Hardwood - K.M. Neuhold Page 0,22

myself indulge in a brief fantasy of having a plus one for the wedding, having someone to walk down the beach hand in hand with and enjoy the romantic scenery. It takes less than thirty seconds for the fantasy to shift from someone to having that mystery position filled by Watson. I bet he looks delicious in a swimsuit.

I grit my teeth and give my head a hard shake. He made it very clear the other night that he’s only interested in friendship. There are plenty of attractive, available men in the world. Granted, I can’t see much reason any of them would be interested in me, but crazier things have happened.

We manage to get the bathroom finished with some time to spare, and luckily even early enough that I won’t be late to pick up Livi from school.

“Thanks for the help, guys,” Stone says as we all head out, leaving him to worry about clean up.

“You owe us,” I remind him.

“Always,” he agrees.

I manage to pull up in front of Livi’s school with a few minutes to spare. I pull out my phone while I wait and bring up the text thread with Watson. We’ve been chatting on and off all week, mostly random things and the occasional funny meme. I know we haven’t known each other long, but some people you just click with right away, and Watson and I click. Not just because I have a crush on him either. I clicked with Cole, Stone, and Ollie right away too. Sometimes you meet people and know right away they’re going to be in your life for a long time.

I send him a meme I saw that’s a still from a porn with a funny caption. He started sending me similar ones earlier in the week, and I fell down the rabbit hole of seeking them out because they’re hilarious.

The doors to the school open, and it’s like the floodgates have been let loose. Kids spill out, heading for busses or the cars of their waiting parents, a few frazzled looking teachers doing their best to wrangle everyone.

I spot Watson outside the nearest door. All the kids around him are listening as he tells them something, all calm and well organized. He clearly has a way with kids. I notice Livi in the group he’s dealing with. He starts to point each of them in their own respective directions, and when he spots me waiting right up front, he grins. Something about the warmth in his smile gets my heart beating faster. He does a silly little dance, no doubt mocking my skills, and the kids laugh. I laugh too for that matter, holding his gaze and chuckling at his carefree silliness.

He’s wearing a lime green bowtie today, and I find myself imagining his entire drawer full of different colored bowties. If you’d asked me before, I would’ve said bowties were a bit dorky, and I haven’t changed that opinion, but Watson pulls them off. Dorky totally works on him.

He waves Livi in my direction, and she sprints over to the car, climbing into the backseat and buckling herself in.

“How was your day?” I ask.

“Good. We played dodgeball in gym, and I kicked butt.”

I chuckle and carefully pull away from the curb. “What do you think about eggplant for dinner?” I tease, glancing into the rearview mirror to catch the look of horror on her face.

“Ew, no Daddy. Pizza,” she bargains in return.

“You’re going to turn into a pizza one of these days.”

Her face lights up. “Then I could eat myself.”

I laugh again. “How about chicken tenders and carrots?”

“Fiiiine,” she sighs. “But I want to watch Frozen.”

For the love of all that is holy, I don’t think I can take another viewing of Frozen. But if it gets her to eat some veggies with dinner, I’ll have to suck it up.

“Deal.”

Watson

Stepping into my empty apartment at the end of the day is always simultaneously peaceful and mildly depressing. I kick off my shoes and loosen my bowtie.

“Hey there, Fermata,” I greet my hedgehog, leaning down to peer into his cage. He dozes happily, getting rested up to run on his squeaky wheel all night long.

I head into my bedroom to change into my comfy after work clothes—sweatpants and a graphic tee—and then shuffle into the kitchen to decide on dinner. I grimace at all the options inside my refrigerator. It’s not that I don’t have plenty I could cook, but it seems so pointless to go through all