"Hi, Mom.”
"Hi sweetie. Your dad is here too." My dad comes into the screen and gives a quick wave, then disappears.
"Are you sure he's there?" I laugh. Dad isn’t much of a phone guy.
"I made a mistake and called in the middle of a game, which he refuses to pause." She glares over at him and my dad’s hand waves her off. Nothing comes between my dad and his football. Not even me.
"It's fine. I know how he is.”
“He’s stubborn. That’s how he is. Now, young lady, how about you? I haven’t heard from you in a while. You haven’t called me back in days. You always worry me when you do that,” she says sternly, and I bite my lip. I went from seeing my mom every day. When I moved we would try to talk every day, and now that Liam is in the picture, he has taken up all my extra time between Matty and work.
"I'm sorry."
"Well, I'm assuming you've been busy...new job. New man." She grins with a bright knowing twinkle in her eyes. My mother is an awful gossip and now I’m regretting telling her Liam and I are trying things because she’s always going to want allll the details.
"Mother. Stop.”
"Don't mother me." She laughs. "I want to know how everything is going…"
The rest of what she says is cut off when the front door slams shut and Matty excitedly squeals something about Pandas. The two of them walk into view, Liam cradling a very happy and sweaty Matty in his arms, who is sucking down the last of a water bottle.
"It's hot as hell out there," Liam says, as he places Matty onto the ground. My little man goes running into the living room to play, tossing his now empty water bottle to the ground. Liam slips his shirt off over his head and my mouth waters taking in his perfectly sculpted chest.
He's doing this on purpose to distract me. I just know it.
The last two weeks he seems to find any reason to take off his shirt when I’m around. As if he’s tempting me and my needy libido to cave to his attempts. The inviting ‘v’ to his happy trail peeking out from his shorts makes me want to…
"Holly? Did I lose you there?" My mother chimes and I have forgotten she was on the line still. My phone is upside down on the counter. I fumble to pick it up.
"Yeah, I'm here. Sorry. What were you saying?"
"Did I call at a bad time?" My mom's head bobs around the screen as she's looking for something or someone. "You seem very distracted."
"No. I'm here," I tell her. My eyes follow Liam as he moves to the fridge.
“Uh-huh.” She clicks her tongue. “Well, I wanted to know how you and Matty are doing?"
"We're doing great." I grin and my mouth goes dry as I watch Liam chug down a bottle of water.
Yep, he makes drinking water sexy.
"Is Matty around? I want to talk to him. It's been so hard not seeing him all the time."
“Yeah, your timing is perfect. He just got back from the park.
I call Matty and he rushes over, excited to talk to his grandparents. The three of them used to spend so much time together when I lived with them. I knew it was hard on them when I left, especially my mom. Matty would spend hours sitting on her lap as she played computer games.
He snatches the phone from my hand. “Papa!” Matty squeals when my father’s face fills the screen.
“My quarterback.” My father chimes in brightly. He only gets this excited for Matty on the phone, everyone else he stays stone faced and quiet. “I’ve missed you, buddy.”
I roll my eyes. "Oh, so you'll talk to Matty and not me. I see how it is."
“Of course, he’s my grandson. We have so much to talk about.”
“Really?” I shake my head and let my parents clamor on with my son.
“Hey you.” Liam grabs me around the waist and pulls me tight against him, kissing behind my ear.
“Did you two have fun?” I ask, placing my hands on his bare chest.
“Of course. I pushed him on the swing for about an hour while trying to add a new word to his vocabulary. The vocabulary lesson was still not a success.” He playfully pouts, which I find absolutely adorable.
“You'll get there.” I kiss his chin.
Liam and Matty have been spending more time one on one. We’ve been trying to work ‘Dad’ into Matty’s vocabulary, but so far our little boy seems content calling him Li-um.
“It smells good in here.” He tilts his head up. The smell of chicken, lime, peppers, and cheese wafts through the air, but I smell mainly him, apples and man. "Whatcha making?" he asks, eyeing the pot on the stove.
"Dinner. You want to stay?" I tease my finger along the hem on his shorts. Yep, I’m only torturing myself.
"Is that even a question? I've taken up permanent residence on your couch."
Liam has been sleeping on my couch on and off for the last two weeks, saying he wants to be closer to us. Those sweet words make it harder not to tempt myself to pull him into my bed. Liam hasn’t brought up the subject of taking Matty overnight to his place, and I haven't pushed it, but I know we will have to talk about it soon.
"You could invite me to your place, and I could take up residence on your couch if you want to trade it up." I smirk.
"But your place is
