To The Single Dad in the Store by J.S. Cooper
Chapter Fourteen
“The kids have gone to play.”Steele waggled his eyebrows like he wanted us to play as well. Heat rose in my cheeks.
“I don’t really think it’s funny. You don’t even know me, and yet you left me with your kids?”
“Well, isn’t that ironic,” he said with a slight shrug.
“What do you mean? What’s ironic about that?”
“The fact that I can’t leave you to babysit my kids because I don’t really know you, but yet you expect to be able to come up to me in a store and lecture me about how I should be raising my kids.”
“Well, I—”
“You can’t have it both ways, Nellie. Which one is it?”
“Fine,” I huffed, “I was wrong, I shouldn’t have come up to you in the store. But you shouldn’t have let your son run his cart over my feet—that hurt. What if he’d broken my toes? Would you have paid for me to go to the hospital?”
“If you didn’t have health insurance, yes.”
“But what about my deductible even if I did have health insurance?”
“Then I would have paid your deductible.”
“But what about—”
“There are a lot of ‘what if’s,’ Nellie, but none of them happened. Your feet are fine, correct?”
“Yeah, they are fine, but only because I—” I sighed. “Anyways, it’s fine. So is this a date, or isn’t it?”
“I’d like to think it’s a date.” He looked innocently at me. “I mean, that’s what you wanted, right?”
“What do you mean, that’s what I wanted?”
“I mean, isn’t that the reason why you approached me in the store in the first place?”
“Excuse me?”
“You saw a hot guy with some kids, and you wanted to try and get an introduction, so you—”
“No, no, no, no, let me interrupt you right there.” I pushed my hand against his chest. I could feel the hard warmth of his skin against my palm, and I shivered slightly. Man, he was built. “Um …”
“Okay, Nellie you were saying?” He was obviously enjoying how flustered I was.
“I was saying that I did not approach you because I wanted a date with you. I did not approach you because I thought you were cute. I didn’t even see what you looked like. Your little hooligan son came and he—”
“Oh, no, we’re not going to go into this again, are we?”
“If you call me Karen one more time, I will scream.”
“Maybe I want to hear you scream.”
“Trust me, you do not want to hear me scream.”
“Trust me, I kind of would like to hear you scream.”
“Really, Steele?”
“Yes, really, Nellie,” he laughed, “but maybe not in the kitchen. Maybe in the bedroom.”
My cheeks flushed at his words. What was he insinuating? I mean, I’m not stupid, I knew exactly what he was insinuating, but I just couldn’t believe what he was saying.
Steele leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. “So tell me about your job. What is it you do, and what makes you an expert with kids?” He looked me up and down. “I’m assuming you don’t have any kids yourself, right?”
“No, I don’t have any kids, I…” I knew this was the make-or-break moment. I could be honest and tell him that I didn’t have a job yet, that I was still in college, and pray that he still wanted to stay on this date with me, or I could lie and pretend I was older and had a job, which I’d kind of already been doing.
And I realized that I didn’t want to lie. I didn’t want him to think I was older. I didn’t want him to think I was anyone other than who I was, because if this was going to work, then he had to know who I was for real. We had too many things working against us already.
“So … there’s something I’ve kind of got to tell you,” I started.
“Oh boy,” he said, “What? Don’t tell me you’re an influencer.” He did finger quotes in the air.
“What do you mean, an influencer?”
“That’s what I’m saying. If you tell me that your job is an influencer, you can leave right now.”
“No, I’m not an influencer. What makes you think I’m an influencer?”
“I don’t know. Pretty girls like you are normally influencers in this day and age.”
“Well, I’m glad you think I’m pretty, but no, I’m not an influencer.”
“Oh,” he groaned. “I bet I know.”
“What now?”
“Don’t tell me. You’re an Instagram model, aren’t you?”
“An Instagram model?” My jaw dropped. “What sort of job is that?”
“That’s exactly what I told the last girl who told me she was an Instagram model.”
“What last girl?”
“The last girl I went on a date with.”
“So you’ve been dating?”
“Yeah, I’ve been dating. Haven’t you been dating?”
“I guess, but …” Was it normal for men who’d been widowed to date so much?
“So … If you’re not an influencer or an Instagram model, what is your job?” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Don’t tell me you’re looking for a sugar daddy, because trust me, honey, I don’t have the money to be anybody’s sugar daddy.”
“No, I’m not looking for a sugar daddy!” I exclaimed. “But the truth is, I don’t actually have a job right now.”
“You don’t have a job right now, but you did have a job and you have plenty of savings.”
“No, I’ve never really had a job and, I don’t really have a lot of savings,” I admitted. “Though I mean, I guess I have a trust fund, but I can’t access that yet, but I …” I stopped myself. I was talking far too much.
“Okay. You’re kind of making me nervous. What’s going on here, Nellie?”
“I’m kind of still in college,” I said quickly.
“You’re what?” Steele looked flabbergasted. “Please tell me I misheard you.”
“Well, if you heard me say I’m still in college, then no, you didn’t.”
“You’re still in college?” he groaned. “Well, I guess that’s better than high school.”
“Oh my God, it’s way past high school. I’m a senior. I’m nearly out of college.”
“Okay. But I thought you were working in …” His eyes narrowed. “Am I making that up? Did you or did you not lead me to believe that you were significantly older than you probably are?”
“What do you mean significantly older? I’m twenty-two. I’m not a teenager or anything.”
“Yeah, but you’re twenty-two and in college, and I thought you were more like twenty-five and working on your career.”
“Does it really make that much of a difference—three years?”
“It kind of does,” he made a chagrined face. “I don’t know about this.”
“Why, you don’t think I’m going to be good with your kids? You don’t—”
“So, about that.” He made a face now.
“What?”
“… They’re kind of not my kids.”
“What do you mean, they’re kind of not your kids?”
“I mean, they’re not my kids.”
“What are you talking about? Every time I’ve seen you at the store, they’ve been with you.”
“I have a brother.”
“Okay?”
“And he’s a missionary.”
“Like, a real live missionary?”
“Yeah. Have you ever heard of a real dead missionary?”
I rolled my eyes. “So your brother’s a missionary?”
“Yeah. And he and his wife are actually doing missionary work in the Congo.”
“In Africa?”
“Yeah,” he nodded, “So I’ve been commissioned to look after the kids for a year.”
“Why didn’t they take the kids with them?”
“Well, they had initially planned to take the kids, but they’re going into some pretty rough jungle space. And I don’t know how much you know about the Congo, but the political climate is a little bit unstable, and they thought it was better for the kids to stay here in the States with me and their grandparents.”
“So you’re looking after the kids with the grandparents?”
“Yeah, and actually this is the first time I’ve had them,” he admitted. “They were with my mom and dad.”
“But now they’re with you?”
“Well, my brother left the kids with my parents, but my dad had to go in for hip surgery, and we thought it was better if the kids came to stay with me while he recuperated because they’re a lot of work.”
“Oh my gosh, are you joking with me? So they’re not even your kids?”
“No, I’m not a dad. So I’m not a shitty dad.”
“You’re just a shitty uncle.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m a shitty uncle. That was literally the first time I’d been to the grocery store with the kids in my life.”
“Okay, so now it’s beginning to make sense,” I shook my head. “You’re serious about this?”
He laughed. “I never said I was their father, you assumed I was their father. That’s why you’re a Karen.”
“I mean, I’m not going to lie. I was a little bit of a Karen, but please stop calling me that, it’s such an insult.”
“I think it’s hilarious,” he laughed, “Don’t you feel sorry for people whose actual names are Karen?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, can you imagine having to tell someone, Hi, I’m Karen.” He grinned. “And no, I’m not a busybody … I’m just a regular know-it-all.” He chuckled.
“I guess that’s kind of funny.”
“It’s hilarious,” he insisted. “Could you just imagine a Karen going up to some random person? ‘Hi I’m Karen.’”
“It’s not that funny, Steele.”
“I think it’s funny.”
It was time to get this conversation back on track. “So if they’re not your kids, then you’re not a father.”
“No. Does that disappoint you?”
“Yeah. I totally wanted to go on a date with you because of your three adorable kids.”
“You think the kids are adorable, really? After you were going off on me and them in the store?”
“I wasn’t going off on them. I mean, I was just—Fine. Maybe I’m not much better with kids than you are.”
“I’d say you’re a lot worse with kids than me.” He grinned cheekily.
I tried not to roll my eyes. “Well, are we going to get this pizza or what?”
“I guess I can order a pizza. You want to open the bottle of wine?” He paused. “You can drink wine, right? I’m not going to have the police showing up saying I served a minor?”
“I told you I’m twenty-two. Of course I can drink wine.”
“I’m just checking.”
“Well, how old are you, Steele?”
“I’m twenty-six.”
“So you’re literally four years older than me. That’s nothing.”
“When you were eighteen, I was twenty-two.” He looked serious and I couldn’t tell if he was really upset by this age gap or not.
“Okay, ass. When I was fourteen, you were eighteen.”
“But I’m not fourteen and you’re not eighteen, so …” He shrugged, but I could see a sparkle in his eyes. “We’re both adults.”
“So, you think it’s okay now?”
“Yeah, I think it’s fine. Are you fine with it?”
“Yes,” I laughed. “I am a little bit disappointed though.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I thought I could really shock my parents that I was dating a single father.”
“Whoa there, Nellie!” He looked taken aback.
“What?”
“I hope you’re not telling your parents about me already. This is just the first date.”
“Oh, yeah, oops.” I was absolutely mortified at the comment I’d made. Why had I let him think that I thought this was the first of many dates? I mean, I hoped this was the first of many dates, but it was stupid of me to let him know that.
He burst out laughing. “If you could see the look on your face right now!”
“It’s not funny, Steele. You can’t be mean to me. This is the second time tonight.”
“And it won’t be the last, trust me.”
“Fine.”
“I’m glad you have a sense of humor though. And also …”
“Yes, Steele?”
“I’m glad you thought I was hot enough to approach me in the grocery store.”
“I didn’t approach you because you were hot!” I exclaimed.
He smiled. “Uh-huh, you can keep telling yourself that, but I know the truth.”