I mumble a quiet thanks and head towards the bathroom. I turn on the water to start filling the tub and start to strip down my messy three-year old. Brooklyn is chucking a handful of bath toys into the tub while I take a few moments to try to catch my breath. Once I get her naked and inside the tub, she’s content with talking and playing like always. I grab a washcloth and start to lather her up. I love the smell of her baby shampoo, and I can’t help but give her head a little sniff as I rinse it clean of all the suds. Once the water is all soapy and her hands are starting to get wrinkly, I release the drain and help her out. I wrap her Disney Princesses bath towel around her wet little body and carry her into her bedroom. There, she picks out her favorite kitty cat pajamas and sits down while I brush her hair.
“Mommy, I wike Maddox. Can he stay and pway wiff me more?” she said as I pick up her wet towel and throw it into the hamper.
“Well, we’ll just have to see, sweetie.” This isn’t exactly a conversation I can have with my three year old. While I’d love for Maddox to stay for as long as I can keep him here, I’m sure he has plans. Maybe even a date.
Brooklyn heads back out to the living room and jumps on the couch with him. She’s sitting on his lap happily watching Sports Center with him. My daughter. Watching Sports Center. Go figure. I guess I should be more surprised but honestly, I’ve always wondered if she likes watching sports. Every time she comes home from hanging out with Jake or Nate, she ends up yelling at the TV and saying someone is blind as a bat to miss that call. I’m pretty sure she even used to the phrase ‘what a shitty call’ at a high school baseball game over the summer.
As the evening rolls on and night falls, my little princess starts to doze off on Maddox’s lap. I realize it’s a little past her bedtime and start to reach for her. He focuses those chocolate brown eyes on me and says, “I’ve got her.” We walk together back towards her bedroom, Maddox gently laying her down in bed. She barely opens her eyes as I cover up her sleepy little body with the warn princess blanket. As I lean down to give her a kiss on her forehead, she whispers, “I wove you, Mommy.”
“I love you too, sweetie.”
Just as I turn to head out, I hear, “I wove you, Maddox.” Maddox walks around me, making eye contact with those delicious chocolate eyes, and over to Brooklyn. My breath catches in my throat as he leans down to gently kiss her on the cheek. “I love you too, Bean,” he replies.
We walk together out of her bedroom and return to the living room. It’s quiet in the small confines of my small living room. Now what? Am I supposed to invite him to stay longer? Ask him to leave? I don’t want him to leave, but I know his Saturday night plans were not hanging out with me and my toddler. As if sensing my discomfort, he asks, “So what do you normally do after she goes to bed?”
I smile a little. “Well, this is my only time to clean up from our busy day. You’d be amazed how much damage a three year old can do to a small house. After I clean up, sometimes I actually get to read a little bit or watch some TV before bed.” And there it is. Now, I’m thinking about bed. Preferably with Maddox.
His chocolate eyes seem to turn even darker. It’s as if he knows exactly what I’m thinking about because he’s thinking the exact same thing.
He breaks the spell by suggesting we sit on the couch and watch a movie. A movie with Maddox? Uh, okay! Sign me up! I grab two more beers from the fridge as he sets out to find something on television. I come back into the living room and he has settled on “Shooter”.
“It was either this or ‘Mystic Pizza’. I’m not an eighties chick flick kinda guy so you’re stuck with ‘Shooter’.”
“Oh, there is no ‘getting stuck’ with Mark Wahlberg. I could watch him all day long,” I say with a sly grin.
“Really,” he replies dryly. I hand him a beer and settle in on the opposite end of the couch with my legs tucked comfortably underneath me. Maddox stretches out with his legs up on top of my coffee table. He looks so natural and comfortable in my space. It’s scary and so exciting all at the same time.
About an hour into the movie, I can’t help but to ask the question I’ve been wondering since the moment he told my daughter he would stay for pizza. “No big plans tonight?”
He looks over at me, his eyes burning straight into my soul and replies, “Nope. I had nothing to do.”
I still find that hard to believe. I know he goes out with Jake almost every weekend they don’t work, and even some they do work. They head to the pub and leave with someone who isn’t of their same sex.