Page 8 of Bossy Baby

“What else?” Mac pressed.

Mitch shoved another fork full in his mouth as he shrugged.

Luckily, Byron took pity on him. “You’ve obviously been…paying close attention to this boy. You already know what to do.”

Did he though?

“Quit being a pussy and ask the boy out,” Byron growled.

Mac narrowed his eyes. He had a knife. He could make Byron take back those mean words. But he didn’t want to hurt Byron. Not really. Mac didn’t want to hurt anyone ever again. And the professor wasn’t wrong. It was time Mac made his move. The house was ready now. He had somewhere to take Hayley.Invite.He could invite Hayley to his house. No kidnapping. He could hear Mitch’s voice telling him kidnapping was wrong.

It was Sunday, so the shop was closed. He’d have to wait until Monday to find Hayley and talk to him. To make up for whatever he did wrong.

Maybe offer to make him a nice meal. Or a decent meal. Dinosaur nuggets, apple sauce, mac and cheese. He could do that.

Making a decision that he’d ask Hayley out soon, he happily started to pile food onto his plate.

Two

Mac

Mac pushed the cart down the chip aisle at the grocery store. Chips, cookies, popcorn. He was loading up on everything he thought that Hayley might like. Mac didn’t eat at home, instead dining in restaurants or picking up fast food, so he needed to fully stock his kitchen. Mac’s boy would not starve on his watch.

He was thirty minutes into the shopping trip and he was growing frustrated. There were so many choices. And some of them were just plain weird. He really hoped Hayley didn’t like bubble gum ice cream. That sounded nasty.

Grabbing the closest bag of chips to him, he dropped them into the cart before pushing forward. This was hard. Harder than he’d thought a simple shopping trip should be. Next time he’d rope Mitch into coming with him. See if Mitch would ask Avery along. Mac couldn’t ask Avery himself as Jace still didn’t allow Avery to even talk to Mac.Stalk a guy for a few months and his Daddy gets all irate.

He rounded the corner into the beverage aisle and checked out all those options. Shit, should a boy even have soda? That wasn’t healthy. Mac couldn’t stand the taste, personally.

Another cart clipped his as they tried to pass.

Annoyed, Mac looked up ready to snarl at whoever hadn’t been paying attention.

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t watching… Mac?”

Of course. It was his boy. His cute, sweet, happy boy. Mac tried to relax his facial muscles so he didn’t send the boy running away.

“Hi, Hayley,” he greeted him. He needed to show that he was happy to see his boy. He tried to remember everything Mitch had told him the past few months. “I’m happy to see you.”

“You are?” Hayley grinned, but his smiled dropped quickly. He peered around Mac. “Why?”

Mac didn’t like it when Hayley didn’t smile. He’d been honest. He was happy to see Hayley. Mitch had told him to be honest. But Hayley wasn’t happy. Mac cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head, a habit he had around his boy. Hayley was the only person alive who made Mac nervous.

“Mac?”

“I’m happy to see you because I felt like something went wrong yesterday. You seemed upset when I left.”

Hayley shook his head. “I wasn’t upset. Not really. I just… Can I ask you something?”

Mac pushed his cart as close to the shelf as possible so he wouldn’t be in the way of other shoppers. He knew how to use his manners. Manners were important. Haley had excellent manners. “You can ask me anything. I want us to be able to talk openly.” Communication was apparently important in a relationship. According to Byron anyway.

“I don’t understand…” Hayley waved his hand. “Never mind that. I wanted to ask you…do you have a family at home?” He looked down into Mac’s cart. “You have kids, don’t you? Of course, you do.”

Mac frowned.Kids?Why would Hayley think he had kids? Did Mac come across as a family man? That was a joke. Maybe Hayley was messing with him. Although he’d never thought Hayley was mean. “I don’t have kids.”

“But?” Hayley stepped closer to him. “The junk food?”

“I…”

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