Egomaniac(64)

Drew appeared behind his son. “He made me drop him off at the curb instead of going under to the parking garage so he could run in and tell you first.”

Beck smiled so wide, I could almost count his tiny little teeth. He held up a CD jewel case. “For dinner, we got Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.” Then he pointed up to his dad, who held up a takeout bag.

“Mamma Theresa’s makes the best meatballs in the city.”

Beck nodded fast, then held up a second jewel case. “And for dessert we got Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

Beck pointed up to his father. It was like they were doing a little skit.

Drew held up another bag. “Gooseberry pie from The French Pastry.”

I smiled. “What is gooseberry pie anyway?”

Drew shrugged. “Hell if I know. But we had to go to three bakeries to find it, and the thing cost twenty-six bucks, so it better taste good.”

Beck added, “I’m going to have mine with vanilla ice cream. That’s not part of your movie party though.”

“My movie party?”

“Dad said you liked movie theme parties. Can you come?”

Another little piece of the wall I’d built around my heart because I was afraid to fall for this man chipped off.

Drew watched me, assessing my reaction. I couldn’t have hidden it if I wanted to.

My hand went to my chest. “You are the sweetest. I can’t believe you made a movie theme night for me. I’d love to come.”

Anxious to get started, Beck took off yelling down the hall, “I’ll get the elevator.”

“Don’t get in it until I’m there,” Drew warned.

I finished packing up my stuff and went to the doorway. Pushing up on my tippy toes, I gave him a soft kiss on the lips. “Thank you.”

He winked. “You got it.”

Drew scooped me up—because I apparently wasn’t allowed to walk until this air cast was off—and walked toward the elevator.

Lowering his voice, he said, “Think I’m gonna like this dinner and a movie theme thing—finally put my porn collection to good use.”





Chapter 34


Emerie



The rest of the week was just as amazing as movie night. Spending time at home with Drew and Beck showed me so much more about the man than I would have learned on dozens of dates. Come to think of it, that should be part of the dating ritual. On the second or third date, the man should have to bring a child, perhaps a niece or nephew if he doesn’t have children of his own, so you can see the relationship he has with them. It would cut to the bottom line better than six months of dating.

Whether we had breakfast or dinner together each day, Drew always managed to carve out time for all three of us together and for the two of them alone. It was starting to feel like my own little family. But in the back of my mind, I realized things wouldn’t always be this way. Alexa would be returning tomorrow, and I wasn’t sure what that would add. I was definitely curious about her.

This afternoon I would be watching Beck alone for a few hours while Drew had a deposition he couldn’t reschedule. He’d planned on asking one of the assistant teachers from Beck’s school who sometimes watched him, but I insisted I could handle it.

Drew had a stash of movies that we could watch upstairs in his apartment, and I’d bought some old-school Jiffy Pop popcorn to make on the stove. Babysitting would be a piece of cake.

Or so I thought.

Then I had to call Drew’s cell phone and interrupt his deposition ten minutes after it started. To tell him we needed to go to the hospital.

***

“I’m so sorry.” It was the millionth time I’d said it. We were in a small curtained room in the same ER we’d sat in for my twisted ankle not even one full week ago. Only this time, Beck was being treated.

“Things happen. It was an accident. Now he knows better than to touch the stove.”

“I should have known better.” Beck and I had made the Jiffy Pop together. He’d never seen popcorn made that way. His big chocolate eyes grew like saucers watching the silver foil inflate with each pop of the kernels. When the popping had slowed, and the foil looked about to burst, I’d slid the silvery pan from the heat onto a cool burner and poked a hole in the top to allow steam to escape. When Beck went to sift through the movie cabinet, I thought nothing of going to the bathroom. I was out of the room less than three minutes, thinking how nice the afternoon was as I washed my hands…when the screaming began.

The poor little guy had gone back to the stove and, unaware that part of the flat top burner was still hot since it was no longer orange, tried to hop up to watch the steam coming out of the top of the Jiffy Pop. He’d unknowingly placed his entire hand on the still-hot burner.

“His mother’s kitchen has gas. I should have explained that the top stays hot to him when I got the new stove a year ago. It’s not your fault. It’s mine.”

Beck shrugged. The boy was a trooper. “It doesn’t even really hurt that much anymore.”

The doctor said it was a simple first-degree burn and applied Silvadene lotion, then wrapped Beck’s hand with gauze on the inside and an ace bandage around the outside.

I put my hand on Beck’s knee. “I’m so sorry, honey. I should have told you it stayed hot even when the color changed.”