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I don’t know why she has such a hold on me. I only know I need to stop. I was hoping having my way with her would scratch the itch, get her out of my system, but now that I’ve tasted her, I only want more. I want to crawl out of my skin and step into hers. I want to?—
“Dad, smoke!” Leo points to the waffle maker, where smoke does, in fact, billow out. I curse and switch it off, wafting the blackened haze away with my tea towel.
At the same time, I hear the door shut and turn around to find Madison approaching. She wears a sparkly smile for Leo as he excitedly runs toward her, but there’s something strained about her that wasn’t there yesterday. Does she regret last night so much, or is it something else?
“Daddy burned my waffles. Can I have cookies instead?” Leo asks, causing me to roll my eyes.
“Nice try, bud.” I ruffle his hair. “How about oatmeal?”
“Yuck!”
“I agree with that one,” she remarks as though to head to the kitchen, but then stops and frowns as she looks me up and down. “Weird.”
I raise my brows, confused. “Pardon me?”
“You’re…” She motions to my dark gray T-shirt and then my black jeans. “You’re wearing normal clothes. Is it casual Saturday at the office?”
“I’m not going to the office today.”
Leo cheers, and I smile at his enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, Madison’s brown eyes almost bulge out of her head. “Have I stepped into an alternate reality?”
“Ha.” I cut her a deadpan stare. “Funny.”
“So, then I have the day off! Okay, great. Bye!” She scoops her purse back up, but Leo quickly tugs her back by clinging to her leg.
“Noooooo! You said we’d go to the zoo today!”
She grimaces, slapping her forehead. “I did say that…”
And Leo has been chatting about it since he woke me up by jumping on my bed this morning. I’m not a big fan of wild, caged animals that smell like dung myself, but I’m set on proving myself as a decent father — which is why I’ve taken the day off in the first place.
Madison’s words last night crawled right under my skin. I tossed and turned, thinking about them. Maybe I am often too busy to spend time with Leo, but I’m doing my best. I won’t have her come in here and make me feel bad about the life I’m creating for us.
I’ll just prove her wrong.
“Hey, maybe you two should go. Have a nice little daddy-son day!” She shoots me a pointed glare. I’m sure she’s trying to call my bluff, but it’s not going to happen. My phone and laptop are both shut off upstairs and I’m ready to make her eat her words.
I don’t have to convince her. Leo pouts and climbs around her knees like a monkey hugging a tree. “No, Madison. You have to come, too!”
“Yes, Madison. Why don’t you come?” It’s a challenge, and my belly burns with hope that she’ll accept it. Maybe it’s wrong, but I like this new game. I like spurring a reaction from her, even when she pisses me off.
If looks could kill, I’d be dead.
“Leo, why don’t you go get dressed? You should wear your tiger T-shirt.” She urges him towards the bedroom, and he runs off with a final “Rawr!”
As soon as he’s gone, the kindness falls from her face and she crosses her arms. “What are you doing?”
I shrug innocently, moving into the kitchen to prepare coffee. “I’m spending time with my son.”
“Right, great! So why do I need to be there?”
“As far as I’m aware, Sunday is your day off.” It’s almost too easy to annoy her. I can’t help but smirk when she bristles. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to take all the credit for your plans. You’ve clearly put a great deal of thought into them. And I think it would be useful for me to see what you two get up to on a daily basis. How you interact.”
She grinds her teeth, throwing her purse down on the counter. “So, translation: you just want to prove me wrong after last night.”
I spin on my heel, using the counter behind me as support as I meet her blazing eyes. “I have nothing to prove to you.”
