Enjoying the Chase (35 page)

I swallowed, unsure what to say to that. I
was pretty sure his dad
would
mind if I tagged along. “Er, that sounds
nice, DJ, but I
’
m busy this
weekend,” I replied.

He frowned. “Oh.”

“Maybe we could go some other time though.
Well, if your momma wants to that is…” I trailed off, wincing. I
’
d just overstepped the mark again. This was
already a big deal for her that we met, and now I was planning a family day out
without consulting her? I sucked at this.

Rosie
’
s eyes widened in shock. “
Umm, sure,
” she mumbled, making it sound more like a question. I wanted to
punch myself for putting pressure on her. I needed to stop or I was going to
frighten her away by coming on too strong. “Is Nanna Juliet going to the zoo
too?” Rosie asked, looking away from me, blushing slightly.

DJ shook his head. “Nope, just me and
Daddy. He said I had to try and gets you to come too. Daddy said he misses you,
but that you don
’
t want to see him
because you don
’
t love him no
more,” DJ said casually.

Rosie
’
s eyes narrowed, her whole body seemed to tense up. “Daddy told you
that?” Her hand tightened on her fork.

DJ nodded, carrying on with his food, obviously
not noticing her change in mood. “Uh huh.”

Rosie
had turned pale
.
“Daddy shouldn
’
t say that to you.
I
’
ll always love your daddy
because he gave me you,” she said quietly. “Daddy and I just aren
’
t suited to be together like a boyfriend and
girlfriend,” she explained.

He cocked his head. “Why not?”

Rosie
’
s eyes flicked to me for a second and I didn
’
t know what to do, I felt a little like I was intruding on a private
moment.

“Daddy and I just don
’
t get along when we live together; we
’
re both happier on our own.”

DJ didn
’
t say anything, just carried on eating. Rosie sighed and picked up
her plate, looking extremely embarrassed at the turn in conversation. She
headed to the sink and stood with her back to us, obviously calming down. 

“What other things did you do today?” I
asked DJ, trying to change the subject.

He grinned; all thoughts of his dad now
gone.

When we’d finished eating we went into
the lounge to watch a DVD. Rosie groaned and shot me an accusing glance when DJ
picked up
Toy Story 2
. After putting it on, she sat on the two seater
sofa next to me, purposefully leaving a respectable gap between our bodies. DJ
sat on the floor, his eyes glued to the screen, waiting for the movie to start.
After about ten minutes, he jumped up and ran to his room. I watched him
curiously. I really wasn’t used to kids at all; they moved around so much, it
was a little unnerving.

He came running back into the room with
both a Woody and a Buzz figure in his arms, jumping on Rosie
’
s lap, making her yelp with surprise. She
shifted him slightly, getting comfortable, and then watched the movie as if
nothing had happened. I didn
’
t see
much of the movie; I was too busy watching Rosie and DJ from the corner of my
eye. He was using his toys to act out little parts of the movie, saying their
lines quietly as he did so. I could feel the goofy smile on my face, but I just
couldn
’
t stop it. My girlfriend
and her kid were absolutely adorable.

“Wanna be Buzz?” DJ asked, holding out his
toy to me, his eyes not leaving the TV.

I laughed, a little embarrassed, not having
a clue on how to actually ‘play
’
with
a child. “Sure, Kid,” I mumbled, hesitantly taking it.

Rosie was smiling at me, obviously loving
how uncomfortable I was with this. Following DJ
’
s lead, I made Buzz fly when I needed to, mostly, I didn
’
t do that much, just watched Woody talk and
chuckled at the kid
’
s acting skills.

The whole time Rosie was just looking
between the two of us with a shocked, confused expression on her face and all I
could do was hope I was doing the right things. If I wasn
’
t then hopefully she
’
d
tell me where I went wrong so I could learn for next time.

“Baby, want to skip the bath tonight and
play for a little while, seeing as Nate
’
s here?” Rosie asked, once the movie had finished.

“Yeah!” He grinned excitedly, jumping up
and heading over to a red plastic box in the corner, grabbing it and tipping
the contents all over the floor. I smiled excitedly. Lego was my thing as a
kid.

“Can I play?” I asked, hoping he
’
d say yes.

He nodded and held out a flat Lego board
for me to start building on. I smiled happily and moved to sit on the floor in
front of Rosie
’
s legs. Not long
after I joined in, DJ abandoned whatever it was that he was making, in favour
of helping me build the robot I was constructing. His expression was awed as we
joked around and worked together. Once the robot was built, we made him one
exactly the same, and then smashed them both up by having an epic robot battle.

Just before seven Rosie stood up. “Time for
bed, Baby.”

I raised one eyebrow suggestively, silently
asking if she meant me. She laughed and slapped me on the back of the head
playfully, and held her hand down to DJ, who was pouting and crossed his arms
over his chest.

“
I don’
t want to go to bed. Can
’
t I have an early night? I wanna play with Nate,” he said, frowning
and looking at me pleadingly.

I smiled a little proudly that he seemed to
have accepted me a little.

“Do you mean a
late
night?” Rosie
countered.

“Yeah, please, Momma?” He gave her the
begging face and she shifted uncomfortably on her feet. DJ turned to me. “Nate,
can you ask her if I can have more time? We can finish the war,” he whined,
giving me the begging face.

My eyes widened. It was an incredibly cute
face; I didn
’
t want to say no. I
looked at Rosie, unsure what to say. “Er… I think Momma said it
’
s time for bed, Kid. We can play that another
time, okay?” I offered, hoping he wouldn
’
t beg me because, if he were my kid, I would have given in already
and agreed. He certainly knew how to tug on the heartstrings!

“Come on, Baby. Time for bed,” Rosie
repeated. He sighed and pushed himself up off the floor, looking lovingly at
the Lego. Rosie smiled at me. “I
’
ll
be back in a couple of minutes. Make yourself at home, alright?”

DJ smiled.
“Night,
Nate.”

I held out one hand. “Slap me a five, Kid,”
I said, nodding at my hand.

He grinned and slapped my hand before
skipping off towards the bathroom. As Rosie walked past, she trailed her
fingers across my shoulders making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

While she was putting him to bed, I scooped
all of the Lego back into the box and then sat on the sofa. I couldn
’
t actually believe what a difference a couple
of hours could make to my mood. When I
’
d left work I
’
d been
beating myself up for doing my job, and now I felt like I was on top of the
world because my girlfriend and her son just made everything better.   

I sat with my hands behind my head, chilled
and relaxed in someone else
’
s
lounge. This place just fitted me so perfectly. I smiled and closed my eyes,
completely content, just waiting for my girl to come back out to me.

Ten minutes later, she came back from the
bedroom and plopped down on the sofa next to me, blowing out a big breath. I
looked at her nervously. “Did I do okay?” I asked, waiting for her reaction.

She closed her eyes and nodded. “You did so
good,” she whispered. My body relaxed, but when she opened her eyes I noticed
that they were rapidly filling with tears. She awkwardly looked away from me
and stood. “Want a drink or something?” she offered.

Wait, she was crying? What had I done? Had
DJ said something in the bedroom, something he didn
’
t like about me?

Before she could escape, I grabbed her hand
and pulled her back down onto the sofa. “Rose?”

“I
’
m just gonna make a drink,” she muttered, discreetly wiping her
face, probably thinking I wouldn
’
t
notice.

“Will you look at me?”
I begged.
“Rose, did I do something wrong? Say
something I shouldn
’
t have?”

She shook her head fiercely before turning
back to look at me, her eyes watery, her cheeks wet with tears. “No! You did so
good, Nate,
so
good. I just, that meant a lot to me, so thank you,” she
said quietly, swiping at another tear.

Meant a lot to her. So, those were happy
tears? “So… you
’
re crying because
you
’
re happy?
”
I asked, needing confirmation that I
’
d not just completely grabbed the wrong end of the stick with that
assumption.

She smiled and nodded, blushing. “Yeah,
sorry. Pathetic, huh?”

I smiled and shook my head, leaning in and
kissing the two fresh tears away as they fell from her eyelashes. “I think it
’
s adorable.
”

She sighed and wrapped her arms around my
neck tightly. “Thank you for being so understanding, and thoughtful, and just
plain sweet all the time. I never expected that to happen and I just… it meant
a
lot
to me.”

I tightened my arms around her, pulling her
closer to me, just breathing her in. Just like I thought she would, she made me
forget everything bad that had happened today, all I felt inside was happy and
contented. My girlfriend was incredible, and so was her little boy. I was an
extremely lucky guy.

“It meant a lot to me too,” I admitted,
looking into her eyes, loving the vulnerability I could see there. She really
was letting me behind that brick wall that she
’
d built up. “Thanks for asking me over, even though the food
sucked,” I joked.

 “Next time choose a day that I don
’
t agree on junk food.”

I smiled and kissed her gently before
pressing my forehead to hers, savouring the feel of this girl in my arms, she
felt so right there, like she belonged.

“Why don
’
t you just invite me over on a day that you
’
re not cooking from the freezer?” I offered, smirking at her
playfully, silently praying that she would, in fact, invite me over again
sometime soon.

She traced her nose up the side of mine.
“How about Monday?”

I closed my eyes and relaxed. I really hadn
’
t messed up at all; I was more than a little
proud of myself. “Monday
’
s good,
” I croaked, my voice
heavy
with emotion.

She grinned and seemed to relax too, as if
she thought I was going to say no. She moved herself onto my lap, straddling me
as she played with the back of my hair.

“So, did we cheer you up?” 

“Stripes, you have no idea. Thank you.”

She kissed me softly for a couple of
seconds, her chest pressing against mine making my body react in the normal
way. I was still a guy, after all, a guy with an incredibly hot girlfriend.

“
I don’
t like you being sad. You want to talk about it?” She cocked her
head to the side like a curious puppy.

I sighed. I actually really needed to get
it off my chest and unload onto someone. I launched into my tale, telling her
everything from going into the building to walking out with the girl in my
arms. I skipped over the drink offer from the girl; I didn
’
t think Rosie would appreciate that too much. The whole time she
just sat on my lap, letting me talk, her hands resting on my shoulders, her
eyes locked on mine. I
’
d never
felt more comfortable with one person in my life – and that was when it hit me.
I was totally falling in love with this little single mother. As soon as I
realised, I kind of wished that I hadn
’
t, because now I felt a little self-conscious about it.