What's Life Without the Sprinkles - By Misty Simon Page 0,71
I’ll take him.” He asked for the details, and she gave them freely. May had a piece of paper under his hand and a pen ready and waiting before he even thought to ask. After writing everything down, he thanked Claudia and told her he’d be there to pick up Justin right on time. But he couldn’t help pushing just a little bit more. “How about we have dinner sometime this week? You know, while I’m here. Catch up on old times. You can tell me all about what you’ve been up to the last few years.”
There was another telling silence across the line. Until finally she said, “I don’t think I’ll have time for that right now. I have a bunch of stuff to take care of for some different events coming up.” She hesitated, and he read a wealth of dismissal in that moment. “But thanks for helping out. Justin will appreciate having a male to take him to the dinner. I’ll call you if I think of anything else.”
And just like that, she hung up the phone. He stood with May at his elbow for a long moment before clicking off the phone in his hand.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“Yeah, no big,” he said absently. But inside he was in turmoil. What was he going to do with the child he barely knew for the unknown number of hours this dinner would last? How was he going to interact with a ten-year-old he didn’t even know? He hadn’t been around children since he was one himself. This might not have been his best idea, but now he was stuck, and without the prize of dinner with Claudia dangling at the end.
****
Claudia hung up the phone and leaned her head against the cabinet in the kitchen. What had she just done? She’d asked a favor of the man she’d sworn never to give even another thought. And now she felt beholden to him. When he’d mentioned dinner, it occurred to her that it might not be a bad idea for them to be on better speaking terms, if Peter was going to be a small part of Justin’s life again. But she didn’t want to give any of her limited time to a man she didn’t want to have anything to do with. She’d much rather spend that time with Nate.
Nate, who was not available to talk to because of being out of town. He’d left this morning after giving her a kiss that would have to see her through to Saturday. Her lips were still tingling. No matter how much she wanted to pick up her cell and call him, just to hear his voice, she wouldn’t lay this on him when he couldn’t do anything about it. Especially since he’d felt bad enough about not taking Justin in the first place.
Claudia had offered to take Justin, since things with Nate had fallen through, but Justin had thought about it and asked for Peter.
Jeez, had that been a blow to her ego.
Or maybe it was a testament to the way she’d raised him. Either way, it appeared she wouldn’t be going to this dinner and Peter would. She only hoped it would be fine, and that Peter would be the adult. Justin was smart and would know if his biological father didn’t have an ounce of interest in him. Her head hurt just thinking about all the complications that could crop up on this outing, and nerves pounded behind her eyes.
Please let this work out. Justin deserved a break lately. He’d actually taken the news about Nate pretty well, even though Claudia had expected him to have some sort of complete breakdown. Hell, she was on the verge of some kind of complete breakdown. Now she might feel the need to go out with Peter, just to be nice to him after he’d so quickly agreed to help her out.
Zoe saved her from her own thoughts by banging in at the back door and throwing herself lengthwise on the couch. Now here was something Claudia could do and not feel useless. Because as much as it appeared Nate wanted her, it was going to have to wait.
But Zoe’s problems she could do. She’d put her cake fantasies aside for the moment and sort things out in her sister’s life. Maybe then she’d feel like she was worth something.
“That bad, huh?” Claudia said, stroking Zoe’s hair as she sat next to her on the couch.