had mounted the curiosity level about her relationship through the roof. Hearing her gush about her wedding and honeymoon would be galling to say the least, but it’d do the trick. Still he braced himself. Of course, he’d caught Dani mid-chew, and now he had to wait for her to finish chewing and take a sip of her soda.
“Not officially.” She wiped her mouth with a napkin as their eyes met; then she glanced away, quickly smiling at the baby. “Felicia asked if we had any marriage plans, and I told her we’ve discussed it, but we’re not actually engaged yet.”
Just like that, Orlando had a million more questions he suddenly needed answers to. He jumped right into the first. “So, I take it you two have been together long.”
Again, she paused as she finished chewing the fry she’d slipped in her mouth. Just like the previous question, Orlando braced himself for the answer to this too. Since the day he heard back from her and she’d left him awestruck over the phone with her baby skills, Orlando’s head had started up the rationalizing. As long as she and this boyfriend of hers weren’t childhood or even high school sweethearts, and they couldn’t be given their obvious age difference, maybe she hadn’t been with him too long. Given the guy’s age, he had to have his own home, right? At the very least his own place. Even if his other reasoning, that because she’d since made it clear she lived at home with her sister and brother, her not living with him yet meant it wasn’t too serious. But this changed things—big time.
“Not really.” She wiped her mouth then cleared her throat, glancing away from Orlando to wipe the baby’s mouth. “Just under a year. But he’s a meticulous planner. So even if we likely won’t get married for at least a few years from now, you know once I finish school and he’s comfortable in the position he’s anticipating being promoted to, he wanted to start planning.” She lifted her noticeably ring-less finger, the one Orlando had been eyeing ever since he’d gotten past the scare of not being able to get ahold of her. “Even the ring. He’s been saying we should start at least shopping around so he can see what I like.”
Well, that’s kind of stupid. Orlando bit his tongue before the words slipped out. Even if the guy was as meticulous a planner as she mentioned, why start planning this far ahead? What was the point? Plenty could happen between now and then. As Orlando’s mind raced to follow up with another question because, instead of crushing his curiosity, now he needed to know more, she hit him with an unexpected question of her own. “Felicia mentioned she’s not the baby’s mother but said she’s not”—she stopped to cough into her fist then took another sip of her soda before turning back to smile at the cooing baby—“opposed to taking on the role. Sounds serious.” She turned from the baby to look Orlando square in the eyes. “How long have you two been together?”
Opening his mouth for a second, Orlando caught himself before blurting out his auto response. As much as this annoyed him, how the hell was he supposed to negate Dani’s assumption as adamantly as he wanted to, without sounding like a dick? “I haven’t known Felicia too long. Met her at a bar earlier this year. It was just a few months before the baby came into my life.” He added that last part because he’d known he eventually would have to explain this anyway. “He was just shy of four months when he was left at my doorstep.”
He paused to let that sink in. To his surprise, she nodded as if she already knew. For the second time in less than five minutes, he was working his jaw in annoyance with Felicia. “Felicia told me,” she explained the obvious. “That’s so crazy.” She shook her head, bringing another fry to her mouth but stopped before putting it in. “And you really don’t remember the mother?”
“Nope.” He shook his head. “And not to sound callous, but I think everything happens for a reason and someone up there was looking out for this guy. No telling what kind of life he’d have growing up with an addict for a mother.”
“Felicia mentioned that. Only she referred to her as a junkie?” Her brow lifted. “You think she was a junkie, too? He shrugged as