Hold On Tight(31)

“You’re still a spring chicken. Better eat those cookies now. Middle age will change all that. Eat ’em while you’re young.”

Sienna laughed and walked with my dad to the kitchen. I remained where I was, unsure where I fit in here. It was my parents’ house, but suddenly I felt like the outisider.

“Uncle Dewayne! Come eat these cookies with me. Mama T has real milk too,” Micah called out to me.

Then again, maybe I did have a place.

SIENNA

The Falcos hadn’t been ready to let Micah leave. He’d been catered to all day long, and he was eating up all the attention. Dewayne had left around four, telling Micah bye and that he’d see him soon.

Shortly after Dewayne left, I’d tried to leave with Micah because I still hadn’t gone to the grocery store. I always went on Sundays to get ready for the week. Micah, however, had latched on to the idea of staying with Tabby and Dave while I did my grocery shopping. So I let him.

I wasn’t sure if I could remember a time that I’d gone grocery shopping without Micah. He was always with me, so I was used to telling him no and talking him out of sugary snacks. This was a much quieter and rather peaceful experience. I loved my son, but I decided I liked grocery shopping without him.

I took my time walking down each aisle and thinking about what we needed and how much money I had to work with. I kept a calculator in my purse for shopping because I had tried doing the math in my head but it’s embarrassing when you get to the checkout and have to take things out of bags and give them back because you don’t have enough money.

With no rent, we had more than we normally did for food, and it was nice to be able to splurge on the mint chocolate chip ice cream that Micah loved and some lemon tea for me. I stopped in front of the bread and looked for a sandwich bread that was healthy but still looked white enough that I could trick Micah into eating it. I also had to find one that didn’t cost too much. Five dollars for a loaf of bread was ridiculous. Most of the time I could find a honey wheat that was light enough that Micah wouldn’t complain.

“Bread is a serious matter. I can tell you agree,” a masculine voice said beside me, and I turned around to see a tall, dark-haired man who looked to be at least thirty. His slacks and button-down shirt might have been one reason he looked older, but the crinkles around his eyes when he smiled aged him. He wasn’t bad-looking, though.

“Pleasing my picky son is the trick,” I explained. Normally, if I brought up my son, the men backed off. If this one was going to attempt to flirt with me, I might as well go ahead and send him on his way.

The man nodded, still grinning as if he understood. “Yeah, I understand that completely. My niece always goes for the white bread when she comes to visit. She’s nine, and her mother won’t buy it at home. I’m the rule-breaking uncle.”

He picked out a loaf of the more expensive white bread and winked at me. “I have to break a few rules every once in a while to feel cool. My job makes me so uncool I need a little pick-me-up now and again.”

He was better than okay. He was actually really cute. He had that clean-cut look that I wasn’t a big fan of, but he wore it well.

“Really? What uncool job is it that you have?” I asked, surprising myself. I normally didn’t encourage conversations with men. But I liked this one. He was friendly, and it didn’t feel like he was trying to pick me up in the bread aisle.

“Vice principal at Sea Breeze High,” he replied, then let out a sigh and shook his head. “Major letdown, I know.”

A principal. He was young to be a principal. Or maybe he was older than I’d first assumed.

“That can’t be an easy job,” I replied, finally reaching for a bread I thought would work.

“It’s not so bad. But then there are days like today when I leave work late and stressed, then bump into a beautiful woman studying bread.”

Beautiful woman. He had no idea how nice that was to hear. It was a balm to my ego, which Dewayne had squished rather flat this morning. He wasn’t as devastatingly gorgeous as Dewayne, nor could he be considered sexy exactly. But he was attractive, and he had a kind smile. He was definitely more in my league.

“Was that too strong? Should I have been smoother?” the guy asked, and I had to laugh.

I shook my head. “No. I was just thinking about how nice it was to be called beautiful,” I explained.

He frowned. “I would assume you get that a lot.”

Not really. The guys who normally hit on me called me hot or just flat asked me out. Then there were the guys who thought I was average. Ugh! I had to let that go.

I smiled and held out my hand to shake his. “Sienna Roy,” I said, deciding I liked the guy enough to exchange names.