Page 105 of The Manny

“Yes.” I didn’t have plans,yet. But I would by the time Sunday rolled around. I’d make sure of it. I needed to have a life other than taking care of Mia. I was allowing myself to fall into a dangerous, lonely rut.

“Is it a date?” he asked.

My face warmed at that prying question. “Does it matter?”

His face twitched. “No.”

“Then I’m not sure why you’re asking me that.”

He lifted one shoulder. “Curiosity.”

I sighed. “Can I have the day or not?”

“Of course.” His voice was clipped. “I have no right to stop you.”

“No. I know, but I’m trying to be considerate. In case you have plans already or something.”

“I don’t have any plans on Sunday.”

“Great,” I said in a falsely bright voice. “I’m glad that’s settled.”

“I’ll bet,” he murmured.

Ignoring his boorish tone, I smiled down at Mia. “Ready to go?”

Mia nodded. “Yep.”

Jack frowned. “Why are you rushing off?”

I gave a confused laugh. “Aren’t you working?”

“Yes.” He studied me.

“I figured you’d need to get back to things.” Did he actually want us to stay longer? Was that a sign that maybe he was thawing toward me?

He avoided my gaze and said, “Well… I uh… I haven’t seen much of… Mia… lately.”

Right. Mia. Duh.

Had I actually hoped he’d missedme? Of course he’d meant Mia. I needed to get a grip and stop hoping he’d start things up with me again. “I still need to shop.” I hesitated. “I suppose I could leave Mia here and pick her up when I’m done?”

For one second, I thought there was a glimmer of displeasure in Jack’s gaze. Then sanity returned and I realized that was obviously my imagination. Jack didn’t care about me, and the sooner I got that through my thick head, the sooner I could move on. If he wanted to spend time with me, I lived in his home. Since he was avoiding me, that right there was my answer.

“That works.” Jack stood. “Would you want to see the tire swing we have out back, Mia?”

She widened her eyes. “You have a tire swing?”

“Yep. We have a bunch of spare tires, and the guys thought it would be fun to make a tire swing.”

Mia jumped up and down excitedly. “I wanna see it!”

Jack’s smile softened his features. “Great.”

“In that case, I’ll just go do my shopping and I’ll see you in about an hour.”

“Without looking up, Jack said, “Sure thing.”

I moved to the door, but Mia ran after me.

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