She pounces into a chair at the breakfast table. “Mom! Can you talk to him for me? Kinda set us up or something? I was hoping he’d ask for my number, but he didn’t.” Her face turns into a pout, just like it did when she was a little girl. “Is he single? Do you know?”
The awkwardness of this entire conversation makes me queasy. “I think he is, honey, but I think he might be a little too old for you. He’s in his twenties.” And too young for me, I remind myself.
She rolls her eyes. “The boys my age are lame, Mom. And they don’t have bodies like him. And those tats! Not to mention his hair and those eyes. And that lip piercing. He’s amazing.”
All true, but I simply cannot even contemplate any of this with my daughter. Talking about men, and being attracted to the same man? No. Just no.
I knew that by having her when I was just eighteen I would always be a young mom, but I am definitely not prepared to hear my teen daughter talk about how sexy a man is, especially one that just kissed me practically senseless the night before and I’m still swooning over. I blame this new mess on Paul. His lust for Charlene has put us all in awkward positions.
Macy jumps to her feet. “I’m gonna go upstairs to call Shelly and tell her about him. I’m gonna snap a pic of him from my bedroom window to show her.”
“Macy, don’t do that!” I yell as she bounds for the stairway, but it’s too late. She’s already gone.
I grab a sweatshirt that’s draped over one of the kitchen chairs, step into a pair of boots that are by the back door, and walk out to the back yard to find out what Lukas is up to.
“Hi . . . What are you doing here?” I ask, squinting against the sun as I approach him.
Smiling, he points to the shed, like I didn’t know it was there. “I fixed it.”
“I can see that, and it’s really nice of you to do, but why? You shouldn’t be doing things like this for me. You’re not a handyman.”
He shrugs and wipes his face with a bandanna. “I just wanted to do something for you. Now, you don’t have to worry about it. It took like ten minutes. No big deal.”
Again, he’s melting my heart. “That’s incredibly sweet but totally not necessary. I could have found someone to do it.”
He takes a sip from the bottle of water that Macy gave him. “Now you won’t have to.” He nods toward the house. “You have a really nice house. It’s big. Very suburbs.”
“I honestly appreciate you doing this, but really, you didn’t have to. And as you can see, my teenage daughter has developed an insta-crush on you.”
He twists the top back on the water bottle and actually blushes a little. “She’s cute but too young for me. I like older women, one in particular,” he tilts his head toward me with that adorable crooked smile on his face.
How does he make me feel so wanted with just a few words and a smile? “Lukas, this cannot happen. I feel really bad that you came over here to do this, and I’m going to pay you.”
He scrunches up his face. “No way. You can pay me by going out with me tonight.”
I cross my arms. “I have plans tonight.”
His eyes narrow at me suspiciously. “Really?”