I could feel my ears turning red and winced. “We were just folding clothes. I wasn’t trying to...fondleyour underwear. I promise.”
“And why were you folding clothes? I had those exactly how I wanted them.” She paused for a beat and then her whole face lit up as she laughed. “I’m kidding! If you’re going to fold my clothes, just don’t judge anything that looks like someone’s grandma would wear it. Including the panties.”
“Mom?”
“Right! I’m making your sandwich now, Ollie. Keep Mr. Luke company.”
I watched her scurry away, a pair of knee socks bunching at her ankles as she went. The amount of bare skin on display was torturous and I had to really pull my focus back to laundry. “Whew. Okay. Laundry.”
*
“He just puts himself to bed?” I glanced at the closed door halfway down the small hallway. “What’s that like?”
Curled up on the couch next to me, Callie took a drink of tea and nodded. “He does. He has his own bedtime routine that he’s informed me that I get in the way of. I can take a hint so I leave him be.”
“He’s a unique kid.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and leaned back. “If Emma ever went to sleep without a two-hour long battle I’d die from the shock.”
“Oliver is unique. He’s autistic. He’s absolutely brilliant, advanced far beyond his age. He just struggles with social interactions.” She stared down the hall and shrugged. “I never expected to have a kid so smart, especially knowing his dad. It’s not always a walk in the park to have an eight-year-old who knows more than you do. But when it comes to his routines? He’s a blessing. He puts himself to bed by seven-thirty each night. He reads for half an hour by lamplight and then he passes out and sleeps like a little angel until six each morning.”
“So, that’s the reason for the sarcasm lessons.” I forced myself not to jump on the information about Oliver’s dad. I told myself to play it cool. “So, Oliver’s dad…”
Callie put her tea down and smoothed her hands down her thighs. I didn’t miss just how destroyed her cuticles were; they looked like they’d been chewed up and spit out. She saw me looking and shoved her hands under her thighs. “Ollie’s dad walked out on us before Ollie was one. Ollie deserved better but I know he misses having a male figure in his life…”
“And you?” I turned so I was facing her. “Didn’t you deserve better?”
Her pupils were massive in the dim lighting of her living room, eating up almost every bit of that pretty green color. She chewed on her bottom lip while wrestling her hair into something that might’ve resembled a ponytail. “Elizabeth Bathory would’ve deserved better.”
I let out a surprised laugh. “Not what I thought you were going to say, at all. Elizabeth Bathory is some pretty dark history for some as-”
“Scatter-brained as me?”
“Bubblyas you.” I narrowed my eyes and rested my hand on her knee. “Scatter-brained?”
Her mouth tightened and she looked away from me to stare absently at the black TV. “I know what people think of me. It’sbeen the same my entire life. I have ADHD and because it’s so rarely diagnosed in young girls I just got called stupid when I couldn’t focus in school. People see me as an airhead but I enjoy proving them wrong. I’m not stupid. I’m forgetful, sure, but I take medicine on important days. And why am I telling you all this?”
I leaned closer and squeezed her knee. Her bare skin was hot under my palm and so, so fucking soft. A flash of her spread out before me, all that soft skin on display, had me shifting and growing hard. “I don’t think you’re stupid. We were told Emma most likely has ADHD, but like you said, it’s incredibly underdiagnosed in girls. Michelle’s reaction was a small portion of the reason I finally filed for divorce. Will you keep an eye on Emma for me? Tell me if you see anything you recognize as ADHD symptoms?”
Callie leaned closer and put her hand on my shoulder. "Of course! Obviously, I'm nowhere near qualified to diagnose her, but I'll pay closer attention for signs that I recognize. Maybe it's too invasive to ask but… What was Michelle's reaction?"
I ran my tongue over my teeth and shook my head. There was no way I was telling the sweet woman in front of me the vile shit Michelle had said. "It doesn't matter. Thank you, Callie. I'm comfortable knowing Emma's in your hands."
"Okay, I won't dig." She was quiet for a moment, and I could feel her turning something over. "But you said her reaction was the small reason for the divorce. What was the big one?"
Of course she'd caught that. Everyone thought this woman didn't pay attention. "She was seeing someone else. For a while before I knew." The words came out flat. "I still see a therapist about it. Every other week."
"Then she's a fool, Luke. She had a man who shows up for everything and works on himself on top of it, and she went looking for something better that doesn't exist." She said itsimply, and something in my chest that had been clenched for years quietly let go.
She seemed to realize her hand was still on my shoulder because she jerked it away and shoved it under her thigh again. "Sorry. And thank you, for what you said about Emma being in my hands. I know I'm probably not a lot of people's first choice to shape their kids' education but I'm good at my job. I can be messy and unorganized but I'm good at my job and I care about every kid in my classroom."
“You don’t have to convince me. That much is obvious.” I leaned closer and brushed a knuckle across her jaw. “One night and I feel like I have every right and responsibility to touch you, Callie. It’s insane.”
Her breath caught but she didn’t pull away. She stared into my eyes as I moved closer. “L-Luke?”
I trailed my thumb over her bottom lip and down her throat to the spot where her pulse beat wildly. Her peaches and cream skin begged for me to mark it up, mess it up until it matched the rest of her life. I wrapped my hand around the back of her neck and breathed in the sweet scent of her. “I can’t walk out of here without tasting you again.”
I didn’t give her a chance to think it over. I closed the distance between us and slid my lips over hers. Just like at the lake, it was electrifying. I felt the brush of her lips all over my body. I grabbed her arms and dragged her on top of me. Pulling back slightly, I saw the hunger in her eyes and closed the distance again. I kissed her harder and wrapped my arms around her waist to tug her even closer.
She gripped me with her thighs and came alive the same way I remembered. Her hands gripped my hair and she rocked her body forward, curling in on herself to deepen the kiss. Her tongue brushed my top lip and she let out a little whimper when I opened my mouth and let her in.
