Page 10 of The Last Time

But I try not to think about Lauren. It’s been two years since she passed away from cancer, and just the thought of her can send me into a tailspin.

Why does seeing Charlotte elicit such a reaction, though? I don’t know, but I sure as hell hope it was just a fluke.

Maybe I just need to rub one out tonight, and I’ll be less tense tomorrow. I don’t remember how long it’s been since I’ve even done that.

After I pick Brie up from my parents’ house, we settle in at home for dinner. I make her favorite mac and cheese with a side of steamed broccoli.

Brie actually likes her vegetables, but I’ve made a point of having them out for every meal since she was old enough to eat solid foods. If I notice that she eats more of a certain type, I will cook that more often.

“Yummy. Mac n cheese,” she squeals with a big smile as she tries to scoop an overflowing spoonful of noodles onto her fork.

I smile as I watch her struggle.

“Did you have fun with Nana and Papa today?”

She nods her head, which makes her noodles fall off her fork. Giving up on it, she grabs a handful and shovels it into her mouth. Whatever floats her boat. She’s getting a bath after dinner anyway, and I’m in no rush to force her to grow up quickly.

“What did you do with them?” I ask, then take a bite of my food.

I’m not gonna lie, an excuse to eat this food at my age is kinda nice. I don’t think you can ever outgrow your love for mac and cheese.

“Play blocks. Papa push them,” she explains then tries to show me with her hands.

She loves it when someone builds blocks with her and then destroys them together. She cracks up after they all fall to the ground.

After we finish our dinner together, I give her a bath, and we snuggle down to watch an episode of her favorite cartoon. I don’t always have the energy to play with her all the way until bedtime, but these moments when I can still snuggle with her while letting my body and brain rest are nice to have.

Once I notice her eyes begin to look heavy, I take that as my sign to get her into bed. I rock her and sing her two songs, which is our normal routine, and then I put her in her bed.

I tiptoe out even though she isn’t sleeping yet. It’s a habit from when she was an infant that I haven’t broken yet. There was nothing worse than thinking she was fast asleep just to step on a creaky floorboard and hear the crying start again.

As soon as I fall back on the couch, I close my eyes and take a moment to myself.

Being a single parent is exhausting. There’s never time to myself. The only time I get is once Brie is in bed for the night, and by then, I’m so damn tired that I’m ready to crash myself.

My phone buzzes in my jeans. When I pull it out, I see a text from my buddy Josh telling me he can make it tomorrow, which is a relief. There was no way I was getting those pipes installed in two days without his help.

The muscles in my body are tense. I normally use the weekend to recover from the grueling strain on them during the week. I make a point to never work on the weekends.

But I didn’t want her going longer than necessary without water. What I should be doing is assigning two of my guys to start on her house on Monday. It’s what I would’ve done with any other job.

I’m not sure what made me personally take the job on. It can’t just be because I’m attracted to her, even though my brain floods with images of her small waist and yet round ass and generous breasts.

My dick twitches in my jeans at just one image of her body.

Shit. I’m so screwed.

After dropping Brie off at my parents, I drove my truck to my distributor and picked up the pipes I needed for Charlotte’s house.

Now, I’m on my way to her house with all the supplies.

The more I thought about my interaction with her yesterday, the more I realized how unfair I was to her. I’m sure it was a one-time thing just thrown off by her beauty, but I still owe an apology. She didn’t deserve it.

When I pull into her drive, Josh is already there leaning against his struck with a thermos of coffee in his hand.

He nods at me as my feet crunch along the gravel. “Morning, man.”

I shake my head. “I should’ve known you’d be early.”

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