Lena’s face fell. “I don’t know. When I spoke with her earlier, the plane was stuck on the tarmac. She was supposed to text me when they finally took off, but that was a couple hours ago, and I still haven’t heard from her. And when I checked the weather back there, it was getting worse, so it’s not looking good. I’ll call her in a bit and see what’s going on.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. Well, if you need any help with Tyler, I’d be more than happy to lend a hand.”
She looked over Tyler’s head at him and gave him a distracted nod. “Oh. Thanks, Elliot. That’s very nice of you, but I think we’ll be okay.”
“Really, it’d be no trouble. Tyler and I had a great time this afternoon. I’d love to hang out some more. Maybe this time you could even hang out with us,” he said, leaning forward and lowering his voice a notch.
He was finally rewarded with a faint blush, but she quickly looked down at her plate.
“We could go to the pool again, or the beach.”
When she looked up in alarm, he hurried to assure her. “You wouldn’t even have to get near the water. I could take Tyler for a swim, and you could soak up the rays on the beach.”
“I’m not sure that’s a great idea. Today was sort of a disaster. I don’t want a repeat of that.” She laughed, an embarrassed little giggle of a sound that wormed its way into his heart and took up residence.
“Well, this time I’d be there to protect you.” He sent a little wink her way, and she blushed again but still shook her head.
“That’s nice of you, really, but I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Elliot caught sight of his sister’s disapproving face at the head of the table and wrinkled his nose at her. She didn’t approve of him hitting on her soon-to-be sister-in-law, he was sure, but he would have to reassure her later that he intended to be nothing but the perfect gentleman. He wanted to get to know Lena better. He wouldn’t even mind spending some more time with Tyler. The kid was hilarious.
“It’s no trouble, really. I’d love to hang out with you guys.”
She was gearing up for another rejection, so he beat her to the punch. “If you’d rather not be near the water, there’s lots of other stuff we can do.”
“Can we play more video games?” Tyler asked, bouncing in his chair.
“Absolut—” Elliot almost agreed but glanced up at Lena in time.
“You’ve played enough video games for this trip, munchkin,” she said. “There’s too much other stuff to do than wasting your time playing video games.”
She glanced up at him, her eyes wide and startled like she just realized he might take what she said as an insult. And he did. She was making it abundantly clear that she thought he was an immature screw-up who had no business being around her kid. And she was right. He generally was an immature screw-up, but it had never bothered him. Until that moment.
He didn’t like that she didn’t find him responsible enough to watch her son. Though, he honestly couldn’t blame her. Remembering the scene she’d walked in on when she’d woken up made him want to squirm like he used to when he’d been Tyler’s age and had gotten into stuff he shouldn’t. Shit, he’d had the kid neck deep in junk food with a video game controller in one hand and a soda in the other. He should have known better. His only saving grace was that he’d at least chosen a semi-appropriate game and hadn’t let the kid play something full of violent blood and gore. See? He wasn’t totally clueless.
“No worries, little man,” Elliot said, ruffling the kid’s hair. “We’ll find something fun to do that Mommy will say yes to.”
He winked at her over the top of Tyler’s head. Her eyes narrowed in the classic mom glare, but those full, kissable lips of hers were smiling.
Now all he had to do was prove to her that he could be a responsible caretaker. Piece of cake.
Lena lounged back on the couch in her hotel room, surfing through the channels while Tyler snoozed in the bed nearby. The Goo Goo Doll’s “Iris” rang from her phone, and Lena grabbed it from her pocket.
“Iris? Where are you? What’s going on?”
Her friend groaned. “Still stuck in the damn airport.”
“You’re kidding? That’s insane!”
“Tell me about it. First, the flight was delayed. Then when we finally got onto the damn plane, we sat on the tarmac for three hours. Three hours in that little tin can. I was about ready to chew my way out before they finally pulled back into the gate and let us off. Now we’re just sitting here.”