Page 95 of The Rules of Dating

Colby looked at me. “I think we’d better get Saylor home and out of your hair. But thank you for the offer.”

I smiled. “Maybe another time, Mrs. Lennon. That soup sounds great.”

“Please, call me Yvonne.”

Outside on the sidewalk, Colby held Saylor’s hand as he asked, “Do you have to be somewhere?”

“I figured I’d head home. I’ll let you have some catch-up time with Saylor.”

“Are you kidding?” He pulled me toward him. “I’m not ready to let you go.”

“Oh really?” I grinned.

“Yeah. Will you stay with us?”

Honestly, how many more uncomplicated days did we have? There was no way I could say no. With no clients booked today, I’d only be home ruminating about Colby. So I might as well just stay with him. “There’s nothing I’d rather do than stay with you guys.”

“Cool.” He looked down at Saylor. “This one needs peanut butter, and I have to get cold cuts for the week. Mind if we stop at the market? I can pick up something for us for dinner, too.”

“Lead the way.” I smiled.

When we got to the market, Colby went one direction to get the things he needed, while us girls took off in another direction. We were having fun just browsing. I put Saylor in the cart and might have raced down a couple of the aisles. I also might have snuck some Cap’n Crunch, Pop-Tarts, and Goldfish into the cart. You can’t take me to the market, apparently. I’m an unsupervised kid with an adult budget.

We ended up in the bakery aisle—of course, because I was in charge—so I could spoil Saylor with a cookie. There was a bit of a line. At one point, the woman next to me looked down at Saylor and said, “She’s adorable. Such a pretty little girl.”

“Thank you.” I smiled.

I realized the woman had very likely assumed Saylor was my daughter. And I’d essentially taken credit for Saylor’s beauty. I took a few seconds to marinate in that feeling. In this stranger’s eyes, I was a mother. Saylor was my daughter, safe with me. Life was simple. And I truly wished that were the case, that we could go home tonight and sleep soundly without a worry in the world. An overwhelming feeling of longing came over me.

The moment was interrupted when we finally reached the front of the line.

“What can I get you?” the attendant asked.

I let Saylor choose what she wanted. She pointed to the last giant chocolate chip cookie left in the display case.

“We’ll take the gargantuan cookie,” I said.

It had to have been at least six inches in diameter. After the woman wrapped it in tissue paper and handed it to Saylor, the toddler behind us suddenly started crying.

Saylor’s joyous expression faded as she looked over at the girl.

“Is she okay?” I asked the girl’s mother.

“I’m sorry. Unfortunately, she’s not. She had been waiting for that cookie. She always gets it when we come here, which thankfully isn’t all that often. She calls it ‘big cookie’. It’s the reason we came to the market today. I’d promised her if she tolerated her haircut, I’d get it for her.”

Aw, damn. I turned to Saylor. “Sweetie, do you think you might be able to share half of your cookie with this little girl? She’s sad because we got the last one.”

To my surprise, Saylor handed over the entire cookie. “Here you go. Don’t cry.”

My heart clenched, not just because of how cute that was, but because Saylor’s eyes were also watering. What a little empath. An amazing human.

“That’s very nice of you,” the woman said. “But you should take half.”

Saylor shook her head. “She can have it.”

“Wow. Thank you,” she said. She smiled over at me. “That’s some kid you have there.”

“I know,” I said without hesitation.