All he does is nod his head and leave without saying anything. I don’t bother watching him walk down the steps, instead I close the door. The sound of the click echoes throughout my apartment and I’m sure the staircase. I lock the door, another sound that seems louder than it ever was before. My head falls to the door as I close my eyes, and I can still picture his eyes right before he kissed me. It was the same look in his eyes all those years ago. “He’s with someone,” I tell myself before I push off from the door and go to the bathroom.
I turn the water on in the sink, avoiding looking at myself in the mirror. The guilt of me kissing a man who is with someone isn’t a look I want to see. I turn the shower on, stepping in and putting my head back so the water can run down my face. Even when I get out of the shower, I avoid looking at myself as I slip on my shorts and tank top.
I peek in on Avery, who is out for the count. Today has been the most she’s ever done at the fair.
She must have done that teacup ride ten times in a row, happily showing the girl her bracelet each time. I bend to kiss her forehead. “I love you,” I whisper to her, and all she does is turn over on her side.
I tiptoe out of the room toward mine and slide into bed. My lips still tingle from the kiss.
“Asshole,” I hiss when I lie down and think about the kiss I shouldn’t be thinking about. “He just kisses me,” I blurt out. “You let it happen also.” I’m about to argue back to myself when the beep from my phone makes me turn to look at the side table where it came from.
I just stare at it as another beep comes in, this time I reach out and grab the phone, seeing it’s a text from Stefano.
Are you up?
I don’t know why I answer him. I should just put the phone down and ignore it.
No.
I’m about to turn on the do not disturb when the phone rings in my hand. Seeing his name pop up just gets me angrier that he’s put us both in the situation. Maybe he’s used to doing things behind his girlfriend’s back, but I’m not going to enable him. I press the green button. “Hello,” I answer, waiting for him to say something.
“Hi,” he says, letting out a huge deep breath, making my stomach get all these damn flutters. Why is him breathing out such a turn-on?
“Listen.” My voice comes out a little higher than I want it to, and you can definitely hear the pissed-off tone. “I am all for you being a dad to Avery, but that is where it ends with us.”
I wait for him to say something to apologize for putting both of us in this awkward place, but instead, he shocks me with his question. “Go on a date with me?”
The shock quickly leaves and it’s replaced with rage, and I sit up in bed. “Excuse me?” I ask him because what if I think he asked me out but instead he asked me to take Avery out?
“Go on a date with me?” he repeats the same question, but this time I know I heard right.
“Are you insane?” I snap out. “I am not going to date a man who is dating someone else. This isn’t Sister Wives.” I shake my head. “The audacity.”
“Addison,” he says my name softly, “I’m not dating anyone.” His words stop me from cursing him out.
“What?” I ask, shocked by this news. “When?” I toss the covers off me and get out of bed. The
nerves are running through me so fast that sitting down is going to drive me crazy, so instead I just pace my small bedroom.
“When we first met to talk about Avery.” His voice is soft and all I can do is sit on the bed.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I close my eyes, wishing I knew this before he kissed me so I could have—I don’t know—made it last longer. Maybe jump his bones at my front door. Maybe climb him like a monkey and never let him go.
“You never asked,” he replies, and I take the phone away from my ear and put it on speakerphone.
“What was I supposed to ask you exactly?” I chuckle nervously. “Oh, hey there, did you tell the blonde who chased you around all night at the wedding that you’re a dad?” I wish I had an off switch when it came to my mouth and being nervous.
“I don’t know,” he huffs “maybe because you care,” and all I can do is gawk at the phone.
“You made me think I was the other woman,” I hiss at him. “Do you know how bad I felt?”
“I’m sorry, I never meant for you to feel that.” His voice is so soft and sounds so sincere, I have to close my eyes before I do something stupid like ask him to come over. “Go out with me on a date. I want to date you, Addison. Like a real date. Like a woman and a man go out together, even though they already have a child.”