“I’ll see you later,” he whispered and kissed her forehead. She melted into his touch and watched as he walked over towards the door. “Don’t eat all that candy today. If I find out you did, your bottom will pay.”

Her mouth hung open as he walked out of the house. How was she going to resist him when he was saying those things and making her food? Janie was going to try her damn hardest to resist him so he could move on and find someone better.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

JANIE

Mac had taken Janie to get her car soon after he got back from the grocery store. Mixed feelings had flooded her. She was happy to have the independence back but at the same time, she was feeling off that Mac wouldn’t be taking her everywhere. Not that she went many places, but she liked it when he drove her places.

She thought it would be the opposite in the beginning. That she would hate him driving her everywhere, but the few times he had she was relaxed and content. He had been taking care of her and taking all of the worries she had. Well, most of them and then he added to some. Or maybe that was her just adding to them.

Janie had no clue and she didn’t really have the time to dwell on it right now. She needed to go out and run some errands that were important. She just hoped Mac would be home today to watch over Eleanor. It was such short notice. If he couldn’t, she could run them with Eleanor but it would be quicker if she didn’t have her while running them.

“Are you ready to go and see if Mac can watch you?” Janie asked as she picked up Eleanor.

“Macie!” Eleanor yelled.

Janie chuckled and nodded her head. She had given up on correcting Eleanor that it was Mac and not Macie. It was catchy.

“Let’s go to Mac.” They walked out of the house and toward his. She brought her hand up and knocked on the door. He was home since his car was outside but would he have time to watch over her. That was the question.

“Pinky,” he said as he opened the door. “I wasn’t expecting to see you until later today. I’m currently cooking the last couple of meals for you.”

She blushed and looked down at her feet. Janie didn’t know why she let that nickname get to her. Maybe it was because no one else called her that. It was special between them. Intimate.

“What can I do for you? Do you need help?” he asked. “Is everything alright?”

“Would you,” she took a deep breath in and looked at him. It was hard for her to ask if he could watch Eleanor. What if he said no?

“Yes?”

“Would you be able to watch Eleanor for an hour or two? I need to run a couple errands and it would be faster if someone was watching her,” Janie rushed out. “But if you can’t, then that’s perfectly fine. My errands can totally be done with her.”

His warm hand landed on her shoulder and she relaxed. She didn’t know why she was getting so wound up about this. People asked for help all the time. She asked her babysitter if she could watch Eleanor.

What was so different about this time? Janie closed her eyes. It was different because it was Mac. He wouldn’t be asking for payments. She was also worried that Eleanor would start to see Mac as a father figure and then it would not work out.

That was one of her biggest worries. She didn’t want Eleanor to suffer because of her. Janie knew she wouldn’t be able toprotect Eleanor from everything, but she wanted to try to protect her from the things she could.

“I will gladly look after Ellie while you go run some errands,” Mac said. “Is there anything specific you want me to do with her? Snackies? Drinks?”

“Just not a lot of sugar, please. I don’t need her running around on a sugar high and crashing several hours before bed time. I want her to sleep through the night.”

“I promise I won’t feed her a lot of sugar. We may make chocolate chip cookies, but I’ll make sure she doesn't have a lot.”

Janie’s mouth started to water at the mention of chocolate chip cookies. She absolutely loved cookies and was jealous that Eleanor would get to have some.

“Could,” she started to talk, but stopped herself.

“I’ll save you some. And I’ll make sure to have some coming right out of the oven when you come and pick up Ellie.”

She blushed. “Thank you.”

“And if you crave chocolate chip cookies at any time, you let me know and I’ll make you some.”

Janie didn’t know how to respond. He was offering a lot of that recently. “I’ll be back in an hour or two. Thank you again.”

Mac grabbed Eleanor out of her arms and she waved bye. “I’ll see you later, baby.”