Page 33 of Personal Foul

I try to suppress my smile. “You too, ma’am.”

I find Reagan smelling a bar of soap.

“Find one you like?”

“This smells like bourbon and vanilla, what do you think?” She sticks the bar under my nose, making me smell.

“They nailed that combo.” I grab the bar from her hand and smell again. The smoky smell of bourbon and sweet smell of vanilla overtake my senses, instantly making me think of sitting back relaxing by a fire and sipping on a fine drink.

“What about this one?” Reagan pushes another bar into my hand, and I give her back the bourbon one. I eye the bar before lifting it and inhaling. Instantly overcome with a woody but citrus smell.

“That’s sandalwood and citrus. Which do you like more?”

“I like them both.” I take the basket from her arm before dropping the bar in my hand into it.

“You don’t need both,” she chastises.

“One can never have too much soap,reina,” I tease.

Reagan rolls her eyes before wrapping her hand around my bicep. “Let’s go before you spend all that money.”

“Reina, it will take a lot more than soap to break the bank. But you want to try? Go for it.” I shrug. Reagan ignores my comment.

“Come on, I want to grab some fish and produce before we leave.”

We check out and make our way to the fish market and it suddenly hits me. This is the most normal couple thing we’ve ever done, and I love it. I could see us doing this every Saturday morning for the rest of our lives.

Chapter 8

Week 8

Garrett

“Don’t worry. We will take care of him.” I stand next to her dad and pops, with my hand on Nick’s shoulder.

Reagan is in Texas for work for the next week. She was fine leaving Nick with her dad and grandfather, but Pops also has doctor’s appointments to go to. That left her struggling to find someone to cover Nick on the days it affected his school schedule. She was reluctant to add me into the mix. I rearranged my schedule so I can be there for him.

We have been seeing each other for well over a month now, whether she agrees with that assessment. I understand why she wants to keep us separate. Nick’s her child. He’s the most important thing in her world. While she likes me, if it came down to it, I would be out on my ass in a second if it meant protecting him. I don’t fault her for that. What she doesn’t understand is that the little bit of time I’ve spent with Nick has changed me. He was already important to me because he is important to her, but getting to know him? Even if she left me, he would still be important to me. I would still always be there for this kid. I might not be his father, but I sure as hell want to be his family.

That’s why I volunteered to care for him while she’s gone. Planning to come over every morning to have breakfast with him before taking him to school, then picking him up at the end of the day. What I didn’t expect was for it to be so easy.

“Hey.” Nick jumps onto the stool at the kitchen island.

“You hungry?”

“After-school snack?” he teases.

“Don’t be a smart ass,” I say, making him laugh. “What do you want to do today?” We both look out the window and the rain coming down.

Nick turns back towards me. “How do you feel about video games?”

“I’m a guy, safe to say I like them.” I quirk a brow.

“Gramps and Pops don’t,” he points out.

“Yeah, well, I’m not old,” I say, making us laugh.

“Come on.” I follow Nick out of the kitchen and up to his room. Next thing I know, we’re on our fourth game of Fortnite and I’m losing my cool.

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