1
MADDOX
“Canyoupleasedo the playdate on Tuesday?” Lizzy, my ex, gave me her best puppy dog eyes and completed the request by folding her hands in a prayer position as we stood next to one another and watched our daughter battle to the top of the rock-climbing wall like the gladiator she was.
It almost worked.
I was a sucker for puppy dog eyes. I had to give her an A for effort. When she wanted something from me, she knew where my weakness was.
“Adriana’s mom is only asking because she wants to hang out withyou.” Lizzy gathered her long red curls up and secured them in a messy bun on top of her head as she sighed. “All the moms have crushes on you, and they use these playdates as excuses.”
“I put in my time this month. I took Hannah to the aquarium last week with Handsy Miller and her daughter Jessica.”
Lizzy grinned. “You mean Sandy Miller.”
“No. I meanHandsy. She was like an octopus. She had her tentacles all over me.” I was only half-joking. The woman really had taken every opportunity to touch me. “And the week before that it was ice cream with Gavin and his mom Knee Slapper Nicole.”
“Knee Slapper Nicole?”
“She threw her head back and slappedmyknee at everything I said that was even remotely amusing. I mean, I know I’m funny but—”
“You’re not that funny,” Lizzy stated flatly.
“Are you watching?” Hannah looked over her shoulder causing her long blonde braids to swing from side to side across her back.
“Yes, Banana!” Lizzy called out.
“We’re watching, Peanut!” I gave her a thumb’s up.
Banana was the nickname most people used for Hannah, but I’d been calling her Peanut since the first ultrasound. I’ll never forget looking at the screen and seeing a tiny peanut-shaped blob. From that second on, she was my Peanut.
Once Hannah was sure that she had our attention, she continued Spider-Manning her way up the wall.
“She doesn’t need to go on playdates with other kids,” I argued. “She has Bella and Lexi.”
Alex and Nick, the two men I considered brothers, both had daughters Hannah’s age. The three girls were all born the same year and had grown up together. They went to the same school, had sleepovers once or twice a month and were inseparable.
“Lexi and Bella are like her sisters. She needs to havefriends.”
Lizzy and I always tried to be on the same page with Hannah, and when we weren’t we talked it out until we came to a compromise. So, I came up with one.
“If you think she needs playdates, you go on them. I’m done. Every time I go on one, I have to take a shower because I feel violated.”
“Look, I’m just being devil’s advocate here, it’s not all the moms’ fault. You definitely share some of the blame for how they act.”
I’d never led a woman on in my life. If I was seeing someone, it was casual. No strings. No commitment. No future. Everyone who I had any interest in, knew the score up front. But I wasn’t even interested in anything casual from the moms at Hannah’s school.
“Me? What do I do?” I asked.
“You’re…you.” She waved her hand up and down.
“Thanks for clearing that up.”
She nodded as if I wasn’t being sarcastic. “I mean there’s the obvious. The whole tall, dark, and handsome thing, being a dead ringer to Ryan Guzman, a genius, a millionaire, tech nerd, having a body that Zeus himself would envy, and your whole sexy bad boy with a heart of gold vibe.” She sucked in her breath through her teeth as she shook her head back and forth slowly. “But it’s not any of that. It’s your eyes. Those suckers were what kept me coming back for more even though I knew this wasn’t a serious relationship and it wasn’t going anywhere.”
“My eyes?” From the time I could remember women had commented on my eyes. They said they loved them, that they could stare into them forever, that they felt like they were the only person in the world when I looked at them, but I’d never understood the appeal. They were brown. You couldn’t get more plain than brown eyes.
“Yes,” Lizzy confirmed. “For most people they are the windows to the soul, but your eyes are liars. They make you believe that you are more interested and invested than you really are.”
