Authors: Jessica Wilde
"Oh, it's so nice to meet
you. I've heard a lot about you."
"Maddy," I warned.
Jocelyn had a shocked expression
on her beautiful face as she turned to face me. "Well, I hope he didn't
say anything too awful."
"Ha! I'm sure he doesn't
think there is an awful bone in your body! No, it was all very wonderful
things." Maddy winked at me and I just shook my head, annoyed that she was
throwing me under the bus, but not complaining because Jocelyn stepped a little
closer to me as I returned my hand to the small of her back.
"And this gorgeous little
girl must be Olivia!" She crouched down in front of her and gasped as she
took in Jocelyn's daughter. "You are so pretty! I'm Maddy and we are going
to have a blast today."
Olivia giggled shyly and hugged
her mother's leg tightly. "Oh, Liv you are just fine. No need to be shy,
love," Jocelyn crooned as she tucked some loose strands of hair behind her
little ears.
Just then, Ty came barreling
across the store with Ella on his back and Josh chasing behind him. "Hey,
man, glad you made it." He slapped me on the back and then wrapped his arm
around Madison's shoulders. "Hi, I'm Tyler, Maddy's better half."
He was actually, truly, her other
half. Blonde hair, brown eyes, and he was taller than me, which was pretty damn
tall, while my sister was short and curvy. They were complete opposites in
every way, but the longer they had been together, the more Ty started to show
us all who he truly was. 'The love of a good woman' he always said. I was
starting to believe him.
"Oh, shut it!" Maddy
slapped him on the chest and laughed.
Jocelyn looked like she was
beaming and got a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"So, your name is Tyler
Taylor?" she asked with a grin.
Tyler frowned at her, but his
eyes were filled with amusement. I used to tease him about his name so much, we
almost didn't stay friends. Over the years, he had gotten used to it.
I couldn't help myself. I burst
out laughing.
Tyler stared at Jocelyn a little
longer, trying to make her squirm, but she kept the grin on her face. Probably
because Maddy looked like she wanted to hug her again.
"I like you," Tyler
smiled.
I knew then that this was going
to be a day to remember.
We walked around the whole place
twice because the kids kept asking to go back and see the monkeys. Olivia was
amazed with all the animals and Jocelyn could hardly keep her from trying to
climb over the barrier when we got to the elephants.
We had been there about two hours
before we stopped for a break and had some ice cream. Ella and Olivia had been
great together and were sharing their ice cream cones back and forth before Liv
dropped hers on the ground. She looked to her mother with her bottom lip
sticking out and tears welling up in her eyes. It broke my heart into a million
pieces.
Jocelyn immediately hugged her
and wiped her tears, then gave her the rest of her barely touched ice cream
which halted both her tears and her sadness. She smiled and giggled at Jocelyn
and quickly started to smear the sweet treat all over her face.
I watched the whole thing in
fascination, amazed at how quickly the little broken heart was put back
together. Jocelyn watched Liv with a smile on her face as she made a huge mess
and I couldn't take my eyes off of her.
When she turned to look at me, I
couldn't think of what to say or do other than hand her my ice cream cone with
a wink.
"Oh, I'm fine, thank
you," she laughed and waved dismissively.
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"But it's really good.
Chocolate," I sang and waved the heaping cone in front of her.
She laughed again and shook her
head in amusement. "Okay, fine."
She grabbed the cone out of my
hand, brushing my fingers in the process and making my stomach clench, then
brought it to her lips and wrapped them around the cold cream.
I watched, hypnotized, as she
licked her lips and moaned quietly.
"Mmmm, that's
delicious."
A part of me grew anxious to get
the ice cream back from her so I could put my lips where hers had been, but
another part of me never wanted her to stop darting her tongue out to lick the
melting drips of chocolate.
I heard Maddy snicker from across
the picnic table and finally moved my eyes away from the most arousing thing I
had ever seen. She was smiling and waggling her eyebrows at me, obviously aware
that I had been ogling Jocelyn with my tongue practically hanging out of my
mouth.
Before she or I could say
anything, Jocelyn handed the ice cream back to me and excused herself to go
clean Liv up who had demolished her treat.
I took a few deep cleansing breaths,
clearing my head of the fog that had overwhelmed me.
Just friends…
Just… friends.
Jocelyn
After that first week, Andrew and
I saw a lot more of each other. The zoo was a blast and the kids got along
really well. Andrew couldn't get enough of Olivia's expressions every time she
saw one of the animals up close. When we got to the reptile house, I pretty
much had to drag him in with us. Who would have known that a man as big and
strong as he is could be terrified of a tiny snake. I'm not saying I like the
creepy creatures, but he was constantly latched onto the back of me when I
lifted Liv to see inside the cages, thinking I could protect him. It made
Olivia giggle so who was I to say anything?
When we got home, we were all
exhausted and Olivia wasn't going to wake up for anything. He carried in the 2
giant stuffed animals, a giraffe and an elephant, and the 5 other small stuffed
animals that he insisted on buying for her while I carried her up to her room
and laid her in the crib.
We said our goodbyes with a
promise of hanging out again soon and the most perfect day I had experienced in
a long time came to an end.
He made sure he was around a lot
after that. If we didn't have plans for a day, he would stop by before leaving
for work and make sure I had everything I needed and if not, he would make sure
to stop and pick up
anything
for me. He was still a little hesitant
around me, probably because I was trying to stay guarded around him, but I
decided that if we were going to be friends, I could ease up on him. I was
extremely comfortable around him and found myself gravitating to him whenever
we were together.
It helped that he always smelled
so incredible and his warmth was so inviting and calming.
Ben was really the only good guy
friend I had ever had. His friendship had always been more of a brotherly
thing, though, so spending time with Andrew could have been extremely awkward.
I didn't want to see him as a brother, but I didn't really want to think of him
as anything else. Too bad my mind and my heart were on completely different
pages. Was I attracted to him? Yes. Could I have a platonic relationship with
him? Of course. Did my heart feel like slapping me in the face because of that?
Yep.
We found out that we liked a lot
of the same TV shows and since I didn't have a television, yet, he said I was
expected to be over to his place in time to watch them with him.
"I feel stupid sitting there
laughing all by myself or yelling at the TV because someone did something
stupid. You would do me a great service by joining me," he had pleaded.
Of course, I gave in, but only
because I was tired of keeping up on the shows by watching them on my computer.
My internet made the download take forever. That's the only reason. I swear.
"Plus," he added,
"you are the only person I know, besides me, that actually gets excited
about watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory. We are perfect TV show
buddies."
Again, I didn't argue.
I did, however, want to jump in
his lap every time we sat down to watch a show and ended up asking way too many
questions about what the hell was going on because I couldn't concentrate on
anything else.
Just friends?
Joss, you
dumbass.
I had been concentrating on my
friendship with him so much that my frequent headaches had started to taper
off. That or I just didn't notice them as much.
After the third week, he offered
to start coming over to watch Olivia for me while I put in a few hours of work
here and there. The first day made me a little nervous. I barely got anything
done because I was straining to listen for Olivia and hear that she was
alright. When Andrew came into my office holding a giggling Olivia out in front
of him, as far away as possible, with Monty nowhere to be seen, I could smell
her diaper before he even said anything.
"Someone has a present for
you," he said, his nose scrunched up and his face turned away from the
offending gift.
I told him I was busy and he
would just have to do it by himself, knowing that would make him squirm.
"I-I don't know what to
do," he finally admitted with a desperate look on his face.
I almost died laughing.
That's when I started noticing
the sweet kisses they gave each other on each cheek anytime she was in his
arms. I ended up embarrassing myself even more when I couldn't take my eyes
away from his arms, wishing they would wrap around me, too. He had to call my
name a few times to snap me out of it, but he never said anything else about
it, just smiled and winked. Winked! He had no clue what that did to me. Or did
he?
He found out a little more about
me after some well placed questions, but I still skirted around the questions
that I didn't want to answer. He was very patient and didn't seem to get too
upset about my reservations. One more reason to wonder why I said I only wanted
to be friends. I should have just changed my name to Dumbass because that's
what I kept calling myself anytime he was nearby.
After the fourth week, we had
gotten into a routine and were practically inseparable. Neither one of us
knocked anymore. Every Monday had been pasta night, every Wednesday Olivia and
I went to his place to make cookies - only allowing him to do it himself once
with disastrous results - and every Friday Andrew took us out for pizza.
Saturdays that he wasn't working were spent at the pool attempting to teaching
Liv how to swim - and occasionally wiping the drool off my face due to his
shirtless form - or the park playing in the sandbox and wearing Monty out or
just staying home and having a barbeque with Madison - my new gossip queen
friend - and Ty.
Sundays were spent lounging
around in our pajamas watching cartoons and Disney or Pixar movies with Olivia
sitting between us on his couch. Andrew worked most Tuesdays and Thursdays and
other random nights of the week, but he always made time to spend with us and
Olivia expected an 'Adoo kiss' hello and goodbye with many in between.
My headaches had all but
disappeared by then, which pleased me greatly. I knew I was just being
paranoid.
By the time July 1st came, Olivia
had looked forward to seeing Andrew almost every day and she would clap her
hands and run to him whenever he showed up or when we walked into his house. It
made my heart flutter and stop at the same time. She loved him and it
brightened my soul to see her so happy, but made me anxious about what the
future would bring. We were in this now and I admitted to myself that it wasn't
only Olivia's heart that was in danger. Mine was, too. He was funny, charming,
smart, sweet… everything a woman looked for in a man. We talked about anything
and everything and he made me feel like I could finally look up.
We skirted around each other
carefully, only touching to give a brief hug or when he would lead me through a
door at the small of my back. There was one time that he accidently brushed my
breast when he took Liv out of my arms to carry her to bed. His cheeks had been
bright pink when he walked up the stairs after a quick, "Oh, sorry,"
and he left quickly after that.
I couldn't help but find
amusement in his insecurity about it. He always seemed like a ladies' man to me
just by his easy smile and charm. Then I realized that he never went on dates
and never really had anyone over to his house besides us and his sister.
Something I decided to ponder
later.
This was the first evening we
spent alone together in the several weeks we had known each other. Madison came
and picked Olivia up and took her to play with Tyler's niece, Ella, who had
given her heart to Olivia that first time at the zoo. She was just over 3 years
old and adored Liv, constantly asking about her and begging to see her. Madison
was going to be with them and her sister-in-law the whole time, so I agreed to
it.
I immediately regretted that
decision when Andrew came over just as Madison walked out with Liv and said
that he had 'suddenly' been given the night off. My hands started sweating and
I fumbled around for the first half hour trying to figure out how to spend time
with just an adult. Time with Andrew. Alone.
Nothing romantic or even remotely
close to that had ever happened, but there was always heat between us and his
hello hugs had gotten longer and goodbye hugs had made my skin heat to melting
point. I would catch him watching me whenever I was busy cleaning or cooking.
He would catch me watching him whenever he was playing with Monty or just
watching TV. Neither one of us spoke about it, but both of us felt it.