Page 37 of The Manny

“Don’t shoot the messenger.” He smiled weakly. “I’m sure it’s hard hearing that stuff about your employer.”

I softened a bit at seeing the worry in his eyes. “I appreciate you being candid. Jack doesn’t share anything personal with me. He’s probably afraid I’ll judge him.”

“No one would blame you if you did. Going to prison is no little thing.”

“No. But he was very young when he got in trouble. People make mistakes.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Uh, sure. But burglary is a big one.”

Once again my insides churned at his judgy tone. “We only know the peripheral stuff. I’m sure there’s a lot more to the story. We don’t know why he did what he did. Jack isn’t a violent man. He’s emotionally closed off, but he has kind instincts.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it.”

I shrugged. “We should probably talk about something else. None of this is really our concern, right?”

“Right.” He cleared his throat. “Um… do you ever get days off?”

His question caught me off guard. “Oh, well, I’m supposed to have Sundays off, but I haven’t taken any yet because Mia is still so clingy.”

“Oh. That’s too bad.”

“Is it?” I smiled.

“It might be fun to catch a movie with you sometime.”

“I see.” I wasn’t sure if he was just being friendly, or if he was hinting he wanted to go on a date. Did I want him attracted to me? He was sexy. I could see sleeping with him maybe. Or not. I wasn’t sure yet.

“But I guess if you’re working all the time...”

I smiled. “I might be able to get a day off.”

“Yeah?” He brightened. “If you do, we should get together and do something.”

“Sure.”

He looked pleased at my response. “Great. Just let me know when you’re free. I’ll plan something fun for us.”

“What do you do with Percy when you want to go out? You don’t have a nanny or anything.”

“My sister watches him for me.” He grimaced. “I don’t go out much though.”

“No?”

He dropped his gaze. “I don’t meet many people who I’m attracted to.”

“So this would be a date?” I figured there was no point in beating around the bush. I wanted to know exactly what he was hoping for.

He glanced up, uncertainty shimmering in his dark eyes. “Is that a problem?”

“No. I just want to be sure we’re on the same page. You were married before to a woman. I don’t want to make assumptions.”

“Right. Of course.” He laughed gruffly, lowering his voice he said, “I’m bisexual.”

“Okay. I wondered.”

He grinned. “Although lately, I’m nothing-sexual because I haven’t gone out in months.”

I smiled. “I’ve had a dry spell myself.”

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