Page 21 of Connected By Love
“Good. Thanks to you, I was able to squeeze in another client today. Did he give you any trouble?”
“No. He’s perfect. You’ve done a really good job with him, Travis,” she says softly. “He’s a great kid. He’s happy too and thinks the world of you.”
Emotions take hold of me as I nod my head. “Thanks. He’s my world, too.”
“He’s a very lucky boy.” She looks away before I can read what she’s thinking. “I should go.” She walks by me, and I place my hand on her stomach to stop her. I hear her sharp intake of breath to match mine. My hand burns through her shirt, and I grip her tighter.
“I think about that night every fucking day. I try so hard to get it out of my head, but it keeps haunting me.” My voice is low as I struggle with what I’m feeling.
“I do, too,” she whispers, avoiding my eye contact as she looks down at my hand on her stomach.
I fist my hand in her shirt, struggling and raging the war inside me on whether to take this chance. “Soph…”
“Daddy!” Max comes running back in, and I immediately let go of her and step back. “I can’t find the remote. I’ve looked everywhere.”
“Okay, buddy. Let me help you find it.” I follow Max out of the room and feel Sophia behind me as she walks with us. She goes over to her purse and begins to put her heels back on.
“I’ll see you at school on Monday, Max. Thanks for letting me hang out with you and showing me your room. I think you have the best car collection I’ve ever seen.” She smiles down at Max as he comes running over to her to say goodbye.
“You’re coming back over Monday, right?” He looks up at her with hope in his eyes.
“I wouldn’t miss it.” She runs her hand through his hair as he gives her a big hug around the waist. She looks up at me, and the look she gives me nearly breaks me in two. I can tell how much Max has grown to mean something to her.
“Good!” He runs back over and takes the remote from me, which I found hidden in the couch cushions.
“We never discussed payment. I’m not having you watchMax for free.” I walk over to her as she takes her purse off the counter.
“I’m not having you pay me, Travis. I told you, I enjoy spending time with him. Your house is on the way home from school, and it’s only for a couple of hours. It’s no big deal.”
“It’s a big deal to me. Let me pay you back somehow.”
“A tattoo,” she says out of the blue.
“You want a tattoo?” I look at her, surprised. I know she doesn’t have one yet because I memorized every inch of her body that night.
“I do. I don’t know why I waited this long, but I do really want one.”
“What do you want?” The thought of placing my art on her untouched skin sends a course of heat through my body. I feel myself start to get hard just from the thought.
“Surprise me. I really don’t have a clue, but I’m curious what your mind would come up with.”
“You want me to surprise you? So you’ll let me ink anything I draw for you into your skin?” Ideas are already flooding my head about what I want to put on her.
“Well, I want to see it first. I wouldn’t want your face tattooed across my ass or anything,” she laughs.
“If I were to put my face on you, it wouldn’t be on your ass. It would be where every guy that comes up to talk to you would see it. I would make me look mean and a complete badass to scare them off.” She giggles, and the sound makes me feel things I don’t want to acknowledge. “Let me see what I can do, and I’ll get back to you with a draft. You can look it over and tell me what you think.”
“Perfect.” She walks to the door, and I hate the thought of saying goodbye and not seeing her until Monday, but the words to beg her to stay are locked away tight with fear. “Goodbye,Travis,” she says softly, glancing back one last time before walking out the door.
“Goodbye, Sophia.” I lean against the door frame and watch her pull out of the driveway until I can’t see her car anymore as she drives away. Sighing, I walk back inside and shut the door, knowing that a piece of me is already flying down the road right now in the hands of someone else.
I look at Max, who’s focused on his TV show. The top of his head barely peeks out over the sofa. Am I doing what’s best for him? I see the way he is with Sophia. Does he miss not having a mom in his life? I thought I was enough to fill that void, and now I’m second-guessing everything.
I walk over to him and sit down next to him. “How about we order a pizza tonight and put a movie on?”
“Pepperoni and mushrooms?” His grey eyes look back at me, mirroring my own.
“Pepperoni and mushrooms,” I laugh. I think he’s the only kid in history to like mushrooms at his age, but I secretly love it because they are a favorite of mine too.
