“Get off the elevator, Isaiah.”
He nods, waving and walking backwards into the lobby. “Bye,” he says with hearts in his eyes and not to me or my son.
The woman in the elevator simply lifts one of her two Coronas in a farewell.
“Floor?” she asks, all raspy and deep before lubricating her throat with a swig of beer. She reaches past me, pressing the floor I just came from before looking back over her shoulder for my answer.
Eyes are jade green and thoroughly confused, a tiny gold septum ring shines just under the bridge of her nose, and now I get why my brother turned into a dumbstruck teenage boy because suddenly I am too.
“Should I just guess? I can press them all if you’d like and we could take a nice long elevator ride together.”
Max reaches for her, finally snapping me back into reality as if I’ve never seen a good-looking woman before.
I twist my hip to keep him from getting his little fingers tangled in her hair in a way that sounds awfully fun right about now, but this woman is not only drinking one beer at 9 a.m. on a Thursday, she’s drinking two.
I clear my throat and press Sanderson’s floor myself.
Miss Double Fisting on a Weekday flips her hair over her shoulder as she retakes her spot in the elevator next to me. Regardless of her morning beverages of choice, she doesn’t smell like booze. She smells like a cake and suddenly, I have a sweet tooth.
Out of my periphery, I catch her looking at Max with a little smile.
“You’ve got a cute kid.”
You’ve got a cute everything, is what I want to say in response.
But I don’t because, as of last fall, that’s no longer me. I no longer have the luxury of flirting with every pretty woman I pass on the street. I don’t have the chance to throw back a beer at 9 a.m. I can’t take a random woman back to my hotel room without exchanging names, intending to never see them again because said hotel rooms are cluttered with cribs, highchairs, and toys.
I especially don’t need to be throwing out flirty statements to this kind of woman. It doesn’t take a mind reader to know she’s a wild one.
“Does he speak?” she asks.
“Him?”
She laughs to herself. “I was referring to you. So, you just make it a habit of ignoring people who talk to you?”
“Uh, no.” Max goes to grab her again and I turn further away to keep him from grabbing a stranger. “Sorry. Thanks.”
My kid catapults his body across my waist, continuing to reach his chubby fingers towards her, going for either her or one of her beers, I’m not quite sure.
The woman chuckles to herself again. “Maybe he knows you need one of these.”
She offers me her second Corona.
“It’s 9 a.m.”
“And?”
“And it’s a Thursday.”
“We’re judgy too, I see.”
“Responsible,” I correct.
“Jesus,” she laughs. “You need something stronger than a Corona.”
What I need is for this elevator to move a little quicker, but she might be onto something. I do need a beer. Or ten. Or a few hours rolling around with a naked woman. I can’t remember the last time I did that. It sure as hell hasn’t happened since Max came into my life, and that was nine months ago.
“Dadda.” Max squishes my cheeks together before pointing towards the woman again.
“I know, buddy.”
I don’t know shit.
All I know is my kid won’t stop trying to throw his body off mine to get to her. Which is weird, because in general, Max isn’t big into strangers and even more so, he isn’t all that comfortable with women.
I blame it on the fact the one who gave birth to him left him to be raised by a single dad, a reckless uncle, and a team of rowdy baseball players. The only presence of a woman that’s stuck is my buddy’s fiancée, but even then, it took him a minute to warm to her.
But for some reason, he’s into this one.
“Come on, Max,” I exhale, readjusting him. “You’ve gotta stop squirming.”
“I know it’s weird to offer, but I can hold him if you wa—”
“No,” I snap.
“Geez.”
“I mean, no, thank you. He doesn’t do well with women.”
“Wonder where he got that from.”
I shoot her a pointed glance, but she just pops her shoulders and takes another swig.
Max laughs again. At literally nothing. This kid is just oddly into her, and this elevator ride is taking too fucking long.