Page 33 of The Manny

I shook my head and finished off my food. I had more important things to worry about other than whether or not Thomas thought I was sexy. Who cared what that punk thought? At least he hadn’t asked me anything about what Mia had said earlier. That was definitely a surprise, but a good one.

Now that my belly was full, I felt sleepy. I rinsed my dish and headed to my room. As I passed Thomas’ room I noticed there was a light showing beneath his door. I heard his voice and assumed he was talking to someone on the phone. Curiosity got the best of me, and I stopped and listened. His voice was soft. Flirtatious. It instantly annoyed me. I couldn’t tell what he was saying, but his playful tone told me all I needed to know; whoever he was talking towashis type.

Clenching my jaw, I moved past his room and entered mine. It would be a while before I could unload Thomas. Mia was way too attached to him, and my little faux pas yesterday hadn’t helped any. I comforted myself with the knowledge thateventuallyThomas would be gone from my life.

****

Sunday morning, I was enjoying a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper when Thomas and Mia burst in the front door. As they entered the kitchen, Mia was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement.

“Percy invited me to his birthday party!” Mia jumped up and down, her cheeks pink and her eyes sparkling. “He’s my best friend.”

“That’s great,” I said, grimacing. I set my coffee down and watched the happy child. “Who is Percy again?”

She frowned. “He’s my friend from the duck pond.”

“Oh, yeah. Now I remember. His father is the quiet guy.”

“That’s right.” She nodded. “But Percy’s daddy is not so quiet anymore. He talks to Thomas all the time now. Percy’s daddy is his boyfriend.”

“Is that right?” I glanced at Thomas, noticing his cheeks were pink.

“She’s mistaken,” Thomas said.

Is he your type?

Mia giggled. “He wants to kiss you, Thomas.”

Thomas’ face was red. “Mia, stop.”

“How wonderful for you.” I smirked.

Clearing his throat, Thomas said, “Anyway, we’ll have to go buy Percy a gift. What do you think he’d like, Mia?”

Mia frowned. “I don’t know.”

“When is this party?” I asked.

“This afternoon.” Thomas sighed. “We’ll have to hurry and go shopping, Mia. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“They didn’t give you much warning.” I frowned.

“That’s because we couldn’t go to the park this week.” Mia widened her eyes. “They were cleaning the pond because it was broken.”

“Huh?” I raised my brows.

Thomas smiled. “They were installing a new filtration system. They had the pond roped off. We didn’t see Percy and his dad until today, when the park reopened the pond. Percy planned on inviting Mia sooner.”

“They didn’t have my phone number.” Mia tugged on Thomas’ shirt. “Should we go now to get the gift?”

“Sure.” Thomas said cheerfully.

“When exactly is the party?” I asked.

“3:00 p.m.” Thomas met my gaze. “That means you’ll have the whole house to yourself today.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.” I nodded.

“You can sit in blissful silence.”

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