Page 25 of Love Unexpected
I lay on the floor in the middle of Jade and Diedre’s living room while Max rolled matchbox cars up and down my arms and legs.
“This one is the fastest,” Max said matter-of-factly. “Because it’s blue. And blue cars are always the fastest.”
“They are? I didn’t know that.”
“Yep. Followed by red cars and then black cars. Yellow cars are the slowest. Mama says when I’m old I can drive a blue car. But Mimi says my car has to be yellow.”
I stifled my laughter, recognizing the parenting styles for Max’s moms immediately. Jade was Mimi and Diedre was Mama. They hadn’t really decided that’s how it would be—Max hadn’t been talking yet when they’d gotten married—it’s just the way things had evolved, and they’d stuck with it. Jade was definitely the more cautious of the two—more inclined to hovering and covering with band-aids. Diedre, on the other hand, was pretty chill. She was warm and nurturing, but not super worried about climbing trees or skinned elbows. “You’re a kid, Max,” I’d heard her say more than once. “Getting scuffed up is part of life.”
For my part, I was content to be the fun friend who never had to worry about making parenting decisions. At least not for the time being. If I could guarantee I’d get a kid like Max, I’d consider having children sooner rather than later. It had only taken about five minutes the first time we hung out for him to become one of my favorite tiny humans, second only to Shiloh. I loved that Max talked like a grown-up—with big words and long sentences, all with his tiny boy voice. Cutest thing ever. An image of Isaac flashed through my mind, and I wondered what his kids would look like. Whether or not they would have his dark wavy hair or be blond like his sister. Would they have his blue eyes?
“Knock, knock!” a voice called from the entryway.
I sat up, suddenly hyperaware that I hadjustbeen thinking about what Isaac’s very not real hypothetical children might look like. And now he was here. Walking into the kitchen. A blush crept up my cheeks, and my heart started pounding. My friends usually warned me when Isaac was going to be around as well.
“Rosie, your face is red,” Max whispered, his face only inches from mine.
My hands flew to my cheeks. “That’s weird,” I said, trying to play it off. “Hey, do you have any more cars in your room? Want to go see?”
Max lit up like a Christmas tree. “Yeah! Come on. I can also show you my dinosaurs.”
I followed Max down the hall to his room, not even caring if I missed the pizza. I couldn’t hang out with Isaac. We’d been messaging for nearly three weeks now. And save Isaac’s growing persistence in trying to schedule a phone call—I was running out of reasons to refuse him—things had been goinggreat.Amazing, even. Isaac was flirty and engaged and interested. But hanging out with him in person was a whole different mess. Because I had to treat him like a stranger. And he definitely didn’t feel like one. Maybe allowing my anxiety to reign would work to my advantage in this regard. As long as I was an anxious, sweaty mess, I wouldn’t want to get anywhere near him in person.
Ten minutes into my epic dinosaur battle with Max, Isaac appeared in his bedroom doorway. So much for not getting near him.
Max jumped up, his triceratops forgotten, and ran to greet him. “Isaac!”
“Hey, little man. Who’s winning the battle?”
“The Spinosaurus, of course,” Max said. “He’s on a team with the Triceratops. Rosie’s Tyrannosaurus just got beated bad.”
I glanced up to see Isaac looking at me. “Hi, Rosie,” he said, his deep voice washing over me like gentle waves on a quiet beach.
“She fought her hardest,” I said, holding up the T-rex. “But in the end, the Spinosaurus outsmarted us all.”
Isaac grinned. “I’ve always heard those Spinosauruses were wily.”
“You want to play, too?” Max asked. “You can be on Rosie’s team.”
Oh, please no.Or maybeoh please, yes?I’d never been so conflicted over a dinosaur battle.
“Actually, I just came up to tell you guys the pizza is here. Want me to eat your piece? Or...?”
“Pizza!” Max yelled, launching himself from the room like a tiny rocket. His footsteps were pounding down the stairs before I’d even put down my dinosaurs.
Isaac crossed the room and crouched beside me, scooping the dinosaurs into the plastic bin where they lived. “He’s a fun kid, right?” He stood and offered me a hand.
I only hesitated a second before sliding my hand into his, willing myself not to react to the solid warmth of his touch. This was casual, easy, a hand he would have offered to anyone. And yet, my body didnotreact like it was a casual touch.
I held his hand a moment longer after I stood, long enough to look directly into his eyes and say, “Yeah, he is.” My voice was breathy and soft and not at all like it should have been while talking about Max. I dropped Isaac’s hand and took a giant step backward. “I mean, Max. Max is fun. Super fun. The best fun.”Stop. Talking. Rosie.
Isaac’s expression morphed into one of confusion. “Yeah.” He looked toward the door. “Um, you want to eat?”
“Yeah,” I managed to squeak. I hurried past him and out the door, only hoping the fire in my face would cool before we were downstairs and facing everyone else. I made a detour through the living room, mumbling something about grabbing my water bottle, in hopes that Isaac would take the more direct route to the kitchen and give me a tiny reprieve.
Isaac did just that, and I collapsed onto the sofa, lowering my head to my knees and taking slow, deep breaths. I was fine. Things were fine. I just needed to eat, say as little as possible, and then escape before I could do anything else to embarrass myself.
Jade stuck her head into the living room. “Hey, there you are. You okay?”
