“Bet it was cute though.”
She laughs. “It was. We had a good laugh, till he said it in a room full of people who didn’t.” She covers her face in embarrassment. “All the looks I got. The judgment.”
“I wish I could’ve been there.” I laugh with her. Matty already sounds just like me. I'm ninety-nine percent sure I did the same thing when I was a kid in the middle of those damn parties my parents threw, but I more than likely did it on purpose.
“I’m sure there will be many more moments like that for you to enjoy.”
Our food is dropped off by another server. Holly makes a comment about how I scared our waiter away, and I wave her off. I don’t care. “His damn cologne was going to choke us all.”
“True. I’ll give you that.” I watch as Holly cuts into her salmon and she wraps her mouth around the fork, humming in delight at the taste. “This is good. I guess I should thank you.” She grins wickedly, cutting into her salmon again, her eyes on me the whole time as she does so. She’s teasing me, and she knows it. Her green eyes darken seductively, moaning loudly as she takes another bite. “Mmm…so good.”
I adjust myself under the table. Tease. Who’s flirting with who now?
“You okay there?”
“Yep.” I clear my throat watching as she slowly wipes her bottom lip with her thumb. Who the hell is this woman?
I divert my eyes away from her, though I’m loving every second of her little teasing. “So, tell me about your pregnancy, about Matty when he was little. I want to know everything,” I ask as I cut into the tender fish.
She smiles. It's so big it lights up the room. "We will be here all day if I tell you everything."
"That's okay. I have an office with amazing, capable employees and no meeting till three, so please talk away."
"My pregnancy was a blur. The most I remember is I wanted everything spicy and I slept— a lot. My water broke in the middle of the night, and I was in labor for fifteen hours before he decided to make his appearance into the world on March eleventh.”
“Fifteen hours?” I ask astonished.
“Yeah, but every hour was worth it. My mother was there to help coach me and he came out with a whole head of dark brown hair. He was perfect.” She grins proudly as I play with my napkin on my lap. I suddenly crave to know what she would have been like carrying my child. To have been there when he was born.
She taps my hand. “You okay?”
“Yeah, of course. Tell me more.”
“I think it would be better if I told the stories in pictures.” She pulls out her cell phone and moves her chair in closer to me. She opens up an album on her phone, going through dozens of memories of our son. “This is Matty on his first birthday.” She points to a picture of Matty covered head to toe in cake.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you, where did the name Matty come from?”
"I named Matty after my grandfather, Matthew. We were super close, and I wanted to honor him. But my mom thought Matthew was an old soul name and said Pops would be insisting something hipper for my, well our, precious little man." She smiles fondly and plays with the silver chain around her neck. "So, she started calling him Matty and it stuck. He only knows Matthew when he's in trouble." She laughs. "Which isn't a lot."
We continue looking at all the pictures. Holly has taken thousands over the years. Our food goes cold as we go down memory lane, but I don’t care and she doesn’t seem to either. The lunch crowd has filtered out leaving only us and our half-eaten meals.
“Who is this?” I point to a picture of a blonde woman holding Matty around the waist as he struggles to get out of her arms.
“That is the famous Terry.” She grins.
“The one who taught Matty damn it?”
“That’s the one. She’s great. She stops by all the time, helps out, and keeps the comic value going.”
I run my finger along her shoulder and tiny goosebumps form under my touch. “So, is it safe to presume there isn't a boyfriend in the picture?” I ask after noticing the lack of men in the pictures. While also needing to know for myself that no one has taken the place in her life or in her heart.
She narrows her eyes at me. “Why do you think it's safe to presume that?" she snaps.
“Well, you haven’t mentioned anyone and you did try to invite me into a bar not that long ago.”
“Because you're the father of my child, and I wanted to tell you." She counters.
"Touché. But am I wrong?"
“Why does it matter?”
“I plan on hanging around a lot and I wouldn't want to have any problems. Plus, I don't plan to stop calling you Red any time soon.”
She looks away from me as her cheeks turn that cute shade of red. "No."
"No, what?"
She turns to me, her eyes narrowing into slits. "I don’t have one, and I don’t see the importance of this. Can we move on now?”
“Alright." I hold up my hands defensively. "When can we get together? I'd like to get to know Matty better."
"Are you free today? Maybe go to the park?”
"Sounds like a date, Red."
CHAPTER EIGHT
HOLLY
"Little boy, you need a nap." I go chasing after my little ball of energy who has his Sonic doll clenched in his arms as he runs down the hall.
I'm
