“So…” he said after a moment or several. I really had no idea how much time had passed just staring into each other’s eyes as if we were lovers.
“So…?” I drawled too.
He took a deep breath, and that prompted me to do the same, then he said, “Books?”
I pushed myself off the shelf I was leaning on and blinked.
“Right! Books!” I said, feeling flustered.
Not that Cole seemed to mind. He chuckled and nodded as I stepped aside to show him all the picture books.
“They’re categorized according to age group. How old is Ella?”
“She turned three in August,” Cole said.
Three! Was he even legal when he had her?
And dear heavens, I was salivating on the guy.
“So you’re looking at board books but depending on how advanced she is, you could have a look at picture books. They usually have more words and more complex concepts and stories.”
He pressed his lips together, glancing from one section to the other before he put his hands to his hips and said, “What do people normally go for?”
“There’s no normal when we’re talking about kids. Every child is unique, and so is their development. I’d say if this is her first foray into books, and she’s still learning to string words together, a board book is probably better. You can use them to learn colors, animals, sounds. There are some that are more sensory too. If she’s already putting sentences together and can communicate more clearly, or if she can watch a cartoon and follow the story, I’d recommend a picture book. Or you can go for a mix and figure out her needs from there.”
He seemed to ponder my suggestion for a while as if he was unsure what to do. For a dad of a three-year-old, he seemed a little torn. I wondered what the story there was. Was he one of those dads that always worked and let the mom do all the raising? Or was he simply the kind of parent that had to weigh in every decision because he was too worried what kind of effect a simple choice would have on his daughter’s life?
Or was there something more, something beyond the surface that I wasn’t privy to?
“I think I’ll do that. Go for a mix,” he said, and I helped him pick a few titles before returning to the check-out counter where, justas expected, Lord Bookworm was getting friendly with Ella and Enzo.
“Have fun?” the latter asked as soon as we approached.
“Um… what?” I said, but it seemed the question had been directed to Cole more than me, because he groaned and turned his back on his friend.
“Don’t mind Enzo. He’s an idiot,” Cole said.
“Hey!” Enzo whined from behind him.
“How much will that be?” He pulled his wallet out, and as I rang him up, his gaze seemed to land on the Christmas bachelor auction poster still lying flat on the counter.
“Oh God,” he mumbled.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Just glad I’ve not been roped into this,” he said but then shook his head and turned his attention—and his credit card—to me, leaving me to wonder what that was about, and if he too, had been made by his friends to attend the auction.
Though I couldn’t see why, if he had a wife-slash-girlfriend-slash-partner. It did make attending more appealing, however, if Cole was going to be there too.
I shook my head and sighed.
Why does it matter? Even if he’s attending, it doesn’t mean he’ll be interested in me.
Yet the thought kept haunting me the rest of the day, refusing to leave me the fuck alone. I blamed Zainab and Alina entirely. They started it. They were the ones trying to get me laid orwhatever. Even though they had no control over my head and body, I could very easily blame them for planting seeds in my head and making me feel like nothing but a horny teenager who had just discovered his first crush.
“Yup. It’s their fault,” I grumbled and turned in my bed, trying really hard not to think of the sexy, possibly-single dad who had set my world on fire from the word go.
7.Cole
