I choke on my own tongue. Did she really just say that?
My mother loves to put my brothers and me on the spot.
I could bullshit her but Ma is intuitive as hell. Plus, I wouldn’t mind a woman’s perspective on my plans for tonight. “I wanted to do something nice for Jessa,” I blurt out.
Ma’s eyebrow jerks up and she wears a happy little smile on her face. “Is that so?”
“Yeah.” I lick my lips nervously. “She’s been really good to Callie.” I hesitate. “And to me.” I shove my fingers through my hair. “So I just wanted to do something nice for her, too.” I give a little chuckle.
What I don’t tell her is that I want to impress the nanny tonight. I’m planning to put the moves on Jessa.
The lady’s eyebrow goes even higher. “Are you…are you interested in dating her?”
I weigh the question and answer honestly. “I’m not sure I’m in the headspace to date anybody right now. Let alone my nanny.”
So far, what’s going on between Jessa and me has been purely sexual. But Mom is asking me about my intentions for a relationship. And that’s when it strikes me—I don’t want this to just be about sex. But as much as I’d like to play with the idea of something more, I can’t pursue that in good conscience.
“I can’t go there, Ma. I mean what do I really have to offer her? I’m a grumpy, unemployed single dad with a criminal record.”
My mother opens her mouth to rebuff my argument but she stops herself when Callie scampers into the room. I’m grateful for that. I’d rather not have this conversation in front of my impressionable young daughter because the last thing I want is to get her hopes up.
The child sits at the island with her Barbie and Ken dolls along with a little kitchen set. “Nana, doesn’t she look like Jessa?” She affectionately runs a brush through the hair of her brunette doll.
“She does look like Jessa,” my mother agrees, “with all her long, pretty, dark hair.”
“And he looks like Daddy.” Callie adds. “Now that he cut all his beard off.”
I stroke my poor insulted chin. My kid really was not feeling the beard, huh?
My mom looks at the Ken doll. “Y’know what? He does, sweetheart.”
I observe the preppy man doll and cringe. At least I don’t look like a Ken doll in the places where it counts. Between the legs.
“Yeah, this is Jessa, and this is Daddy.” Callie holds up each doll in turn. Then her focus moves back to playing.
My mother and I turn our attention back to the food prep. She gets to work cooking some rice while I whip up a salad. We keep the conversation light and pleasant and I realize that I’ve missed hanging out with her like this.
A few moments later, when I glance over at what Callie is doing, I’m horrified. Barbie and Ken are standing at the stove cooking up plastic eggs and pancakes. And then, out of nowhere, Ken rears his hand back and lands a firm slap on Barbie’s ass.
My mother lets out a gasp.
Callie looks at me over her shoulder with a devious smirk. Christ. My sneaky little demon spawn just ratted me out to my mother.
My eyes meet Ma’s. She looks like she’s about to hyperventilate holding back laughter.
“Ma, it’s not what you think,” I say defensively.
She ignores me, smiling as she wipes her hands on a towel.
“Kids often…misinterpret the things they see.”
She doesn’t answer as she removes her apron.
“We can’t read too much into what children do. Especially young ones like Callie.”
My mother hunches down next to her granddaughter at the table. “Cal, what do you say you and Nana have a sleep over tonight? Just us. Girl time. Does that sound good?”
The tiny, adorable traitor hops off of her stool and starts bouncing around the kitchen. “Yay! I wanna do a sleepover!”
“Run off and grab your pajamas and your backpack, sweetie,” Mom instructs her.
I’m still fighting a losing battle to convince my mother that there’s nothing to see here. “Ma, I don’t know what you think you know but…”
“What I know is that my son has been through one heck of a past few years and now he’s met a really good woman and he likes her and that’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
When she puts it like that, I don’t know how to build an argument. I don’t know what to say to deny this.
“Enjoy your night, Eli. Make the most of it.” On that, she heads off with Callie to pack up her overnight bag. She stops at the end of the hallway and throws me a pleading look over her shoulder. “And figure this out fast. Please don’t make me wait as long as Walker and Penny did ‘cause that really sucked.”
45 Jessa
I’m practically bouncing with anticipation as I exit my car and hurry up the front porch. After being in Cowersville to keep an eye on my dad for the past two days, I’m more excited than usual to be back at work. To see Callie. And Eli.
But the second I step through the front door, I can tell that something is different.
Eli pokes his head around the corner and grins. “Hey.” He’s barefoot in jeans and a plain black T-shirt with a kitchen towel slung over his wide, sturdy shoulder when he pads toward me. He’s ridiculously handsome.
Just looking at him gets my tongue all tied up. I slip my purse off my shoulder and casually set it down at my feet, trying not to look as dazzled as I feel. “Hi.”
“Let me help you with that,” Eli says when I start to shrug out of my jacket.
He circles behind me and his fingertips lightly skim my collarbone as he lifts the lapels off my shoulders. His larger-than-life presence engulfs me as he carefully slides the sleeves down my arms.
And wowzers—that was
