Fall Into Temptation (Blue Moon Book #2)(9)

Gia rolled her eyes heavenward. “She has to grow out of that show eventually, right? Every time it’s on I want to put a frying pan through the TV.”

“Yeah.” Evan rewarded her with a small smile.

“So, listen. This was my last Friday night class. I have another teacher who is going to take over the time slot. So that means just Tuesday and Thursday night classes for me. How do you feel about being Aurora’s official, compensated guardian on those nights?”

Evan leaned back and crossed his arms. His hazel eyes narrowed. “What kind of compensation are we talking?”

“For watching your sister from 5:30 to 7:30 I’m prepared to offer you five dollars.” She purposely low-balled him.

“Fifteen,” he countered.

“Ten.”

“Deal,” he said extending his hand.

She shook it solemnly. “And if you need a night off to do school work or hang out with friends or build creepy robots — whatever it is kids your age do — let me know and I’ll have Grampa watch Rora.”

“Robots? Seriously, Gia?”

Gia held up her hands. “Hey, whatever floats your boat. No judgment.”

“You fit right in with the rest of these weirdos,” he told her.

She jumped out her chair and put him in a headlock and covered the top of his head with noisy kisses. “I’m totally changing your name to Compost Heap Decker,” she told him. He put up a struggle, but his laughter prevented him from wiggling free.

His sandy hair needed a trim, Gia noted. But they had worked out a deal back when he turned ten that he was in charge of haircut decisions.

“Hey, I was going to make an appointment to get my hair trimmed. I saw this crazy place called The Grateful Head. Let me know if you want an appointment. That’s a play on a band, by the way.”

Evan leveled the haughty gaze of a twelve-year-old at her. “I know who the Grateful Dead are.”

Of course Paul Decker’s son would know the Grateful Dead. Paul’s finest gift to his children was a deep and abiding appreciation of music.

“Good, then I don’t have to tell your dad that your brains are being consumed by pop artists and you want a life-sized One Direction poster for Christmas.”

Evan had the good sense to shudder. “Dad would disown me.”

“I’m going to grab a shower and warm up some mac and cheese,” Gia said, rising. “You want any?”

“I guess I could go for some.”

“Awesome.” She started for the stairs. “Heavy carb date in ten minutes and you can show me how to use the calendar app on my phone.”

“Again?”

“It’s not ‘again’ if it’s a brand new app. I didn’t like the other one. This one has cool colors and alarms that sound like the ocean.”

“I’m changing your name to Too Many Calendar Apps Decker,” Evan called after her.

Once in the bathroom, Gia turned on the shower and reached for her phone. She dialed, took a deep, cleansing breath, and brought her phone to her ear.

“Hey, Cinnamon Girl.” The sound of her ex-husband’s voice simultaneously brought a smile to her lips and irked the hell out of her. It was the story of their relationship, being repeatedly charmed and disappointed by a man who refused to grow up.

“Hey, Paul. Did you forget something today?”

“Oh, man! Is it Friday again, already? I was so amped about this new gig I totally forgot.”

“A new gig?” she asked, immediately regretting it.

“I’m filling in with this band at the casino for the next few weeks. Their drummer’s having some legal troubles.”

“Legal troubles?”

“House arrest for possession,” Paul amended. “His loss, my gain. Can you put the kids on? I’ll say hi now.”

“Aurora’s been in bed for half an hour,” she reminded him.

“Right, right. How about Ev?”

“Listen Paul, I don’t want to just hand him the phone and tell him it’s you. He needs to know that you care enough to remember to keep your word when it comes to him.”

“Uh-huh. Uh-huh.”

She was losing him. She could feel it. He was getting sucked into whatever video game or YouTube video he would obsess over until something shinier caught his attention.

“I need you to hang up with me and call Evan on his phone. And don’t tell him I called you first.” She said it slowly and carefully, as if instructing a toddler.

“Gotcha.”

“And make it a video chat this time. It’s been a while since he’s seen you.”

“Sure. No problemo.”

She could envision him nodding into the phone.

“Okay. I’m hanging up now and you’re going to call Evan on his phone.”

“I got it, G. Consider it done. Oh, listen. The support payment is going to be a little light this month, okay? Things are going down at work.”

Gia closed her eyes and took another deep breath. If his child support payments dried up again she was going to have to look for a second job. Again.

“I can hear you doing your ‘don’t freak out breathing’ thing,’” he teased her.

“We’ll talk about the support some other time, okay? Call your son.”