Page 94 of Mr. Infuriating

I stood to get a rag to clean his hands and face, but Gabe put his hand on my arm.

“Finish your soup. He’ll be okay until you’re done.”

It was such a foreign concept, finishing my food before jumping to help my kid. No one had ever encouraged me to do that before. I hadn’t realized I needed permission from someone else to take care of myself, but Gabe was right—Jake was fine while I finished.

“Thank you,” I said when I finally put my bowl in the sink.

He cocked his head. “For what?”

I shrugged, unsure how to put how I was feeling into words. “For telling me to eat hot soup.”

It was a lame explanation, but he smiled like he understood.

“Of course.”

I glanced at Jake and sighed. “I think we’re going to do things out of order tonight. Bath first, then play time.”

Gabe also looked at the mess that was my son and chuckled. “That’s probably a good idea.”

I quickly wiped Jake’s hands, so he didn’t get pudding all over me when I took him out of his high chair.

“We’ll be back.”

He gave me a soft smile. “I’ll be here.”

I couldn’t help but wonder though, would he really?

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Gretchen

After Jake’s bath, I wrapped him in his blue hooded shark towel and took him into his room to get him dressed for bed. But as I gathered his pull-up diaper and pajamas., the little stinker took off to streak through the house while screeching, “Nakey time!”

I started after him and banged my knee, which doubled me over momentarily.

“Jake William Wainwright, get back here!”

He just giggled and kept going, his little arms flapping like a bird as he ran.

Normally, naked time was not discouraged. He liked to run around the house for ten minutes with nothing but the breeze on his behind, and I was all for it, especially when he’d use the potty while doing it.

But it wasn’t something I wanted him doing when we had company over. Especially around someone as little kid-averse as Gabe.

Picturing the look of horror on Gabe’s face prompted me to hobble toward the kitchen, the direction Jake had run.

I heard the humor in Gabe’s voice when he exclaimed, “Oh my goodness, it’s a naked boy!” followed by the pitter patter of Jake’s feet and his squeal of delight at being acknowledged. I suspected he thought Gabe was going to give chase like he knew I was when I called again, “Jake Wainwright!”

I limped into the kitchen—which I noticed was clean—and found Gabe sitting at the table with his computer, wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses.

Hello Sexy Nerd.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a naked baby butt running around the coffee table in the family room.

“No running around the table!”

Jake must have noticed the change of my tone, because he came to a halt immediately with a look of panic on his face. Which of course made me feel bad, so I softened my voice when I moved closer and told him, “You have to be careful, baby. You could fall and hurt yourself on one of the table’s corners. If you got hurt, that would make Mommy so sad.”

He arched his back to flop on a couch cushion like only a little kid could contort himself to do.

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