Love Thy Neighbor (Friend-Zoned)(51)

Today really took it out of me.

Shuffling my feet, I somehow make it to the sofa and belly flop. A relieved sigh escapes me.

Just as I start to nod off, I hear the patio door unlock then open. My eye squints open and in strides Asher, dressed in blue pajama pants and a muscle tank, seeming on a mission. He doesn’t even look at me, just walks over to the refrigerator, opens it and removes two sodas and a tub of Ben and Jerry’s cinnamon buns ice cream. Still not even having glanced at me, he walks into the kitchen and although I can’t see it, I hear him remove spoons from the cutlery drawer.

He walks back over to the sofa, and places the ice cream and sodas on the coffee table. I squeak when he lifts me to a standing position and lies down on his back taking my spot. My face is scrunched and my finger is already pointed at him, my mouth open to hurl abuse at my ass of a neighbor. I squeak a second time when he pulls me down onto him. I face plant into his chest and say a muffled, “Well, Howdy-f*cking-doo, neighbor.”

He turns the TV on and I turn my head to see him flicking through the cooking channels. I smirk and ask, “Crappy day?”

He grunts and I feel it through his chest and onto my cheek. I smile big.

Still smiling, I decide now is the time to start a conversation. “Me too. Lunch was great but the rest of the day sucked. Really got me down. Then I thought about coming home to my sofa and TV and my day got a bit better. Little did I know my sofa would be hijacked by my weird neighbor.”

At this point, he puts a pillow over my head and I hear a muffled, “Sshhhh.”

Laughter bursts out of me, and I try not to think about how comfortable I am laying with my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.





Chapter Sixteen

Tricks and mind games





Thursday night is board-game night.

Well, it used to be poker night before it turned into board-game night, and now it’s really movie night/play with the kid’s night.

I gotta say, I love Thursday nights.

We start it earlier than we used to. Instead of going home and showering, we all just go to Nik and Tina’s straight from work.

A huge smile crosses my face. I can’t wait to see my little angel baby. As soon as Mimi parks her car, I jump out of the passenger side and run to the front door. The door opens and a smiling Tina stands in the doorway holding a wriggling Tatiana.

Without even greeting Tina, I snatch Tatiana from her and coo, “How is my widdle baby. Oh, I missed you.” Then I plant a million and one kisses on her warm chubby cheeks.

Finally turning to Tina, I ask, “Has she had dinner yet?”

A smiling Tina replies slightly exasperated, “No. She’s teething, so all she wants is rice pudding and milk.”

I hear Nik talk to Meems while I carry Tatiana through to the kitchen with me. I yell back to Tina, “Rice pudding I can do, but you’re in charge of boobie milk, mama.”

Max and his sweet ten-year-old daughter Ceecee are sneaking around in the kitchen when I walk in. They look up at me. I see they wear matching guilty expressions and I narrow my eyes at them both. I whisper, “Were you stealing cupcakes?”

Ceecee has such a sweet disposition. She has auburn shoulder length hair and amber colored eyes. When she was just a baby, she was involved in an accident. Max’s ex-girlfriend had gone through postpartum depression, and just as she was recovering, she made a small mistake that changed their lives forever. Maddie put Ceecee up on the counter and turned to get something out of the fridge. Ceecee fell backwards and hit a stool on the way down. Her tiny body was twisted in such a way that she was left a paraplegic.

From looking at them, you’d never know the struggles they’ve been through and, secretly, Max is my hero. He’s the type of dad that gets Father of the Year every year. A total catch for any woman.

Max looks down at Ceecee wide eyed and they both answer, “No.” Oh, I might’ve believed them before I saw both their mouths stuffed full of chocolate cake. I whisper hiss, “You guys are in so much trouble!”

Ceecee covers her mouth and giggles and I smile. She is so damn sweet. I just want to eat her. I pass Tatiana over to her uncle Max, grab a cupcake and tell Ceecee, “Let an old pro show you how it’s done, honey.”

I carefully peel the wrapper off, bounce up and down like a boxer while craning my neck side to side. Max bursts into laughter and I narrow my eyes at him before turning to face a wide-eyed Ceecee. Max counts me down. “Three. Two. One. Go.”

And I shove the entire cupcake into my mouth. Ceecee covers her mouth in astonishment and giggles loudly. Max laughs hysterically while bouncing Tatiana on his hip. I chew and chew and freakin’ chew for a good minute. I swallow the cake and take a big bow.

“Wow. That was awesome,” Ceecee whispers.

Max smirks. “That’s impressive.” He hands over Tatiana and whispers in my ear, “Makes me wonder what else you could fit in that mouth.”

I slap his shoulder and mouth behave, then take Tatiana and her rice pudding over to her high chair and sit at the dining table. Nik and Meems come out from the hallway. As soon as Nik sees his daughter, his eyes soften and he melts a little. He comes over to where I’m feeding her and kisses her cheeks saying, “Who’s daddy’s girl? Huh? Are you daddy’s girl?”

Tatiana looks up at her daddy with her dark hair and amber eyes and smiles a wide gummy smile. I can’t help but laugh at her. It must be nice being a baby. No worries at all. I hate mushy mush, but when it comes to children, I go gaga too. I turn my smiling face up to him. “You did good, Niki. She’s perfect.”