Right With Me - Stacey Lewis Page 0,28

show her with my body just how beautiful she is to me.

Knowing we aren’t in that place yet, I gently remove her hand from mine and stand, rubbing my stiff palms on my sweatpants and hoping she doesn’t notice the erection I’m trying unsuccessfully to keep hidden.

“I should probably go. The kids are home alone, and even though Ben is thirteen, he’s still not mature enough to watch Evie for any length of time.”

Hailey looks down at her watch and gasps. “Oh my gosh! I didn’t realize you’ve been here so long. How long a drive do you have?”

She hasn’t realized yet? “Uh, Hails? I live two buildings over.”

Her shocked expression drains the tension out of me, and I lean forward to drop a kiss on her lips. As much as I want to deepen it, I manage to contain myself, and once we’re standing at her door, I ask the question I originally came to ask. “Go to dinner with me Friday?

“What?” Her brows are furrowed when she looks up at me with a frown on her face. I can tell she’s confused by the abrupt switch in the conversation.

“Will you go to dinner with me Friday?”

Her teeth bite down on her bottom lip and I almost groan at the sight. “Just dinner?”

“Sure, if that will get you to say yes.” I have zero shame.

Hailey lifts one delicate brow and one side of her mouth tips up in a grin. “Okay. Dinner.”

Her agreement makes me feel about ten feet tall. “Awesome.” Holding up my phone, I ask, “What’s your number?” She rattles it off and I call her to make sure it saves… and a little to see if her phone rings inside the apartment which it does. That way I know she’s not planning to blow me off.

“See you later, sweetheart.” Without giving her the chance to respond, I leave her apartment, shutting her door behind me. Friday can’t come soon enough.

Chapter 16

Hailey

It’s been two days since I agreed to go on a date with Mitchell and I’m still trying to figure out what made me say yes. Now here we are with tomorrow being Friday and I still haven’t asked my parents about watching Connor. I’m a little afraid to ask because I know my mom will grill me on why and what I’m going to be doing.

As much as I don’t want to, now that I’ve picked up Connor from daycare I’m going over there to get it over with. He’s been sitting in the backseat talking to himself since we left, and I have no idea what he’s saying.

We pull into my parent's driveway and as soon as he realizes where we are he starts yelling for Granny and Pops like they’re going to hear him from inside the house and come running for him.

Honestly, he’s probably not far off. I swear my mom sits at the window and stares each day hoping we’ll stop by because I haven’t even turned the car off and she’s on her way out to meet us.

“Hey sweetie,” she says as she opens Connor’s door to get him out. I’m not dumb enough to think she’s calling me sweetie. I practically ceased to exist when I pushed him out. I’m pretty sure if it came down to me or Connor, she’d save him and not be a bit sorry.

The woman doesn’t even wait for me to get out of the car before she’s taking my son down the driveway to her house, talking to him the entire way. All I can do is watch them and shake my head. At least I know where I stand.

When I walk into the house I can hear her still talking to him and have to follow her voice to find them. They’re in the living room, and she’s dragging out all the toys she keeps here at her house like he’s not capable of dumping the bin himself. I roll my eyes and walk over to where they are, coming to a stop beside my mom.

“Hey, mom.”

She finally stands, brushing invisible lint off her pants as she does before finally turning to greet me with a hug. “Hi, honey. How was your day?”

Now that Connor’s fully engrossed in playing with his blocks, she walks across the room and into the kitchen, leaving me to follow behind her.

“Are you guys staying for dinner?” She’s distracted, pulling out the ingredients for whatever she’s planning to make.

I lean over her shoulder to see what she’s