"Then . . . " I shook my head, confused and hurt. "Why?"
He opened his mouth. "I . . . I like you," he admitted as if it were some kind of great confession.
"Okay," I said slowly. "Wouldn't that mean you should feel more comfortable sharing those kinds of facts with me, then?"
He lifted his hand, as if to tell me he was having trouble explaining. "I . . . I mean, if I wasn't tied down to her right now . . . if I wasn't . . . " He groaned and shoved his fingers through his hair again. "I would want to be more than just your friend."
"Oh." I gulped. Oh, wow.
He watched me intently, regret in his dark brown eyes. "I can't annul the marriage. She's an awful mother. I feel sick about even admitting that out loud, but it's true, and I feel even worse every time I have to leave Julian alone with her. I never know if she's going to skip feeding him or not change his diaper or just leave him in his swing all day. That's why I'm itching to get home right now. What if . . . anything could be happening. If I stop this marriage, I will have no rights to him whatsoever. I basically don't now, but it's better than nothing." His eyes reddened around the edges as he pushed off the bed and cleared his throat. "I need to get home."
He was at the door before I collected my scattered thoughts enough to say, "Pick."
He stopped but kept his back to me, his head bowed.
"I understand," I said softly.
He glanced at me, looking almost sick with regret. Then his gaze flickered longingly over Skylar. "Take care of yourself, Tinker Bell."
And then he was gone.
Chapter 17
EVA
On Sunday evening, Reese and I gave Skylar her first sponge bath at the kitchen table. We were oohing and ahhing over every tiny finger and toe when Mason got a call on his cell phone.
"Shit," he muttered to the caller. "Yeah, I can take on tomorrow night. I'm already working Wednesday and Thursday. Can you handle Friday? Good. I promised Reese a date night."
When he hung up and rubbed his tired face, Reese straightened to shoot him a curious glance. "What's going on?"
Mason glanced uneasily at me before saying, "That was Noel. Pick's babysitter has chicken pox, or her kids do or . . . someone. I don't know. They're all contagious for the next two weeks, so he has to stay home with his boy until he finds someone he can trust to watch him."
I frowned. "What about his wife?"
It was her son. Why was he looking for babysitters? And why wasn't she taking off from her own job to watch him?
"She, uh, she left," Mason mumbled, ducking his chin as he answered.
"What?" I plopped down into at chair at the table and gaped.
He blew out a breath. "Yeah. He came home from the picnic at our house to find her gone."
"Oh my God," Reese gasped. "And she left her baby there? Alone?"
I felt sick to my stomach. Pick had tried more than once to call home that day with no answer. Julian had probably been alone the entire time. "I wonder how long he was there by himself. Jesus, he's only four months old."
Mason shook his head. "I have no idea how long he was alone. And I'm pretty sure Pick doesn't even want to think about it. Gamble said he sounded pretty upset."
"I bet." I set my hand over my heart, and checked on my own kid, still wrapped up in her towel as she tried to kick it off.
I felt like crap. Pick had been here, talking to me, caring for me, while his stepson was being abandoned by his own mother. He probably never wanted to see me again.
Even as I had that thought, though, I blurted, "I'll babysit."
I'd make this up to him. Somehow.
PICK
I was still in a state of shock, anger, and heartbreak when someone knocked on my door early Monday morning. Even though Tris could definitely improve on her mothering skills, I hadn't thought she would actually do this. It still haunted me to remember how I'd found Fighter screaming in his swing, beating his fists in the air, his face red with anguish as I'd come through the doorway and found him home alone.
So many things could've happened to him. Just thinking about them made me physically sick to my stomach. My hands were shaking from fear. If I ever saw Tristy again, I was honestly afraid of what I might do to her. But how could she do this to him? Her own child.
With my fingers curled into fists as I strode to the door, I half-hoped it wasn't Tris because I was scared of what I'd say, and I half-hoped it was her so I could say exactly what I wanted to. I'd been loath to put Fighter down these past few days, so he was slung over my shoulder as he napped.
I opened the door and jerked back in surprise when Reese grinned up at me. She held out her hand. "Cell phone please."
"Wha . . . ?" Confused, I wrinkled my brow and dug my phone out of my back pocket, without thought. "What're you doing here?" I was so dumbstruck, I handed the phone over, not even asking her what she planned to do with it.
"Pass-code," she ordered.
With a sigh, I took it from her and got her into the phone before handing it back.
"Thank you." Focusing her attention on the screen, she punched some numbers into the phonebook. "Here's my cell. Call me when you're done with her, and I'll come pick her up immediately. Oh, and please take care of my girl. She's not only my favorite cousin, she's my best friend, too."
I took the phone when she handed it back to me. Shaking my head and not catching on at all, I said, "Huh?"
That's when a panting Eva came up behind her, lugging Skylar in a huge-ass car seat with a diaper bag thrown over her shoulder.
Reese was instantly forgotten. I blinked repeatedly to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing. "Tink?"
She smiled, and my entire chest lit up with warmth.
"Mason said you needed a babysitter." She gave a breathless explanation. "So . . . here I am."
"You . . . ?" I shook my head in confusion, even though she'd just made it perfectly clear why she was here. "What?"
This couldn't happen, because if she stepped into my home, I'd never want to leave. Eva used the car seat as a cattle prod, plowing forward and forcing me to shift aside. Yep, I was going to have to call in and quit my job. Both jobs. I could become a professional couch potato and just drool every time she walked past. This was my new life goal.
"Okay, bye, E. Love ya." From behind me, someone in the hallway made kissy sounds. I have no idea who it was. No one else in my universe currently existed, except maybe Julian and Skylar.
But Eva leaned past me to smile at that other, annoying person, and blow her a kiss. "Love you, too. Thanks for the ride."
Her ride must've departed soon thereafter because Eva arched me an amused glance. "Are you going to shut the door?"
"Huh?"
"Go take a shower and get ready for work, Patrick." Her voice was dry, yet amused. "You don't want to be late."
"Work?" I echoed. I thought we'd already decided my new job was to ogle her.
Turning away, she set Skylar's carrier on the floor and slung this fancy looking purse thing with Skylar's name stitched across the side next to it. Then she went to unbuckle her baby. The entire time she was bent over, my gaze was fixated on her ass. And the only reason I could believe she'd been pregnant not quite a month ago was because I'd seen it with my own eyes.
Instead of taking her baby from the seat, she straightened and caught me staring. "Goodness gracious. You can check out my ass later. It's not going anywhere. Now scoot." She reached forward and began to ease Fighter out of my arms.
It was a testament of how crazy I was about her that I didn't snap her fingers off for trying to touch him. But after Saturday, I had some major attachment issues, yet another reason I couldn't go to work today. Leaving Julian just felt wrong. I really needed to sit there and hold him while I ogled the babysitter.
And then Tinker Bell made it even worse by immediately cooing as soon as she got him in her arms. "Oh my God. He's so cute. Look at those perfect cheekbones. He's going to be a model someday."
Julian stirred and opened his eyes. I tensed, ready to snag him back, because Eva was a stranger and would probably scare him. But he merely blinked at her a few times.
She grinned and kissed him on the nose. "Hey there, handsome. You're even more adorable when you open those big chocolate brown eyes. Yes, you are. My name is Eva. Some people call me E." She slid a grin my way. "Or Tinker Bell." Turning her attention back to my boy, she kept talking to him, explaining how he was going to hang out with her and Skylar today and they were going to have loads of fun.
I just kept staring. Tinker Bell was talking to him; Tristy would claim he couldn't respond, except that's exactly what he did. He responded by breaking out one his famous grins and making her melt.