Page 23 of Wishing for Love

He was more focused on school anyway. It wasn’t worth it to chase someone down and force them to believe something they didn’t want to. In his eyes, if they didn’t believe or trust him, they didn’t need to be in his life.

“I don’t blame you,” she said. “Back to Maryn. You two are best friends and she gets pregnant and you are the guardian right away?”

“Yes,” he said. “She asked and I’d never say no. We went to college together and stayed in the area. She’s originally from Mississippi. You know I’m from Florida. We even shared an apartment together after we graduated.”

“Which would have made it hard to date too, right?”

“After college not so bad. Maryn had a girlfriend and the woman I was dating saw that. But nothing stuck. I didn’t have my business then. I was working in a lab and then testing things on my own outside of work. Eventually, Maryn bought a house and I stayed in the apartment alone until I bought this place.”

Experimenting on the side was how he discovered what he had, spent over a year getting his patent on it and then took the leap to get it to work.

Everything he had was tied up in this, even money borrowed from his father. More like shares in his father’s name, but not a ton. He’d said he’d pay the money back and had every intention of it. Hopefully not that long from now.

If he could get his shit together and not have so many problems at once falling into his lap.

“What about Nora?”

“Nora came into the picture when Elsie was a few months old. I think Nora wanted the baby more than she wanted Maryn, and Maryn realized that when Elsie was three and Nora was trying to parent as if it was her child.”

“So Maryn ended things with Nora?” she asked.

“Yes. It was messy. I had Elsie a lot back then because of the fighting and tension. Maryn was trying to get things set and Nora didn’t want to leave.”

He didn’t want to think back to the threats Nora made for custody. It’d never happen and Maryn got her attorneys quickly. Guardianship had been locked in place and legally there were no worries, but that didn’t stop the drama.

Maryn hadn’t brought anyone around Elsie again after that, even if she was dating. Uncle Nix ended up being the date night babysitter and he supposed it was a great thing since Elsie was so comfortable with him.

“Yikes,” she said. “That does explain things.”

“What did Elsie say about Nora? I didn’t think she even remembered her.”

“Nothing much. Just that there is some little girl named Nora in her class and that she remembered her mother had a girlfriend with that name. It could have been platonic, but I was guessing, all things considered, that it wasn’t.”

“Glad to know it wasn’t much more than that,” he said. He didn’t need to worry about anything else at this point. “Everything is going well? I know we haven’t talked much one on one.”

“Everything is great,” she said. “You’re around if I have questions, but we are getting things worked out. I did find some dance classes for Elsie if you’re willing.”

“Absolutely,” he said. “I had it on my list of things to look into.”

“They will start the first of the year. She missed the sign-ups for the other ones.”

“That’s fine. I want to get through the holidays first. I never asked—did you want to go home for Thanksgiving next week?”

“No,” she said. “I never do. It’s not much fun.”

He wouldn’t ask why. It wasn’t his business. “I won’t go home. I rarely do and my mother spent almost a month here with me. Not all my siblings will be home either. We are kind of scattered all over the place currently.”

“I can cook for us,” she said. “I’d love to do it. Just a small turkey breast and sides and desserts.”

“I’d love it,” he said. “Or I can take us out. Lots of people go out for Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Then you don’t get all those yummy leftovers. Really, I can cook if you want.”

“I think I’d like that,” he said. He scraped the rest of his bowl clean. “I can’t tell you the last time I had a snack this late and I already feel sleepy. Maybe that’s a good thing.”

“I’ve been sleeping like a baby upstairs,” she said. “If I haven’t thanked you again for this job, I will now. It’s the best.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. He grabbed her dish and brought it to the sink to rinse out and put in the dishwasher. He felt her eyes on his bare back, but he didn’t want to be the cad staring ather legs as she walked up the stairs and hoped for a glimpse of what might be under her T-shirt.

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