Page 13 of Leo
Until Naomi figured out what my moping was about when Edward was about a year old.“There’s no shame in wanting someone, dumbass,” she’d said (Naomi wasn’t known for her sensitivity).“Being a single dad doesn’t mean you can’t ask for help or need a break, for fuck’s sake.”
Enter therapy.
And Naomi becoming Aunt Gnome to toddler-Edward.Now, instead of the careful distance I’d planned on keeping between her family and mine for the sake of clear boundaries after she was Edward’s gestational carrier, we’d become one mish-mosh of family and it was a relief, and a joy.Edward had Aunt Gnome and Uncle Mike and his ‘cousin’ Leslie, and I a chosen family to help sometimes when I just couldn’t do it on my own.
And you could actually have someone in the romance department too, you know.
This particular inner voice sounded a little too much like Naomi for my liking.
I shouldn’t have been surprised when that thought led to others in the same vein, that Ambrose Jennings and his wide smile and that ridiculously cute nose-wrinkle when he laughed took pride of place in my meandering imagination while I sat on the floor.I couldn’t imagine him telling me to go take a nap, that he ‘got this,’ but I could definitely imagine him stretching up onto his toes and swaying toward me in what felt like dreamy slow motion.Our lips finally touching and… And I had no idea how it’d feel, I realized with a dull sort of ache.I hadn’t kissed anyone romantically since before Edward was born, cutting off my dating life when I decided to become a dad, finding it both too time consuming and too demoralizing, especially when guys consistently ghosted after finding out I had a kid on the way.
Stop that,I chided myself.You damn well remember kissing.Stop being such a caricature about it.You’re allowed to want.To feel desire.
To act on it, even.
My eyes flew open at that.Was I?Was I really?What kind of dad would it make me if I dropped Edward off with Naomi and Mike just so I could get laid?
A horny one, dumbass.
Edward’s door opened and he stared down at me.“Can I play the goose game?”
Scrambling to my feet, all thoughts of Ambrose andmaybeshoved aside for now, I offered him a hopeful smile.“Aunt Gnome and Uncle Mike are coming for dinner, remember?Do you have homework to finish first?”
He snorted.“I’m in first grade.Only the big kids get homework.”
“That’s not entirely true,” I reminded him, standing aside to let him lead the way to the living room.“You have spelling words to practice, and your math worksheet.”
“Ugh,” he groaned, flopping on the sofa, a tiny teenager in a six-year-old’s body.“I havesome,” he admitted.“But I’ll do it later.I promise!”
I had every faith that meant we’d been arguing about him finishing his homework right around bedtime, but I was going to pick my battles.“At least wash up before Aunt Gnome and Uncle Mike get here.”
He slid from the sofa in a boneless slide, moaning the entire way down.
“And help me set the table.”
“Ugh.”
* * *
Naomi,Mike, and Leslie arrived just as I was taking the lasagna out.Edward had rallied, washed his hands to get the sticky off, and helped set the table with almost everything in the correct place, all the while telling me about Bethany’s ‘super cool book of bugs’ and something she’d told him about called Little Bugs at the wildlife center.“It’s a class, Dad,” he said, excitement thrumming in his voice.“All aboutbugs.That’s so awesome.I thought I’d have to wait till college for that!Can I take it?She said it’s in like Feverary—”
“February,” I corrected gently.His eye roll was so adult it made my heart pang in my chest.
“February,” he repeated carefully.“And there are classes for big kids and grown-ups, too.”He paused in the middle of a place setting.“Do you think the kid class will be too babyish for me?I know a lot about bugs and insects.Oh!Maybe I can teach it?Like if the grown-ups only know baby facts, I can tell the other kids some really cool ones that aren’t boring!”
I scooped him up and kissed the top of his head, making me squirm and giggle before setting him back on the floor.“Let’s get through tonight first, and tomorrow I’ll look at the wildlife center’s website and we can talk about it, okay?”
He frowned.“I’ll remind you.You’re old and I don’t want you to forget.”
“Hey!”
He giggled, running to answer the door as Naomi rang the bell.
“Come in!”he said, tackling first Naomi, then Mike, with hard hugs.“Dad’s super old!”
Naomi winced.“I’m six months older than he is, kid.What does that make me?”
Edward shrugged.“Also old.We’re having lasagna!Hey, did you know there’s a class called Little Bugs at the wildlife center?”
