Page 19 of Second Down Scrooge

Not even my own daughter.

I’m quietly introspective after that. I finally got the starting position, and…

Now what?

It didn’t solve my problems.

Sure, we shared a kiss last Friday, but it didn’t seem to get us anywhere. We didn’t talk about it. She’s still holding back, still doesn’t trust me, still thinks I’m too immature.

So what else can I do to prove I’ve changed? Will there ever beanythingthat’s enough, or is it time for me to finally just figure out some way to move on?

As I sit here wrapping wire around tree branches as my baby girl giggles happily in a highchair, and I sit beside this woman who I’ve fallen for over the last year and a half, I can’t help but wish I had the answers to those questions.

Chapter 10: Kelly Kaplan

Sorry

Two and a Half Weeks Until Christmas

I glance at the clock when I hear Mia’s cry as she wakes from her nap, and I realize it’s well past lunchtime.

We’ve been making wreaths for the last three hours, and he’s been an absolute godsend of help when I wasn’t expecting it at all. He’s been making all my bases and taking care of Mia in between, even putting her down for her nap, and we’ve knocked out four entire wreaths and started two more.

We make a pretty damn good team, as it turns out.

“Did you want to grab some lunch?” I ask.

“I’m full from all the Cheerios, but sure,” he says with a laugh.

“Want to come with me to drop these four wreaths at the bakery? We could just grab lunch there. The chicken salad on French bread is to die for.” I close my eyes and lick my lips as I think about how good the sandwiches Ava added to the lunch menu are, and when I open my eyes, I watch as Austin visibly adjusts himself.

Something clicks as his eyes meet mine.

Wait a minute…

Is heaffectedby me?

And am I really that clueless?

I mean…sure, he’s been flirting with me, but I thought that was just his whole personality. The way he’s looking at me, the way he dropped everything today to help me, the way he kissed me the other night—it all adds up tofeelings, and for as much as he’s flirted and asked over the last year, I thought he just wantedto mess around. Sex. Friends with benefits, orcoparentswith benefits…whatever.

But this right herefeelsdifferent, and I’m not sure how I’m supposed to categorize that.

I tear my eyes away from him. “I’ll just go get Mia changed and ready to go,” I say hurriedly, and I rush out of the room before I say something I regret.

I’m not sure what I might say apart fromkiss me, but I’m not going to say that. Right now. At least I don’t think so.

This isn’t uncharted territory, obviously. We share a child. But itfeelsnew and different, and I’m not sure what changed.

I know he’s been working hard to earn the starting position, and maybe that flipped a switch in him. He’s been so busy competing on the field that he hasn’t given his personal life much thought, and now that he’s reached one goal, he can focus on something else.

It’s either that or I’m readingwaytoo much into things. Probably that. I need to get my head on straight. Maybe it’s just the holidays and the stress of getting these wreaths done that are playing games with me.

Mia is all smiles as I walk into her bedroom to pick her up out of her crib, and she starts with thedadadadastuff. I smile, and she points behind me.

I turn around and spot Austin standing in the doorway. He’s grinning at the two of us as he sweeps into the room and stands beside me.

Could we really have it all? Could this be a normal Tuesday for us, with him off work and the two of us working together for a common goal as we get the baby from the crib and head out for a lunch date?

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