Authors: Jessica Wilde
Chris looked at me impassively,
readying himself to be a devil's advocate. "So, why is she single?"
The donut in my hand stopped
inches from my open mouth. I hadn't asked Jocelyn about anything regarding her
dating life. She obviously wasn't dating and from what I could tell, she hadn't
dated at all since she had Olivia, or maybe even since before that.
"Don't really know and I
don't really care as long as she is." I paused and set my plate down,
turning to face him with folded arms. He was going for another sip of coffee
when I spoke, "She has a kid."
He choked on the coffee and
started coughing violently. "What?!" he exclaimed while I slapped his
back.
"Yeah," I chuckled as I
picked up my plate and made my way over to the chair sitting in front of his
desk.
When he could finally breathe,
his gaze shot up to me. "She has a kid? How old?"
"Fifteen months and she is
the cutest damn thing I have ever seen."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"And what about the
father?"
I chewed on the bite of jelly
filled donut slowly. I hadn't asked about Olivia's father and Jocelyn never
volunteered that information. Technically, at this point, it was still none of
my business. I shrugged my shoulders, "Don't know."
He shook his head and went back
to the plush leather chair behind his desk. "Sounds like you might be head
over heels, going after a woman with a child and clearly a past."
"Why do you say that?"
I feigned insult and waited for him to shuffle through the schedule on the
desk. I needed to work on not smiling so much, then no one would think
something was up.
Yeah right, like that's possible.
"Because, a single mother
only deserves a man who will fall head over heels for her and
you
, my
friend, always give what is deserved." He sat back in his chair and
swiveled side to side, giving me a triumphant smile.
I took another bite of my donut
and kept my eyes on the desktop. "So, what do you think I should do? She
is just… man, she is amazing and her little girl… I took them out to pizza last
night and I have never had such a good time, ever. She wants to protect her
daughter and I refuse to hurt her
or
that little girl. We agreed that we
would be friends for now and that's it."
His brow furrowed and he sighed
loudly. "Then there's only one thing you
can
do, my friend."
I waited for him to tell me
something profound, something that would bring me some sort of epiphany, but he
started writing on his notepad and reading through a few contracts, clearly
trying to make me squirm.
"Which is..." I
prompted.
His eyes jerked up to mine for a
split second and then dropped back down to his notepad. "Which is be her
friend. Be that little girl's friend. And you better be the best god damn
friend she has ever had or could ever have."
"Is that all?"
He tossed his pen down on the
desk and looked at me as if he were speaking to a child. "And don't screw
it up."
"Wow, well that is totally
new information that helps me out tremendously, thank you," I replied
sarcastically.
"Anytime," he muttered
and waved me to the door. "Jenny will be calling soon. I'll ask her what
she thinks, but for now, I think my manhood has been emasculated with this
conversation so I'm bringing it to a close."
I laughed as I walked out of the
room, "Thanks, Chris."
It was going to be a long night.
Not because the club I am supposed to go to tonight was going to be packed and
not because I could almost guarantee that there would be a few fights to break
up. Nope. It was going to be a long night because every second would be spent
thinking of Jocelyn and how long it would take to break down her walls and
allow me into her life. And because I had no idea how to even
be
her
friend.
Jocelyn
After our conversation the
afternoon of the park, it was easier to be around Andrew. It had terrified me
how trusting Olivia had been with him and it took everything I had in me not to
rip her away from him and run for the hills. He had the power to destroy us in
every way and I made sure that my guard was on the ready.
We went out for pizza that night,
but only after arguing for 10 minutes about who would be driving. He finally
let me drive, but only because he couldn't figure out how to remove the car
seat from the back of my car and get it into his. I was laughing so hard that
tears streamed down my face.
"I'll figure it out one day,
so don't even think that this is over," he had said with an amused grin
and moved to the passenger side while I strapped Olivia in, secretly glowing
about his 'one day' comment.
Then, after arguing for 5 minutes
about the check, I finally gave in and let him pay. I only did it because he
started making a scene and shouting, "No, Jocelyn! For the last time, I'm
not going to just start making out with you in front of all these people!"
I sank down into the booth with a
face redder than the pizza sauce. He just laughed which in turn made me laugh
and smack him on the shoulder.
"This is what our friendship
will be like," he said with a big smile. "I pay for meals and stuff
when we go out and you can bake me cookies and anything else you feel like to
pay me back."
I tried to keep my glare on him,
but failed miserably when he winked at me and just kept smiling that dazzling
smile.
When we got home, he invited us
to go to the zoo this weekend with his sister and her husband. He said they
were taking their niece and nephew and he thought it might be fun for Olivia.
How could I say no to that? He seemed so nervous when he brought it up and I
let him squirm for a few minutes before finally telling him we would love to
go. He looked like a kid at Christmas.
It was Saturday and I was anxious
to meet Andrew's sister. Obviously, it wasn't a big deal. We were just
friends/neighbors and this day was more for the kids than anything else. Olivia
had been learning a lot of animal sounds and I was excited to see how she
reacted to seeing the animals in real life instead of a book.
I was just getting breakfast
cleaned up when I heard a knock at the front door.
I still had to get Liv dressed,
but I was ready to go and fought the urge to run to a mirror and double check
my hair and makeup. I opened the door after kicking Monty out of the way and
there he was. Freshly showered in all his gorgeous man glory standing on my
porch with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his cargo shorts. His ocean blue
eyes widened just a smidgen when they traveled down to my legs and I smiled.
That made me feel very… well, sexy.
"Good morning," he
greeted me a little breathlessly and then cleared his throat. "You look
great, Jocelyn."
I looked down at my clothes. I
had on a casual looking pink sundress that went to the tops of my knees with a
short sleeved jean jacket over it. Nothing too special. At least that's what I
thought when I put it on this morning. I thought it was very practical.
"Thanks. You look very nice
yourself." I really tried to rip my eyes away from his chest, but the
white t-shirt he was wearing left nothing to the imagination. His shoulders
strained against the material as he shrugged.
"We ready to head out?"
he asked nervously as I waved him into my home.
"Almost," I stated over
my shoulder and lifted Liv out of her high chair. Her face was covered in
yogurt and she had been squishing what was left of her banana between her
fingers. "Just gotta clean Liv up and get her dressed."
Monty was pretty much begging
Andrew for a scratch and when he finally gave in, I swear I heard Andrew having
a conversation with him about not bringing him along.
"Mommy, nana," Olivia
exclaimed.
"Yep. You got the banana all
over you, huh? Let's get you cleaned up." I carried her over to the sink
and started to wash her hands off and wipe her face. I didn't realize Andrew
had walked in until he was right next to me holding out a clean kitchen towel
for me to dry her off. "Thanks."
"Hey there, pretty girl. You
ready to go see the lions?"
"Raaaar!" Her little
roar was adorable and she scrunched up her face so she looked angry when she
did it.
Andrew chuckled as I lifted her
back into my arms and made my way to the stairs. "Just give me about five
minutes."
"No problem. Take your time,
Jocelyn."
Monty followed me up into
Olivia's bedroom and sat in the doorway as I rummaged through her clothes. He
looked at me like he was slightly bored and I tried to ignore him. After a
quick diaper change and a short struggle to get all her clothes on, Olivia was
sitting on the floor while I tried to do her hair. She kept moving which made
the job difficult, but after Monty came and laid down in front of her with his
ears back and his nose nudging her little feet, she held still and let me
finish braiding her dark curls.
"Thanks, Monty. You know
just what to do every time don't you?"
He didn't lift his head, but his
eyes met mine and I swear he said,
"Yeah, so why aren't you taking me
with you?"
"I'm sorry, buddy. No dogs
allowed at the zoo. Plus, you'll scare off all the animals with your wolf
side."
He scoffed at me and kept his
eyes on Olivia as I finished up.
"How about this?" I
helped Liv to her feet and lifted his head so he would look at me. "When
we get back, I'll let you eat a whole burger patty tonight for dinner. How does
that sound?"
His ears perked and his head
tilted in that way that let me know he was listening, but he didn't make any
other move.
"Okay, fine. I'll let you
have two, but that's my final offer. Take it or leave it."
He stood with his head still in
my hands and put his ears back as he moved into my body and nudged me excitedly
as if to say,
"Deal."
I could be wrong though.
I made sure he had plenty of food
and water in the kitchen and then we were off. Andrew didn't complain too much
this time about not being able to switch over the car seat and as a reward, I
let him drive my car. Olivia bounced in her chair when we played her favorite
song from Mumford & Sons and giggled when Andrew tried to hit the high
notes to the newest Kelly Clarkson song on the radio.
By the time we got to the zoo, my
cheeks were aching from all the smiling I had done already.
This is going to
be a great day.
Andrew
I was pretty nervous about Maddy
meeting Jocelyn. I knew there was nothing to really worry about since I knew
both of them would get along, but they were women. Unpredictable.
I called Maddy as soon as we got
to the ticket booth and she was already inside at the gift shop. I had thought
about buying a stroller to carry Olivia, but Maddy said that Josh would
probably walk most of the time and they had a double seated one. I worried
about the two little girls getting along and hoped that Ella wouldn't be too
upset sharing with Olivia. We made our way into the gift shop with Olivia
holding onto Jocelyn's hand tightly and when she saw all the stuffed animals
her eyes widened and she said "Oh wow!" That's when I knew I was done
for. I was going to buy her whatever she asked for and there was nothing
Jocelyn could say about it. Maddy and Ty were going to tease me relentlessly.
What
is wrong with you? Chill out. Be cool.
"Drew! I'm so glad you guys
made it!" Maddy ran over to us and threw her arms around my neck. I hadn't
seen her for a while and she was obviously having withdrawals.
Her hair was the same dark color
as mine and fell just above her shoulders, her eyes were blue with flecks of
gray, a lot like our mother's eyes, and she had a firm jaw and laugh lines even
though she was only 26. Every time I looked at Maddy, I remembered our mom and
the way she was always trying to get us to laugh. Maddy was so much like her it
hurt sometimes. When they first died, it was difficult just to talk to her. Now,
I welcomed the memories. She was not just my sister, but a good friend.
"Introduce me to her."
I felt my face flush and gave her
a warning look. She could be really blunt and couldn't give a rat's ass about
it.
I placed my hand at the small of
Jocelyn's back and splayed my fingers out. I may not be able to touch her like
I want, but I was going to take any opportunity that was given to me. I felt
her flinch a little as my hand connected with the back of her dress, but the
small shudder that ran through her immediately after made my grin even wider.
"Maddy, this is Jocelyn White. Jocelyn, this is my sister Madison Bennett
Taylor."
Jocelyn reached her hand out to
shake Maddy's hand while my sister glared at me for sharing her hated middle
name, but then she brushed her hand away and gave her a big hug instead.