Page 81 of Sinful in Scrubs

“We will not traumatize her with public displays of affection,” he said. “She will know that her parents love each other.”

“Yeah, sure. Ask me how I felt every time you and Mom kissed in public,” Lily quipped. “Traumatizing.”

I laughed softly.

Jason’s game was coming down to the wire. Bases loaded. Two strikes. The tension in the stadium was thick. The baby, completely unaware of the gravity of the moment, chose that exact second to start fussing.

As Jason stepped up to bat, her fussing turned to wails of misery. I grabbed the diaper bag from between my feet and hurried out of the stands to tend to her. By the time I returned, the entire stadium was on its feet, cheering.

“What did I miss?” I asked breathlessly.

Marcus turned to me, beaming. “He did it!”

“A home run?” I asked, my heart sinking.

“Yep.”

“I missed it,” I said mournfully.

“Don’t worry,” Marcus reassured me. “Somebody got it on video.”

“It’s not the same,” I complained.

Just then, Jason ran up to us, his face flushed with excitement.

“Did you see it, Mom?” he asked.

My breath caught in my throat. He called me Mom.

“It was fantastic,” I said, trying to hide the tears in my eyes. “I think that kind of win deserves a celebration.”

Marcus grinned. “I think so too.”

“Can we call Zumu and have Chinese?” Jason asked eagerly. “I promised I’d tell her all about the game.”

“Of course,” I said as I handed over my phone so he could call her.

Jason ran ahead, already talking excitedly to his step-grandmother over the phone. The two of them had become the very best of friends from the first time he met her. Zumu loved having ‘a strong young man’ to dote over. And he willingly hauled those twenty-five-pound bags of rice up to her apartment without a complaint.

I held the baby while Marcus wrangled the stroller. It was a highly rated model that was supposed to collapse and expand easily. It always seemed to be such a hassle every time we had to fold it up. I mostly left it open and ready to be used, especially at home.

“You would think that for something so expensive, it would actually work,” I complained. I tickled my girl on her tummy in case she caught the annoyance in my tone. I didn’t want her to think she needed to be upset because Mommy was. She was a very empathetic baby, catching everyone’s moods and making them her own. Right now, she was surrounded by happy people, so she was happy.

“What are you talking about? This one works fine,” Marcus said with a grunt as he got the last wheel to click into place. He took the baby and buckled her in.

I tossed the diaper bag into the under carriage storage and started pushing the stroller along.

As we were leaving the park, Lily sidled up beside me and took the stroller from out of my hands. “Don’t think I didn’t notice what that idiot just did back there,” she said.

“What are you talking about?” I asked. My mind was already working out the logistics of getting to the restaurant and whether I could swing by home to send out those files. Too many things in my head to be able to focus on what Lily was hinting at.

“Don’t think I’m gonna start calling you Mom or something.” She nudged my shoulder with hers.

I let out a light chuckle. “I wouldn’t expect that of you.”

She smirked. “Yeah, certainly wouldn’t want you to, you know, develop an ego or something.”

Anyone who didn’t know us might not have understood the teasing, but our relationship had developed on mutual respect and affection. We had a firm foundation that let us joke and tease. She didn’t call me Mom, and I never pushed any expectations on her or Jason.

---