape or avoidance options on the table today.
“April.” My short greeting is all I can manage. I’m not sure what to do.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
“I thought you would be back at the house. I’m running an errand while Hadley has tap class.”
Pickles sniffs my leg and wags his tail, clearly happy to see me, and at least someone here is in a good mood.
April pulls him back slightly. “We don’t like him, remember?” She’s speaking to the dog.
Rolling my eyes, I’m reminded of why I never before placed April in the contender category. “Real adult.”
Her eyes bug out at me, and her sound of disapproval flies off her lips that have a fresh coat of Chapstick, because, yeah, I fucking notice.
“Wow. You have some nerve. I mean, you are the king of mixed signals.” She stalks forward with her shoulders puffing out and that damn finger pointing at me again. “Not that I would want any signal from you, other than that our video situation is solved and I can finally go on my return journey out of here.”
I’m calling bullshit on this.
“Babe, that is the lie of the century. You have no problem following my signals, that’s all you do.”
“Don’t call me babe,” she growls.
Blowing out a breath, I prepare myself for this merry-go-round. “That’s what you took away from that sentence?” Now I have to smirk. “Oh, right, you enjoy it when I’m in control, so you can only agree with everything I say.”
“Spencer, your holier-than-thou baseball-player mindset is a real piece of work. You’re the one initiating everything.”
Now I chuckle under my breath, leaning into her space, close enough for our air to evaporate. “Nah, it’s your mouth that gets us into these predicaments. Remind me to pick up a bar of soap when I hit the drug store.”
“I much prefer tape when you want to get kinky,” she jokes but in such a serious tone that she freezes when she realizes her error.
Chuckling to myself, I find this way too entertaining. I grab Pickles’ leash from her hand, and she doesn’t fight me as she just stews in her confession. And I don’t mean the tape part; she admitted in non-plain terms that there will be another time.
I tug on Pickles' leash, and April peers down to watch him quite energetically walk closer to me.
“What are you doing with my dog?”
“He’s coming with me.”
“No, he’s not,” she volleys.
“Pickles is just living his life of Zen, remember? He suddenly has energy when he sees me.”
“And squirrels. So congratulations, you are in the same category as squirrels,” she states flatly.
Stepping dangerously close to April, I scan the scene to ensure nobody notices us before I speak in a low voice. “I’ll take him back to the house. Hadley will love seeing him when I pick her up from dance. Besides, his owner needs to take a walk and cool down because she has to think about the fact that she still has to be my plus-one this week, and you best believe I’m going to make sure you look like the woman every guy wants to fuck but won’t because they'll know you’re there with me.”
And I wouldn’t need to do much because she already looks the part.
“What woman in their right mind falls for this shit you spew?”
I don’t know, but you have me unable to think clearly.
