Wish Come True (The Blogger Diaries Trilogy Book 3) (9 page)

I lunge forward, about to remove her grip, but he takes a step back and shoots me a look that tells me he’s fine, shaking his head gently so she doesn’t let go.
 

“You like that nose, pretty girl? It’s big, huh? You gotta thing for big noses like your momma?” he asks her lightly, raising his deep drawl slightly.
 

She smiles and growls out, “Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma,” once again, and turns to cheese at me.
 

“You wanna sit down?” Jason asks, and pivots to carry Josalyn over to the bed where he takes her into his hands and flies her to the center of his mattress. She giggles as she lands gently on the soft comforter. The opposite side of the bed is up against the wall, so I sit on the edge to make sure I can catch her if she decides to take a crawling leap.
 

She grabs ahold of Jason’s finger and ungracefully pulls herself up into a seated position, and he slides himself down until his knees are on the floor but his torso is still on the bed. I watch, fascinated at their interaction, a smile stretched across my face I wouldn’t begin to know how to wipe off.
 

Josalyn lets go of his finger and claps her tiny hands, watching Jason expectantly. When he doesn’t do what she apparently wants him to do, she takes hold of his pointer finger on each of his hands and brings them together, apart, and then together again, lets go of him, and then claps her hands once more. When he claps by himself this time, she erupts into a fit of giggles and looks up at me with her eyebrows raised, as if to say, “Look what I taught him, Mommy!” It’s all I can do not to burst into tears at the scene, and I grab my camera out of my purse quickly to snap a picture before tossing it back on his couch.
 

 
To get ahold of myself, I use distraction, leaning over to unzip Josalyn’s hoodie and pull it off her. Leaving her in a baby pink onesie, the cherry sweater’s matching pants, and fluffy socks with grippers on the bottom. She’s really starting to get the hang of cruising now, holding onto furniture while she walks along wobbly, so I got her these new socks so her little feet don’t shoot out from under her.
 

“So what do you want to do today?” Jason asks me, continuing to clap his hands lightly for Josalyn.

“Isn’t there a TGI Fridays close by? I’ve been seeing an advertisement for fried green beans from there that look delicious, but I’ve never been to one before.”

“Yeah, there’s one over by Baybrook Mall. Are you hungry now? I haven’t had any lunch yet since I’ve been in class since eight.” He looks at me hopefully.

“I’m starving. I only had a kolache and a donut early this morning, and I definitely need to eat. Don’t know if this is too much info or not, but I still nurse Josalyn, so I eat like a pig,” I confess.
 

“Why would that be TMI? Babe, there’s nothing you can’t share with me,” he assures seriously.

“I just… have you ever dated anyone with a kid before? Or, more specifically, a baby? I didn’t know if you were one of those people who think breastfeeding is gross.”

“No, I’ve never dated anyone with a kid before, and no, I don’t think breastfeeding is gross. I mean, I wouldn’t want you to just whip your boob out for the whole world to see when we’re out in public, but that’s just because they’re mine and I wouldn’t want to kill anyone for looking.” He gives me a grin that immediately puts me at ease and makes me laugh.

“Actually, they belong to her for three more months, and then you can stake your claim. I’m gonna stop when she turns one.” I reach over and tickle her belly, loving the giggle she lets out. “I normally time everything around feedings though. If I get desperate and have to feed her in public, I usually do it in my car, or at least find a secluded area and cover up with one of her baby blankets. You can’t even tell I’m doing it with the clothes I wear. It just looks like I’m holding her while she sleeps.”

“I’m not worried about it, babe,” he says, getting to his feet. “So, TGI Fridays? I haven’t been there in a while. Sounds good. You want me to drive?”

I stand as well and then put Josalyn’s hoodie back on her. She gets frustrated, swatting at me and whining after I just took it off her, but it’s gotten too cold outside to let her go without it.
 

“Yeah, I just need to grab her car seat out of my car,” I reply, picking her up after I zip her sweater.
 

“Okay, you do that and I’ll get your bags. You have everything you need in the diaper bag?” he checks.

Instead of getting annoyed like I would with my mom, him double-checking makes me smile. It amazes me how naturally all this is coming to him. “Yep, I brought Miss Tooty some carrots for lunch!” I say excitedly, bouncing her on my hip and blowing a raspberry against her cheek to pull her out of her suddenly grouchy mood. I swear the child would love to be naked all the time if I let her.
 

“Well, that just sounds delightful,” Jason says, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he gestures for me to lead the way out of his room. “Dad, we’re headed out for some lunch. Be back in a couple hours. We may get into something after we eat, but we’ll be back. Kayla wants to see Mom before she leaves later.”

“Good, Barbara would be pissed if she didn’t get to see y’all, knowing you were coming to visit today,” Steve tells me, and it makes me smile knowing Jason’s mom is excited to see me too.
 

“Say bye-bye, byyyye-bye,” I prompt Josalyn, and she grips and ungrips her hand toward herself instead of at him, making us all laugh. “We’ll keep working on that.”

I open up the back passenger door of my rental and buckle her into her carrier, adjusting the handle so I can lug her over to Jason’s backseat. She’s getting too heavy for me to carry her around this way. I thread the seatbelt through and fasten her in, and then get into the passenger seat, Jason observing me the whole time.
 

“What?” I ask when he smiles at me.

“I just like watching you in mommy-mode. You look so happy doing the simplest tasks, taking care of her,” he states, reaching over to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear.
 

“I finally found something I’m good at, I guess.” I shrug. “Of course, she’s the easiest baby on the planet.”

“What do you mean ‘finally found something you’re good at’? I know lots of things you’re, like, pro-status.” He gives me a playful, lascivious look and I smack him on his bicep as he backs out of his driveway. “Hey! Driving precious cargo here.” He smirks, and I growl at him, crossing my arms over my chest.

We arrive at the restaurant about fifteen minutes later, taking a little longer than I remember, but it could be because Jason was driving more carefully than I’ve ever seen him drive before. I’m definitely enjoying this more mature version of the man I fell in love with, but happy he still has his playful, naughty personality.

He walks around and pulls Josalyn out of the backseat in her carrier, holding the handle easily in his grasp like it weighs nothing. I grab my bags out, and we head inside the restaurant, where they seat us immediately. It must be a good time of day to come, in between lunch and dinner hours, because the place isn’t very busy.
 

“Do you want a high chair for the baby?” the waitress asks Jason, who looks at me for the answer.

“No, thank you. Will you just slide her all the way into the booth? Like, sideways, where she’ll be facing me when I sit,” I instruct, and he does as I ask then takes a seat across from me as I slip in.
 

“What are you having to drink?” she asks Jason, smiling at him as she faces her body fully toward him, giving me her back. I cock my head at the back of her head, narrowing my eyes.
 

“I’ll have Coke,” Jason answers, seeing the look on my face and smirking. “Baby, what would you like?” he asks me after a few empty moments when the waitress makes no move to.
 

Is this chick serious?

I clear my throat and take a deep breath to control the rising tempo of my heart. “I’d like ice water, pl—” Before I can even finish the word, she walks away, swishing her hips as she passes Jason.
 

Dis bitch…

I scoff, looking at Jason through wide eyes, who pulls his plump bottom lip between his teeth, trying not to laugh.
 

“Did you see that?” I exhort disbelievingly.
 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He swipes his palm from his nose down to his chin, fighting to keep his composure.
 

I shake my head and narrow my eyes, pulling my menu to me from the end of the table, which makes me realize she had actually handed Jason’s to him, causing me to squeak at the back of my throat. I inhale deeply and breathe out again to release some of the growing stabbiness inside me.
 

“What looks good?” Jason asks over the top of his menu, seeming to enjoy watching me squirm.
 

I sigh, trying to concentrate on the descriptions and pictures in front of me. “I definitely want the fried green beans I heard about, but that’s just an appetizer. This chicken dish looks good, smothered in cheese. I wonder if they could give me some tortillas to make soft tacos out of it,” I think aloud, and just then the server returns with our drinks. She sets Jason’s carefully next to him, and then plops my water down on the table, some sloshing over the brim, making my eye twitch.
 

“Do you need another minute?” she directs at Jason sweetly, moving her body closer to him.
 

My grip tightens on my menu, my fingertips turning white as my hands tremble
. If this chick doesn’t back the fuck up off my man…

“No, we’re ready. Go ahead, baby,” Jason offers, seeing I’m really starting to get upset and trying to defuse the situation.
 

The waitress pops her hip as she begrudgingly faces me, pulling a pen out of her half-apron and looking at me expectantly, a bitchy expression on her face. Apparently this cunty asshole doesn’t care about getting a good tip.
 

I clear my throat so I don’t spew the words I have for her floating around in my mind. “We’ll take the fried green beans as our appetizer, and I’ll have the smothered chicken. And can I get a side of tortillas, please?”

She doesn’t answer, just turns back to Jason with I guess what she thinks is a sexy smile. I raise an eyebrow at the red lipstick smeared on her front teeth, letting out an audible snort as I fold up my menu.
 

Jason disguises a laugh as a cough behind his fist and he sits up straight, lowering his eyebrows as he relocates what he wanted to order. “I’m gonna have the bacon cheeseburger plain and dry.”

“Do you want fries or a different side with that?” she breathes, leaning over him to flip the page of his menu, pressing her body against his arm. I nearly choke on my spit as I gasp. “You can choose anything from this section here.”

“Fries are fine,” Jason says, pulling his arm away and shoving the menu at her to push her away.

She looks dejected as she spins to walk away, but I call out, “Excuse me!” and she turns back with a scowl.
 

“Yes?” she prompts shortly.

“Can I get a small cup of warm water please? I have to mix our baby’s food up,” I add, my voice dripping with fake sweetness, throwing the word
our
in there to mark Jason as my territory, since I think it would probably be frowned upon if I walked around to his side of the booth and peed on him.
 

“The water that comes out of the fountain is already cold,” she spits.

“So you’re telling me there’s no way to heat up the water?” I admonish.

The waitress begins to shake her head, but Jason interrupts her, all of the humor on his face from before completely gone, replaced with almost scary seriousness. “Ma’am, this is a restaurant that serves—get this—
hot
food. I’m sure you’ve got this brilliant invention in the kitchen called a microwave that one can—listen carefully—
heat up
a cup of water. And seeing how it’s for that precious little girl sitting right there, if I get any suspicion that you’ve done anything to it, I will get your ass fired so fast it’ll make your head spin, probably whipping that red crap right off your teeth.” At this, she gasps and covers her mouth with her hand, and I see her chin move side to side beneath it, like she’s trying to lick the lipstick off her chompers. “So, please, if you’d be so kind, bring my wife some warm water as she requested.”

Two things happen in the next moment; one, I gasp sharply at his use of the word
wife
, and two, she nods and spins away again to go fill our order. My gasp causes Josalyn to jump next to me and I look over at her, determining if she’s going to cry. But instead, she lets out a stream of baby babble, blowing a slobbery raspberry at the end, making me laugh as I turn my gaze back on Jason.

“Wife?” I smirk at him, raising an eyebrow.

“What? You called Josalyn
our
baby, so I figured girlfriend wouldn’t have the same effect as ‘wife’ would,” he retorts.
 

I can’t wipe the smile off my face, my mood immediately lifting as his words echo through my mind. Going from longing for him to ask me to be his girlfriend to him freely pretending I’m his wife is kind of shocking, but it makes me feel like a giddy schoolgirl, not a grown-ass woman with a baby of her own.
 

I let out a small chuckle as a memory hits me. “I remember you going off on that lady who rear-ended me. You have a distinctive way of defending my honor, dear sir.” I take a sip of my water, using a napkin to wipe up the mess the horrible waitress had made.

“I thought it was funny at first, your green-eyed monster rearing its adorable head when the waitress was flirting with me. But when you obviously fuck with my girls, your lazy ass not wanting to take the time to heat up some water for a
baby
? Oh, fuck that. Funny time, over.” He shakes his head.

God, I love the way he calls us his girls. Just this conversation can salvage the lunch the bitchy server had begun to ruin. A few minutes later, a man in a nice dress shirt and slacks brings me a mug of steaming water, and another glass of water with no ice.