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“I think she and her boyfriend were both counting on getting a job at the same place, and I’m pretty sure they won’t take her until September.”
“That can’t be your fault.”
“And it’s not her fault I’m disabled.”
Mel looked puzzled.
“That whole dancing thing … she was talking about something she really believed in,” he explained. “It’s not her fault she chose the one guy in the bar who literally can’t dance.”
Gavin glanced over while he guided Rosie toward the shelf with the syrup bottle. “I know that’s not true.”
“Sure it is,” Nick said.
“I’ve seen you dance.”
“You’ve seen me sway or—I don’t know—move my shoulders a few times. She’s in a completely different league, trust me.”
Mel smiled then, though he wasn’t sure why. Nick watched Rosie fly back to the table and put the syrup bottle in Mel’s hand.
“I tried to be nice and move on,” he said, “but it’s like every word that comes out of my mouth makes things worse.”
“Wow,” Mel said. She hugged her daughter tight and gave her a kiss on the forehead before lowering her to the floor. “Are you telling me Hayley is immune to the full-on, double-barreled Nick Freeman charm?”
“She’s taken, babe,” Gavin pointed out. “It’d be irresponsible of him to hit her withallthe charm.”
“They can be friends,” Mel said. “Better Nicky put his energy into someone who needs it instead of those poor college girls he runs after.”
“You joke about the charm,” Nick said, “but people actually like me.”
“You should probably cross a few names off your list,” she retorted.
He rolled his eyes. “You’re making it sound like I’m a predator or something.”
“I did not say that,” Mel insisted calmly. “But you do go after women who aren’t worth your time. You just said you were miserable.”
“I did not.”
“Well, some woman you’d never met saw it all over your face.”
Nick watched Gavin slide back into his chair, looked at Mel studying him, tracked Rosie running joyfully back and forth across the kitchen just because she could. The little girl grinned at him, and he couldn’t help but grin back.
“I tell ya, Rosie girl, if everyone looked at me like you do …” he said softly.
“You rock, Uncle Nick.”
Hayley had grinned at him the first time he saw her. She’d been breathless and glowing, and even though she’d had no idea who he was, she’d grinned at him like she was happy to see him.
“Look,” Nick said. “Cerebral palsy isn’t hot.”
Mel scoffed. “They don’t have to be attracted to the walker, Nicky.”
“And you’ve …” Gavin cleared his throat. “You’ve played Legos a few times.”
“Sure,” Nick said. “A few girls get past it. But a lot of girls like to flirt with me because they think it’s funny. Like they can hang all over me because the joke is they’d never actually go there. And then I ask if they want to come back to my place, and the joke’s over.” He thought of Kacey. “They don’t want to be mean, but they don’t want me either.”
They were all silent save for Rosie, who ended each lap across the kitchen with a triumphant “Ta-da!”
“Nicky,” said Mel, “any woman worth having wouldn’t think like that.”
