“I’m not sure yet. I’ll look around.”
“Can Jayce stay?”
“Maybe another night,” he said. “Why don’t you spend some time with your mom before you pass out on her tonight.”
“Sure, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I’ll be here,” he said.
“I’ll walk out with you.”
“I’m going upstairs until dinner is done,” Archer said, and ran toward the stairs off the kitchen while she and Jayce moved to the front door.
“I think we might try the Duke Lemur Center tomorrow. Gets us outside and involved but not working my body much.”
“You don’t have to keep taking him places. You can watch movies at home and hang out.”
“I know, but that’s boring. He gets to do that all the time.”
“He does, just like you and I did. But I don’t want him to think he has to be entertained all the time.”
“I’ll make sure he understands,” he said. “That every time he sees me doesn’t mean we are going to do things like that.”
Which led her to believe he wanted to still come around even after this week of childcare was over.
Two more days. She wondered what would happen then.
Would her son be upset if Jayce decided that he’d met that obligation and just moved on?
She would be, but she’d be damned if she let anyone know.
“I’ll talk to him too,” she said. “I really do appreciate everything this week. I’m sure I’ll hear all about today’s adventure at dinner.”
“Just remember, I’m only a man, not a god that your son is going to make me out to be.”
She laughed and shoved at his arm. She couldn’t help falling back into their old routine from when they were younger.
Back then it was flirting on her part to get Jayce to notice her as more than a friend.
And when he had, she had gotten scared that she was falling in love only to have him leave and become the life of the party at college where other girls much hotter and more experienced than her were going to be in his face.
But he was here now. In front of her. In town and flirting right back.
The only problem was, she didn’t know if he was staying.
Didn’t mean they couldn’t still be friends though.
“My son likes to pump everyone up,” she said. “He’ll be calling me the queen as I sail through everything too. Was he jumping up and down and shouting to keep going and then pointing out every awesome thing you did to everyone around?”
His shoulders dropped. “Guess it wasn’t just me then, huh?”
“Sorry to shoot an arrow through your ego, but he does it to me too.”
“Because he takes after you in the athletic department.”
“Thank God not his father.”
“Yeah, let’s not go there,” he said.
