“I need you to see my face,” Xeni said before dropping that crazy grin. “Wait, shit. I have to send you something. It didn’t send. Call me back as soon as you get it.”
“What—” Xeni ended the call and two seconds later a video text popped up.
She thought she was seeing things when she looked at the thumbnail, but when she pressed play her eyes almost fell out of her head. It was a video of a White guy and a Black guy, both shirtless in a backyard or something, going head to head in a push up contest. The White guy was definitely Rafe. Beardless and missing the tattoo that now covered the right side of his neck, but she could tell it was him.
Whoever was counting had them at sixty push ups a piece, but they were starting to slow down. At around seventy-five, Rafe looked like he was going to tap out. At seventy-eight, he collapsed to the ground before getting to his feet. The crowd around him went wild as the other man picked up steam at the obvious ego boost and did ten more pushups. Finally, the Black guy stood and they clasped palms. A gentleman’s bet.
Sloan immediately called Xeni back. “Where did you find this?”
“Girl, you gotta learn how to Instagram deep dive. His sister posted it.”
“Jesus.”
“You’re gonna hit that, right?”
“Um, no. He’s my nanny!”
“That is true, but if he’s single and you’re single... Who is he gonna go to. HR? You are HR!”
“No.”
“Okay, so what exactly happened? What did he say?”
“He said he’d never worked for a single mother that he’s been attracted to before.”
“And what else?”
“That’s it. I asked him if his attraction to me would make it hard for him to focus on the girls. He assured me it wouldn’t and then, before he left, he apologized for mentioning it. He said he’d never mention it again.”
“And you believe him?”
“I mean, yeah. He just doesn’t seem the type to bullshit me like that. So he thinks I’m cute or whatever, but it ends there.”
“Here’s my solution. Wait a few days. He could secretly be wack as hell. Like, you can be wack and good with kids. Trust me. There are some wack dudes in elementary education who are amazing with kids.”
“There are wack dudes everywhere.”
“Exactly. See if he’s wack. Like, give him a few weeks. You might—wait. You’re attracted to him, right?”
“You’re asking me that? After you sent me that video? Under different circumstances, I would let him destroy this. Just wreck it.”
“Okay. Well, if, after a few weeks of catching him shirtless doing the laundry or doing some adorable shit to get Addison to stop crying, you don’t want him to really bang that pussy out, I’ll never suggest you get with him again. But if you find yourself thinking about bouncing on his lap, I’m going to tell you to roll up on him after the girls go to sleep or while they’re up with their dad. I’m going to tell you to pop a titty out and ask him what’s good.”
“Has this ‘pop a titty out’ method worked for you before?”
“I have yet to meet a man worthy of these titties. But when I do, oh I’m popping a tittyout.”
Sloan couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, okay.”
“But for real. You’ve been alone for three years. If you two are into each other, just be adults and talk about it. You can figure it out and not scar the girls forever. If it’s too dicey, then yeah, don’t go there. But if not…”
“We’re not feeling each other. He just likes the way I look and I like the way he looks.”
“Mhmm, okay.”
“I’m going to bed.”
“Don’t sprain your wrist watching that video on repeat.”
