Page 29 of Mom-Com
My journal was open in front of me on my desk, waiting for me to document my science experiment progress, but I couldn’t get myself to write anything down. Simply because my reaction to Lily-Marie and her reaction to me was nonsensical, which had no place in a scientific journal. I looked through the window in my office to the halls of the science lab surrounding me. I felt like I’d let the entire field of science down by not being able to place my relationship with Lily-Marie into a formula.
I slammed the journal closed and threw it into my satchel. Tuesday afternoons were supposed to be open office hours for me, but I couldn’t stay stuck behind this desk any longer. I needed to move, to think, to process. Walking out of the building, I didn’t even see where I was going, I was so wrapped up in my thoughts.
I’d been stunned, to say the least, to realize that I was developingfeelingsfor Lily-Marie. My entire hypothesis hinged on the fact that true romantic feelings between people were bullshit. I mean, I wasn’t professing to love her or anything crazy like that, but I definitely couldn’t deny the feelings of attraction I’d felt when I saw her in that ball gown. It was attraction, but it had a nuance to it I couldn’t describe.
Then Milly had hugged me like I raised the sun every morning and I felt something tug at my heart. Logically, I knew the heart was simply a muscle, there to pump blood and oxygen to the body and keep us alive.
And yet.
Something in my chest lurched and reformed during my time in the dressing room with those two females. My heart was pumping as usual, but it was now connected to Lily-Marie and Milly in a way I couldn’t see, define, or understand. It was weird. It was disconcerting. It was nonsensical.
And don’t get me started on how angry I’d become watching Lily-Marie throw herself at every male in a three-mile radius when she was having dinner with me. Okay, with me and the kids. But dammit, I wanted her attention on me, not some middle-aged loser who had no idea she dreamed of Prince Charming and sucked at sewing and forgot to put gas in her car.
Right there, standing outside my Volvo in the parking lot at Pacific Coast College, it came to me. I needed to be her Prince Charming. I needed to sweep her off her feet.
Clark told me that’s who she wanted. So that’s who I’d be.
I’d left a note on her car yesterday, reminding her to stop at the gas station. I’d put a flower on her doorstep the morning after our dinner thanking her for a lovely evening. All very princely actions, right?
Zero response.
It was time to pull out the items on the list of fifty ways I’d rolled my eyes at and told myself I’d never actually do.
“Aha!” I shouted. Several students walking to class eyed me like I’d lost it, but that meant nothing to my current bubble of excitement.
I’d dance with her. And if things went really well, I’d pull her in for a swoon-worthy kiss. All of which required little to no conversation, which suited my strengths.
What could possibly go wrong?
* * *
Tuesdays and Thursdays were typically the days Lily-Marie worked from home and her car in her driveway confirmed it. I parked, exited my trusty ride, and nearly ran into my house at a full sprint. I only had an hour before she’d be leaving to pick the kids up and I needed to be properly prepared.
Wooing a woman was so far out of my wheelhouse, I was positive I’d mess it up, but I was holding out hope she’d see past my fumbles to the feelings—shudder—that lay beyond. Preparation was key, that I knew. So, I sprayed on cologne and took off my tie and sweater nerd uniform, leaving only a button-down shirt. I brushed my teeth and grabbed my laptop, pulling up YouTube while I raced over.
“Jameson. Hi.” She answered the door, but didn’t automatically step back to let me in, which was odd. Usually I got a broad smile and a warm welcome. I’d become used to that, so the opposite felt like a splash of cold water to the face.
I blinked. “Oh, I’m sorry. Am I interrupting?” What an idiot. I hadn’t even thought about the fact she was supposed to be working and maybe my presence would be an intrusion.
Her cheeks went red and she smiled shyly, looking at the ground. “No, no. Come on in.”
She finally stepped back and I squeezed past, purposely brushing against her ever so slightly, using my wide screen laptop getting through the doorway as the reason for stepping so close. I heard her sharp intake of breath and smiled. I was no expert, but that seemed like a very excellent thing. If she felt nothing for me, she would’ve breathed normally when I came close.
Either that or she feared me.
Well, that wasn’t good. Maybe the gulp meant I’d intimidated her in some way, which was never my intention.
Here I was, adrift without a paddle, hoping to sweep a woman off her feet with a wish and a laptop. A serious case of wooer’s remorse flooded my system as she shut the door and followed me into the living room. “Abort, abort!” were the only words racing through my brain. My mind scrambled to come up with a plausible reason for being here, if not for my original plan.
“Jameson? What’s going on?”
I blinked rapidly, like that movement might stir up an idea from the sludge covering the synapsis in my brain. Lily-Marie was looking at me like I’d well and truly lost it, which perhaps I had.
What was that phrase? In for a penny, in for a pound? I was in for a tonnage. Go big or go home. That was another applicable phrase, considering home was right next door. Go for broke. I could have kept going with the maniacal idiom word play, but Lily-Marie’s face was changing expression with each passing second of silence, like a human stop watch, chronicling my epic meltdown.
“Um. Well. Could you help me with my computer?” I held out my life line, the ancient but trusty computer I should have traded in years ago.
She glanced down at it and took it, even though she looked thoroughly confused. That would make two of us, sweetheart. She immediately set it on the coffee table, which was probably a good idea considering it weighed more than most hybrid cars these days.
