To The Single Dad in the Store by J.S. Cooper
Chapter Thirteen
“Shelby!”I wailed into the phone as soon as she answered. “I’m in huge trouble. I’m so pissed right now.”
“What happened, girl? Can I put you on speakerphone by the way? I’m here with Skye.”
“Sure. Hey, Skye. What’s up?”
“Hey, Nellie. What’s up? Where are you? Shelby and I are thinking of heading to a barbecue at the Sigma House. You want to come?”
“I’m on a date. Well, I thought I was,” I groaned.
“What’s going on?” Shelby sounded confused. “Where are you? I thought you were on that date with that guy from the store.”
“Yes. I’m at Steele’s house, the asshole from the store.”
“I thought you said he was hot,” Shelby said. “I thought he was no longer an asshole.”
“I did say that, but I was wrong. He is the biggest asshole I know.”
“I’m not sure what you guys are talking about,” Skye broke in. “Who’s Steele and why is he hot and an asshole at the same time? That sounds really yummy, actually.”
“He’s the single dad Nellie met in the store,” Shelby explained.
“What?” Skye laughed out loud. “He’s a dad? You’re dating a dad? No way!”
“I’m not dating anyone. He has me here babysitting. Turns out this wasn’t a date at all.”
“What?” Shelby squealed. “No way. I thought it was a date.”
“Girl, I thought it was a date as well. I’m so pissed right now.” I suddenly felt eyes on me and turned around. It was a little kid that had run the cart over my feet. “Uh, hi,” I gave him a small wave. “I’m Nellie. I’m your babysitter.” I smiled at him widely, but he just stared at me and then walked to the fridge. He opened it and grabbed a Coke can, opened it, and started sipping. I had a feeling he wasn’t supposed to be drinking Coca-Cola, especially this late at night.
“What’s your name?” I asked, hoping that he’d come around. And then I whispered into the phone quickly, “Hey guys, I think I should go. One of the kids just came into the kitchen. I’ll call you back later.”
I hung up and focused my full attention on the little boy. “Do you remember me? I met your dad at the store.” I hoped he remembered me as someone nice and not as the bitchy who’d gone off on his dad.
He mumbled something into his Coke can that I couldn’t understand.
“What’s your name, sweetie?” I asked him, wishing I was anywhere but here. How could I be here babysitting for three little kids that I didn’t even know? And how irresponsible was Steele to just leave me here? He didn’t know me from Adam.
“I’m Joshua,” he said finally.
“Joshua. Can I call you Josh?”
“No, I’m Joshua.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Joshua. I’m Nellie.”
“I know. You told me that already.”
“Oh, yeah, I guess I did.” I tried not to roll my eyes. Be like that, kid. “So, shall we go and find your sister and your brother? Maybe they’ll want to play.”
“It’s okay.”
“Um, is that a yes or a no?”
“You can go and find them. I just want to drink my Coca-Cola.” He looked at me and then sat on the floor. “And I want pizza with pepperoni and ham. No onions, though.”
“Um, okay. Well, I can see about calling to get a pizza.”
“And I want french fries too. And a cheeseburger.”
“Well, I don’t think we can get all that, Josh.”
“It’s Joshua.”
“Sorry, Joshua. I don’t think we can get all that.” I was breaking out into a light sweat already. I knew kids could be difficult, but this difficult?
“I want to play with my Legos now.” He jumped up and tripped as he started moving forward. The Coke can tipped and Coke spilled all over the floor. “Oops.” He grinned at me. “Guess you got to tidy that up.”
“Well, why don’t you get some paper towels and tidy it up, Joshua?”
“Nope,” he said and ran off, spilling more Coca-Cola on the floor as he left the room.
“Wait!” I yelled but he was already gone.
How was I supposed to deal with this? Should I run after him? Could I put him into time-out? I was probably the last person who should have been telling anyone how to raise their kids because I had absolutely no clue. I found a roll of paper towels and grabbed some to clean up the mess from the floor. That was going to be sticky. I’d have to find a mop and clean it up properly later.
I headed out of the kitchen to look for Joshua. “Hey, Joshua,” I called out, hoping that he would come to me. At least he could maybe introduce me to his brother and sister and then we could figure something out. Maybe one of them would have their father’s phone number. “Joshua?” I called again as I walked into the living room.
The little girl was still sitting on the couch. “He’s not in here.”
“Oh, do you know where he is?”
“No.”
“And what’s your name?”
“I know you. You’re the lady that was mean at the grocery store.”
“Well, I don’t know that I was mean. I was just telling your—”
“You were mean. You were shouting. My dad—”
“I’m Nellie. What’s your name?” I cut her off because I didn’t want to hear what her dad had to say about me.
“I’m Katie with an I-E, not a Y. Katie.”
“Oh, that’s a beautiful name, Katie.”
“I know. Thank you.”
“Well, Katie, want to help me find Joshua and your other little brother?”
“He’s Adrian.”
“Oh, that’s your brother’s name?”
“Joshua, Adrian, and Katie. Just the three of us, my big brother and my little brother. I’m the middle child because I—”
“Well, that’s great, Katie. Shall we go and find your brothers?”
“I guess so.” She jumped off of the couch and walked over and looked up at me. “Are you going to shout and scream again?”
“I don’t think I shouted and screamed at all.”
“You were mean.”
“Well, I didn’t mean to be mean. Your brother hurt me with the cart when he ran it over my foot.” She just stared at me with wide eyes. “But I mean, all forgiven and forgotten. Shall we go and find him?”
“I guess so.”
We walked out into the hallway and I didn’t know whether to go up the stairs or toward the back of the house. I looked at Katie. “What do you think we should do now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, where do you think Joshua will be? Upstairs or—?”
And then I heard the front door open. My heart froze. Was someone breaking into the house? What was I going to do? How was I going to protect these little kids when they weren’t even listening to me?
I turned to find Steele standing in the doorway.
“Steele? What are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m doing?” He grinned as he walked in.
“I thought you were going on a date.”
“I was just kidding.” He laughed. “Of course, I’m not going to leave you with three kids that you don’t even know when I don’t even know you myself. I’m not that irresponsible.” He paused. “Even though you seem to think I am.”
“Well, I was starting to wonder. So, you do have a date, or you don’t have a date?”
“Well, aren’t you my date?”
“I am?” I stared at him confused. “So … this is a date?”
“Yeah. This is a date, Karen.”
“I told you not to call me Karen.”
“I told you that you don’t want to mess around with me,” he retorted, his eyes twinkling.
“I don’t understand what’s going on.”
“I was just joking around to see how you’d react if I left the house and pretended you were here to babysit.”
“But that’s not even funny. That’s not a funny joke!”
“Maybe that’s just my sense of humor. You either like it or you don’t. So Nellie, do you?”
“Do I what?” I was so confused as I ran my hand through my hair.
“Do you like my sense of humor?”
“I don’t know,” I said, but I was trying hard not to smile. “I really don’t know.”
“Well, how’s about we order pizza and then figure it out?”
“Well, that sounds kind of good because I know Joshua would love pizza with pepperoni and ham and no onions.”
“Oh, he’ll eat anything I get.”
“He also wanted french fries and a burger and—”
“Yep, sounds like Joshua.”
“So, um …” I paused. I wanted to ask more about how long he’d been a single father and the whole dynamic in the household, but I knew that it wasn’t really any of my business yet.
“Come on, Nellie. You want to head into the kitchen and we can chat?” he said.
“Sure. That sounds good.”
“Katie, go and play with Joshua and Adrian, and then I’ll call you for dinner, okay?”
“Okay,” she said with a grin and then ran up the stairs.
Steele stared at me, his eyes laughing as he stood next to me. “So, I got you good, didn’t I?”
“I don’t know about that. I do think that …”
“You do think what?”
“I do think that you’re very immature and—” But before I could finish my sentence, his lips were on mine, kissing me gently. He pulled after just a few seconds. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I think that was quite obvious. Don’t you?” he whispered.
And before I could respond, he had walked past me and was heading toward the kitchen. I stared at the front door, not the kitchen. I knew that now I had a decision to make. I could leave and forget this crazy man and his crazy kids, or I could follow him into the kitchen and see where the adventure would take me.