a bouquet of red roses. “Oh, Adam. You didn’t have to.”
“Flowers for my girls,” he says with a wink to Hailey. “On date night.”
“We should go on dates every day!” Hailey exclaims.
“Well, then it wouldn’t be special anymore,” Adam replies and offers me his hand, then pulls me close so he can gently kiss my cheek. “Shall we?”
“Absolutely.” I tuck Hailey’s flower in the vase with my own, set them on the coffee table, and we’re off.
The bowling alley is quiet, but it is only seven o’clock on a Friday. We gather our shoes and balls and argue with Hailey about the gutter bumpers until she finally gives in.
Halfway into the game, it’s obvious that Hailey is going to out bowl both of us.
And she’s five.
“Are you hungry?” Adam asks Hailey after the game is over.
“Winning is hard work,” she informs him. “I’m very hungry.”
“Okay, the winner chooses dinner,” he says as he leads us out of the bowling alley to his car.
“Pizza!”
“Pizza it is,” he says and winks at me. “How are you?”
“I’m great.”
He watches my face for a moment, and then satisfied that it’s the truth, he kisses my hand.
“Let’s do take and bake pizza,” I suggest. “We can go back to our place and eat, and then it’ll be close to time for bath and bed.”
“Good idea. Do you want to text Becca and ask her what she wants?”
“You’re sweet.” I smile over at him, completely charmed by him. “But Becca is out on a date tonight.”
“We are all on dates!” Hailey exclaims happily.
“So just us, then?”
“Just us,” I confirm. I call ahead to the pizza place, ordering a small cheese and a large combo, looking forward to going home and enjoying these two people.
“Did I tell you that I have a boyfriend?” Hailey asks about an hour later when we’re sitting at the table, eating our pizza.
“No, you didn’t,” I reply and wink at Adam, whose face looks shell-shocked.
“You’re five,” he says.
“And a half,” Hailey replies haughtily.
“Who is this boy?” I ask, enjoying the utter surprise coming from Adam.
“Buster.”
“Buster?” I ask. “His name is Buster?”
“Yep,” she smiles and takes a bite of her pizza. “And he’s the tallest boy in my class.”
“In your kindergarten class,” Adam clarifies, making me laugh into my napkin.
“He’s supposed to be in the first grade, but he had to take ’garten again,” Hailey says as if it’s no big deal.
Oh God.
“And he’s tall.”
“What is he like?” I ask.
“I don’t know.” Hailey shrugs. “He’s tall.”
“Have you ever actually talked to him?”
“No.”
I nod, smiling at Adam, who has calmed with the news that my five-year-old isn’t necessarily attending the prom with this kid.
“His friend told my friend Lisa that he wants to be my boyfriend, and I told her to tell him okay.”
“I see.”
“But I’ll probably dump him,” she says.
“Why?” Adam asks, thoroughly intrigued now with the soap opera that is my child’s love life.
“Because he wore a green shirt today.”
“So?”
She stares at him for a minute, blinking. “Green is ugly.”
“And there it is,” Adam says to me. “I’ve just been schooled on dating by a kid.”
“Don’t wear green,” I reply with a laugh. “That would be risky around here.”
“No more green,” he agrees and smiles at Hailey. “What about blue?”
“Blue is okay for boys. But not girls.”
“Good to know.”
“She’s a dating and fashion expert,” I inform him. “She’s basically five going on thirty.”
“I see that,” he says, laughing, and I can’t stop looking at him. He’s a big man, broad and tall, but his face is kind, and he’s gentle with both Hailey and me.
Until I don’t want him to be gentle, and then he seems to know just how to touch then too.
He’s dangerous for my libido and my heart. Especially since he doesn’t do forever.
I’d do well to remember that.
“You okay?” he asks, shaking me out of my thoughts.
“Great.” I clear my throat. “I think it’s time for bath and bed.”
“I don’t need a bath,” Hailey says with a smile. “I took one last night.”
“Why do kids try so hard to avoid bath time?” I ask the room at large. “Trust me. You need a bath.”
Hailey grumbles, but I stand firm. “We will only be a little while. Do you want to stay?”
“I’m staying,” he says, catching my wrist in his hand and pulling me into his lap, kissing me soundly right in front of my daughter, who giggles with delight. “I want to make out with you on the couch after a certain someone is asleep,” he whispers in