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  “And that’s her kid, right? You’ve met him?” Martinez asked.

  “Yeah, twice. He’s cute.”

  “But are you really ready to date her? Because when you date the mom, you’re dating the kid, too, and for a guy who hasn’t had a relationship last longer than forty-eight hours . . . ”

  Kline trailed off, but they all got the message. Did he really think he was ready to be a dad?

  “We’re taking it slow. It’s only our second date. If things don’t work out, we’re both adults.”

  Sparks sat forward, his dark gaze clashing with Tyler’s in warning. “You’re right, and if that’s the way the two of you are going to play it, fine. But you need to stay away from that little boy until you’re sure, because you don’t want to let him get attached and then have to walk away when things don’t work out with his mom.”

  Tyler knew Sparks was right, and that had been his plan, but that didn’t mean he had to like being told what to do. Especially by Sparks, who hadn’t followed his own advice with Violet.

  Still, Tyler was tired of fighting, so he kept his opinions to himself. “Fine. Now shut the fuck up, or get the hell out so I can finish my movie.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  DANI BRUSHED THE curls back from Noah’s forehead while the doctor examined his ear. Her mom sat in one of the empty chairs, watching her like a hawk eyeing its prey.

  “So, tell me more about this group of friends. What are their names? How did you meet them?”

  “Mom, I don’t really think this is the time,” Dani said. The words came out slightly muffled due to her clenched teeth.

  “Huh.” The doctor pulled the otoscope out of Noah’s ear and addressed the nurse. “Do you mind grabbing me a pair of alligator forceps?”

  Dani knew what forceps were, and worry tightened her chest. “Forceps? Is there something in his ear?”

  “Yes, but I don’t know what. At first, I thought it was a hard ball of wax, but I noticed something metal in it.”

  Metal? Oh God.

  The nurse came back in, and the doctor said, “All right, Noah, I am going to remove something from your ear, and it might be a little uncomfortable, but your mom is going to sing your favorite song while I remove whatever is in your ear.”

  Dani took her son’s small hands and started humming the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song as the doctor pulled the forceps out of the sterile pack. Noah hummed along for a minute and then whimpered as the doctor started the extraction.

  “Hey, it’s okay, buddy, just look at Mama. It will only be a second, and then Mapa and I will take you out for ice cream.”

  “I got it, Noah,” the doctor said, holding up a small black object. He squinted at it for a moment or two, hmm-ing under his breath. “I think it’s a battery.”

  Dani was floored. She’d never seen anything like it, and when she told him so, he shrugged. “It could have come out of a toy or something. It doesn’t seem to have been in there very long. No corrosion. At least he didn’t swallow it.”

  Guilt twisted up Dani’s gut. Was the doctor blaming her? Thinking that she wasn’t watching her son closely enough?

  “How long is not very long?” she asked.

  “Maybe a week? It’s hard to know for sure.”

  God, obviously he was right. She’d been distracted, or maybe she would have noticed a broken toy or that his ear was sore. She turned to her mom and spoke more sharply than she’d intended. “Do you have anything that battery might have come out of?”

  Her mom immediately went on the defensive. “Are you blaming me for this? Because I haven’t had Noah all week; you have.”

  “This is no one’s fault,” the doctor said loudly. “Accidents happen. I would just make sure to search for any broken toys or electronics that might have a battery like this and be careful what you allow Noah to play with in the future.”

  Ashamed for starting a fight in the doctor’s office, Dani asked, “Is there . . . is there anything else he needs? Medicine or something?”

  “Nope, he should be fine. Like I said, it probably wasn’t in there very long.” Giving Noah a stern look, the doctor added, “Now, young man, no more putting things in your ears or up your nose. If you find something and you don’t know what it is, I want you to show your mom or dad or your grandparents. Understood?”

  Dani’s cheeks warmed at the mention of a dad, but Noah just nodded for the doctor, his mouth wrapped around his thumb.

  “Thank you for getting us in and for all of your help,” Dani said.

  “It’s not a problem; these things happen.” The doctor’s tone was reassuring and comforting, and Dani realized that she’d probably just been projecting her own guilt. She should have insisted on keeping Noah with her this weekend. It was why she’d taken a vacation, not to go gallivanting around with a bunch of strangers.

  “You can just head on up front, and they’ll take care of you,” the doctor said.

  “Thank you.” Dani helped Noah down from the table and took his hand, her mom following behind them as they went up to pay. As Dani searched through her purse for her medical card, her mom started talking.

  “Accidents happen, honey. There’s no use beating yourself up about it. Or me, for that matter.”

  “I don’t blame you, Mom, but I do blame myself.” Handing the card over to the receptionist, Dani lowered her voice and said, “How could I not know that my son had a battery in his ear?”

  “As closely as we watch him, we’re only human. We miss things. And like the doctor said, Noah is fine.”

  Dani’s eyes swam as she took back the medical card and handed over her debit card. She didn’t want to have this discussion in front of the receptionist, who handed her back her ATM card with several tissues. God, how embarrassing to get all weepy in front of strangers.

  Once they were outside, Dani said, “Noah might be fine now, but it could have been worse. And that’s on me.”

  “Please, do you think that you never took years off my life with your shenanigans? I’ll never forget the time you thought you could fly. You were playing in the backyard and decided that you were going to jump off your play structure. You could have tangled yourself up in the swing or worse, but you didn’t. You hit the ground and broke your arm. So, if you think I don’t know how you’re feeling right now, I do. I felt so guilty taking you into that ER, glancing around at all of the nurses, imagining what they must be thinking, but you know what? It was all in my head. The only thing they thought was that you were just being a kid.”

  “Mom, I was six when I did that, not under two.” Reaching for her mom’s back car door, she said, “I’m just going to take Noah home.”

  “No, you are not. Your dad is making corn bread and beef stew for dinner, and you are more than welcome to join us, but my grandson is going to come back to my house so he doesn’t associate it with any of this negativity.”

  Her mom took Noah’s hand from her, and although Dani wanted to protest, she also didn’t want to make a scene and upset Noah.

  “Mom, he isn’t going to associate your house with anything negative.” Dani popped open the door and bent inside to help her mom buckle Noah into his car seat. “Is it so crazy that I just want to be home with my son?”

  Her mom closed the opposite door without answering, and Dani kissed Noah’s cheek. “Hang on, bug, while I talk to your grandma.”

  Noah just pulled up his LeapFrog tablet off the seat next to him and turned it on.

  Dani closed the door and faced off with her mom, shooting daggers at her. “Noah is my son, and the only reason I am not pulling him out of this car and taking him home with me now is that I don’t want to upset him. But I am no longer a child, and you do not get to tell me what I will and will not do with my son.”

  Her mom puffed up like an angry turkey, glaring right back at her. “I told you that I had this under control, and you didn’t have to change your plans for us, but you’re so obsessed with being the perfect mother that you push
aside all the other elements in your life you should be tending to. You won’t be twenty-four forever.”

  “For God’s sake, Mom, would you just cut the bullshit? You don’t need to manage my life anymore. I’m not the same stupid girl I was three years ago.”

  “No, you’re not the same girl. In fact, you’re so far removed from her, sometimes I poke at you just to catch a glimpse of her. As crazy as you made me, you had such a spark in you, so much life. Now, your whole life revolves around Noah.” Her mom shook her head at her. “I just think that you’ve gone from one extreme to another, and you can meet in the middle, you know. You can still make smart choices and be young. Because someday, sooner than you think, Noah is going to have his own friends, and he’s not going to want his mom smothering him.”

  “That’s many years off,” Dani said.

  “Well, for tonight, you’re off duty. Go home. I’ll bring Noah back after church tomorrow.”

  “Why do you insist on taking Noah to church? He’s not even two, and you force him to sit there for an hour listening to things he doesn’t understand.”

  Her mom’s face turned an ugly shade of purple. “Noah does just fine, and besides, it’s good for him to learn about his Maker. There is nothing wrong with instilling good moral values in children.”

  Sure, because it worked out so well for me.

  “And before you say anything else to needle me, can we just hug and say our good-byes? Unless, of course, you want to tell me about your new friends?”

  Since I’m definitely considering never seeing him again, I think not.

  “Good-bye, Mom.”

  TYLER STARED AT the screen of his phone until it turned black. Then, he slid his thumb across the screen and stared some more. For some reason, he just couldn’t bring himself to call Dani. Maybe it was the way he had left her on her porch, cold and without any explanation. Or, perhaps it was that it was nearly eleven o’clock at night, and he was afraid she’d already be asleep.

  Besides, he wasn’t even sure what he wanted to say to her.

  Maybe that you’re sorry for being a tool and that your friends are a bunch of dipshits?

  Except now, he could see his friends’ point of view, and it had him questioning what he was doing with Dani all over again.

  Where are your balls, man? Just text her. You already swore to take things slow. What happened to all the brave talk about her being different?

  Getting up his nerve, he texted, Hey, how’s Noah?

  Setting his phone down on the table, he got up and walked away from it. His gaze caught Duke’s, who was following him across the room with his smoky eyes.

  “What? I texted her.”

  Duke’s floppy ears perked up, and he barked at him.

  A half a second later, his phone chimed. He didn’t even realize he was flying across the room to answer it until he flopped onto the couch. Picking up his phone, he read her message.

  He’s okay. He had a battery in his ear. Feeling like the worst mother in the world, and to top it all off, my mom wouldn’t even let me bring him home. How are you?

  What did he say? That he felt like a jerk about the way he’d left things with her? Or was that too honest?

  You aren’t a bad mom. Shit happens. And he’s fine, right? You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.

  Look at him, being all supportive and understanding.

  Shit, he was losing it.

  His phone alerted him of another message, and he had to read it twice.

  You’re sweet.

  No, he wasn’t. He was a jerk. A jackass. A douche bag.

  But he liked that she thought so.

  What are you doing right now?

  Did that sound pushy? Damn, he was not used to being the insecure one.

  Actually, I’m drinking alone and watching Netflix. Pretty pathetic, right?

  Glancing down at the mess of beer bottles from the guys earlier, he responded.

  No, sometimes we need to drink. Want some company?

  Well, fuck, he’d done it. He had put himself out there for rejection, and he wished he could take it back.

  And then his phone dinged.

  Sure, but I gotta warn you, it’s not pretty.

  His normal response would have been something cheesy like You’re always pretty, but it didn’t feel right, using something trite on Dani.

  I’m on my way.

  Tyler grabbed Duke and was loading him up just as his phone rang. He looked down and saw Dani’s number flashing.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  “Maybe this is a bad idea,” she said.

  Tyler paused in the door of his Tahoe, stunned. “What?”

  “Us. Doing this. I mean, you aren’t even sure you want to get involved, and after today, with your friends hating me, and Noah—”

  “My friends don’t hate you. They were pissed at me. They thought I was taking advantage of you.”

  “Well, I don’t think that, but I’m worried about Noah—”

  “Wait, wait. I am not going to hurt Noah. In fact, I thought we decided we were going to wait for me to spend time with Noah until we were sure?”

  “We were, but this is more about you distracting me from Noah.”

  What the hell did he say to that? An easy quip sat on the tip of his tongue, waiting to be used.

  Instead, he stood silent. Had he ever been at a loss for words?

  First time for everything.

  “Are you still there?” she asked.

  He cleared his throat before speaking. “Yeah, look, Dani, if you don’t want me to come over, that’s fine. I get you not wanting to get involved.” He hated how twisted up he was over this girl. “But I don’t think you should use me getting between you and Noah as an excuse. No matter how things go between us, Noah will always come first with you; I get that. Just like today. I will never fault you for putting your son before everything. In fact, I admire you for it.”

  This time, he thought she had hung up, it got so quiet on the line.

  “Dani? What’s it going to be?”

  Finally, she said, “I’ll see you when you get here.”

  She ended the call, and he slipped his phone in his pocket. Whatever he’d said had obviously been the right thing.

  Funny. All the times he’d ever tried to win a girl over, he’d never considered being sincere.

  Chapter Sixteen

  DANI FLUFFED HER flat hair in the mirror, but all it did was make the blonde strands staticky. She wished her cheeks weren’t so flushed and her eyes so bleary; she’d been halfway through a bottle of wine when he’d texted, which had been another reason she’d tried to cancel with him. She didn’t trust herself alone with him.

  God, why had she invited him over in the first place? She’d been planning to be really firm about why she didn’t want to get involved, but then he’d said all that sweet stuff about not wanting to get between her and Noah and that he respected her.

  When the hell had a man’s respect ever sounded so hot?

  Pulling open the fridge, she grabbed a bottle of water. Drinking water would sober her up, right? Maybe she should start a pot of coffee . . .

  A knock at her door sent Bella flying off the couch, barking hysterically, while Shasta lifted her head, released a loud woof, and laid her head back down.

  Too late to do anything but answer, she walked across the living room and pulled the door open. Tyler stood on her front porch in a pullover sweatshirt and jeans, Duke sitting patiently by his side.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Hey, come on in.” Both of her dogs circled and sniffed Duke as he came inside, and Dani had the bizarre urge to do the same to Tyler as his cologne drifted around her like a warm hug.

  “So, what are we watching?” He put Duke in a down-stay and sat on the couch, looking totally at ease with a sexy grin. One of his arms draped over the back of the couch, while the other rested on his knees. If she sat down next to him, would he wrap that hard, muscular arm around her s
houlders?

  Oh, boy.

  “I wasn’t sure. Why don’t you choose?”

  “Nope, it’s not my house. You pick,” he said.

  She walked around the coffee table and sat next to him on the couch, but his arm didn’t move.

  Relaxing slightly, she teased, “Even if I choose a chick flick?”

  “Whatever you pick, I promise not to complain.”

  “You’re being awfully accommodating.”

  “I figure I better be, or you might kick us out. Besides, according to you, I’m sweet, so why wouldn’t I let you have your way?”

  She laughed as she picked up the remote, already knowing what to pick. “We’ll watch One Small Hitch.”

  “What is that?” he asked.

  Dani raised an eyebrow at him. “I thought you didn’t care what I chose?”

  “So I can’t be curious?”

  “It’s a movie about a guy who pretends to be engaged to his best friend’s little sister when he finds out his dad is dying. It’s funny; you’ll like it.”

  She could practically feel the skepticism radiating from him but chose to ignore it as she pressed play.

  About fifteen minutes into the movie, Tyler was indeed chuckling, but Dani was fighting to stay awake. Her eyes fluttered closed a couple times, and she yawned loudly. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Are you too tired? Should I go?”

  “No, are you kidding? You just got here, and besides, you want to finish this.”

  “Then at least come here. I keep seeing your neck jerk every time you doze off, and your head flops forward. It can’t be comfortable.”

  As Tyler pulled her in against his body, his arm wrapping around her, she suddenly wasn’t so tired anymore. She snuggled into him, laying her head on his chest so she could still see the TV. The steady rise and fall of Tyler’s chest under her cheek was lulling her back to sleep slowly, and before she drifted off, it occurred to her that she hadn’t been comfortable enough to fall asleep with a man in years.

  TYLER SMILED AS Dani’s soft snores reached his ears. She was obviously exhausted from their late night and early morning. He let her continue to sleep while he finished the movie. Dani had been right about this one; he had enjoyed it. Who would have thought he’d actually enjoy a movie his mom and sister would have squealed over?