Playing the Player(14)

“Come on, Gillian. Slade’s saving us seats. You can sit next to him,” I said, hating myself as I said the persuasive words.

She hopped to her feet. “Hurry, Trina!”

We rushed to the theater, arriving just as the usher closed the door. “Sorry,” he said. “You’re too late for this showing. There’s another one at three fifteen, though.”

Gillian’s face crumpled.

“Please?” I gave him a pleading look. “We’re meeting friends. They’re saving seats for us.”

He shrugged, his pimply face a mask of total boredom. “Sorry. No late entries.”

I grabbed Gillian’s hand. “Come on. Gift shop. We’ll see Slade and Max after the movie.”

“But I want to sit next to Slade!” Her wail made the usher take a step back from us.

“Gillian, come on.” I tugged her behind me like a stubborn dog on a leash. “They have lots of space toys in the gift shop. And candy.” All of my rules were flying out the window and the day wasn’t even over.

While Gillian hovered in the space toy aisle, I sat on the floor, exhausted. I thought I’d sail through today, dragging Slade along on as he watched and learned from me. Instead he and Max were the ones sailing, while Gillian and I flailed around like frantic survivors of a capsized boat.

I pulled out my phone and texted Desi: Day from hell. Even worse than I predicted.

Except as soon I hit send, I realized I’d texted Slade, not Desi.

Crap. Why hadn’t the stupid phone people invented a way to recall texts?

And it’s not over yet. Where r u? he answered.

I bit my lip as I pondered my reply. Hopefully he thought my hell reference was about the kids, not him.

Gift shop. Usher locked door.

His reply came a few seconds later. Want us 2 leave and meet u?

Huh. That was sort of…nice. I considered his offer. We could leave early and try to get the kids to nap. Gillian perched on the floor, a stack of toys next to her. She looked content, finally.

No just meet us here after.

OK.

I leaned against the store wall with my eyes closed, grateful I could hide unnoticed. So far, Slade’s first day report was not looking good, since he kept bailing on Gillian and me. It was going to be so easy to get him fired by the end of the week. As soon as the week was over and I was flying solo, the kids and I would get into a groove and there wouldn’t be any more tantrums or meltdowns.

“That bad, huh?”

My eyes flew open at the sound of Slade’s voice. He towered over me, his arms folded across his chest. Max had found Gillian and settled next to her on the floor, helping her choose a toy.

Slade tilted his head, looking embarrassed, but I told myself that I didn’t buy his remorseful act. Or notice his dimple.

“Sorry about the movie. It was a strategy, when we left you outside. I thought Gillian would come chasing after Max.”

He ran a hand through his messy waves of surfer boy hair, tugging out the shoelace and shoving it into his pocket. “It used to work on my cousin when she was younger.” He glanced at me from under those stupid eyelashes. “I was going to come get you, but the usher said if I left I couldn’t come back. And Max wanted to stay.” He put out his hand. “Come on. I owe you ice cream.” He gave me a disgustingly sexy smile. “Whatever you want. I’ll buy.”

I hesitated before I put my hand in his. He tugged gently, and I jumped to my feet, trying not to notice the unexpected tingle shooting up my arm. I pulled my hand away and turned toward the kids, disconcerted by how much his presence was rattling me.

“Trina, hold up.”

I took a breath and turned back to him

“Maybe I should be the one to tell Gillian it’s time to go. She sort of, um, resists when you tell her what to do.”

I hated the truth in what he said, but I couldn’t let him take over like this. The only reason Gillian listened to him was because of a silly infatuation. I’d been babysitting her for years and he’d only spent half a day with her.

A wave of anger and frustration pulsed through me. “What are you saying, Slade?” I heard the rising hysteria in my voice, but couldn’t stop it. “You think there’s something wrong with me? That I don’t know what I’m doing?”

He put up his hands as if I were hitting him. “Hey, chill out, Trina. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with you.” But an expression flitted across his face that said otherwise.

I took a deep breath. I needed to get myself under control. But that look on his face…it made me feel small and embarrassed. I moved away from him, toward Gillian and Max, who watched us open-mouthed.