Relapse

Fuck me, if I thought my knees were weak before, they feel like jelly now.Nathan has on a pair of worn jeans and a black t-shirt that pulls across his chest, showing off the muscle beneath. His blue eyes meet mine and a slow smile spreads across his lips “Hey.”

“Hi.” I smile back, leaning against the frame of the door slightly to regain some sort of balance. Fuck, I can’t remember the last time I was this nervous. But fuck does the man wear jeans well.

“Ready to go?” he asks, glancing behind me.

“The kids are already gone,” I say, guessing that’s who he’s looking for, “so yes. Just let me grab my phone and keys.” Like an idiot, I’d forgotten to grab them in my haste. I quickly pull them off the counter before I step out onto the porch and lock the door. I smile up at Nathan. “Okay, I’m ready.”

He leads me to his silver impala and opens the door for me, stepping to the side.

I can’t help but to look at him in surprise. “Who says chivalry is dead?” I try to think of the last time anyone held a door open for me while on a date and come up blank.

“I try,” he says with a laugh but I don’t miss the way his cheeks flush slightly. It makes me smile.

I get in and he closes the door behind me. The interior of the car is cool and there’s the soft tunes of the radio playing.

Nathan gets in and my nerves come back full force as he looks over at me. “The place isn’t too far from here,” he says as he pulls out of the driveway. “But not quite in walking distance.”

I nod and the trip does prove to be short and the drive is silent but not too awkward.

He holds the door open for me as we walk into the place and the smell of fried food makes my stomach rumble. I take in the white tile walls that are accented by red tables and neon signs that read, seafood.

The hostess gives us a smile and we’re led to a small booth next to a window and the waitress takes our drink orders.

“Seafood seemed like a safe choice,” Nathan says. His hands start to fiddle with the salt shaker on the table and I realize he’s nervous.

“Oh, yea, there’s not too many foods that I don’t like, so no worries” I reassure him. He stops fiddling with the shaker and watches me as I continue, “But I will say, I’m developing a particular taste for this place called Spice Works. Have you ever heard of it?”

He laughs, revealing the crow’s feet around his eyes. “Yeah, taking you to my restaurant seemed like a vain thing to do.”

A lot of the nerves I felt have already eased and I find myself relaxing further. “Maybe if I didn’t already know about it,” I tell him as I open my menu and look it over. It doesn’t take me long to pick out the fried shrimp platter.

The waitress comes back with our drinks and asks if we’re ready to order. I place my order and Nathan places his own before looking across the table at me.

“You know I was starting to think that maybe I’d shot my shot and just missed, until Jamille kind of threw the date on you, so I just want to make sure you actually want to be here,” he says, leaning back. His posture is relaxed but when I glance at his hands, they’re clenched slightly .

I shake my head. “Yes, I actually want to be here. I was just a little hesitant because of the kids and Jamille knew that so this was her way of pushing me out of my comfort zone. I’m glad she did,” I admit.

He smiles. “Good, just wanted to be sure. So tell me, what inspired the move to our little neighborhood?”

Some of my nerves return at that. Just tell him the truth. You’ve already told Chase and Emmet. “When my sister and her husband died and I found out I’d be getting custody of the kids, I realized my shitty little apartment wasn’t a good idea. Then there’s my sister’s house, I could barely step foot into it without bursting out in tears. So I sold the house and let my apartment go. Then it became a matter of finding somewhere nice that wouldn’t take too long to get settled in,” I tell him. There, see the world didn’t end. “The neighborhood is nice and so is the school Tanner’s in, so it seemed like a perfect fit. Everything else, as far as baseball and Lilly’s daycare and swimming lessons, just fell into place.”

He hangs onto every word and nods when I finally stop. “Yea, the school is pretty great. I’ve gone to some of the fundraisers they’ve had since most of the kids on the team go there and the faculty has always been nice.”

Relief fills me and I realize it’s because he didn’t ask any of the questions I expected.

What happened to your sister?

Why would she leave you the kids?

Why were you staying in a shitty apartment?

So the kids aren’t really yours?

“Tanner has only come home with positive things to say all week, but I think that’s mostly due to the fact that he and Aiden are in the same class.”

He chuckles. “Yea, those two are attached at the hip. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to make them switch catching partners so they can interact with the rest of the kids. It’s good though, because Aiden has never really taken well to the other kids, at least not as well as he has with Tanner.”

I nod, recalling Jamille mentioning it during one of our talks. The only reason Aiden still plays for this particular team is because he loves Nathan being his coach. He also thinks it’s cool to have a cop as the assistant coach, which is how I learned that Chase helps anytime he’s free. If only the bitchy parents weren’t a part of the team, then it’d be perfect.