“Are we going to Grammy and Papa’s this weekend?” Jackson asks.
“Yep,” I reply and then flick my eyes to Scarlet. “We go to my parents’ house for dinner almost every Sunday.”
“That’s nice.” She pushes her mac and cheese around on her plate before taking a bite.
“Can Scarlet come too?” Jackson asks, eyes full of hope.
“Uh,” I start, not knowing what to say. Scarlet lives with us—for now—but she’s not part of the family. She has no obligation to do anything other than take care of Jackson, and Sunday is technically her day off. “If she wants to, she’s welcome to come.”
“Yay! Did you hear what my daddy said? You can come!”
“If she wants to,” I stress.
“Please!” Jackson begs her. “Please oh please say yes!”
Scarlet laughs. “How can I say no to that face?”
Jackson gets so excited he jumps out of his chair and runs around the table to give Scarlet a hug.
“Eat,” I gently remind him. “We have to go over letters and then get a bath in.”
“We already did letters,” he says, giving me a know-it-all look.
“Excuse me?” I raise my eyebrows.
With a dramatic sigh that he learned from Dean no doubt, he points to Scarlet. “We already did letters, Dad.”
“He showed me his workbook and asked if we could do a page. He got lowercase ‘b’ and ‘d’ mixed up a few times but other than that, he did a good job.”
I’m not sure how to feel about this. Can this woman teach Jackson as well as I can? It’s not like I’m an overqualified child educator, but he’s my son.
“Thanks,” I say.
“Can we go to the park then?” Jackson asks.
“Yeah, we’ll have time before bed now.”
“Yay!” Jackson drops his fork and starts clapping. I shift my gaze from him to Scarlet, taking in the slight smile pulling up her full lips. “Will you come too, Scarlet?” he asks.
“Of course!” She beams at him, and he jabbers away about his favorite things to do at the park the rest of dinner. I take Jackson upstairs to change into something a little warmer. The evening air takes on a chill once the sun goes down.
The park is two blocks away, and Jackson usually rides his bike while I walk behind. He still needs training wheels and struggles a bit when the sidewalk is uneven.
Scarlet changed into black leggings and a long-sleeve T-shirt and is walking in step next to me. I turn my head, unable to help but notice the way her breasts bounce with each step even though she’s wearing a bra.
“You don’t have to go to dinner with my family on Sunday,” I start. “Don’t feel pressured by Jackson. He’ll get over it.”
She gives me a pleasant smile. “I don’t mind, really. I have nothing else to do. But if you don’t want me there—”
“No, that’s not it,” I say quickly. Why do I care about offending her? I shouldn’t.
I don’t.
“They’re a bit overbearing,” I warn. “And there’s a lot of them.”
“Jackson was talking about an Uncle Archer.”
I nod. “That’s Quinn’s fiancé. She’s the youngest of my siblings, and has a baby. Then there’s Logan and Owen—they’re identical twins–and then Dean and his wife, Kara.”
“Four siblings and two more by marriage?” She laughs. “I can hardly handle the two I have.”
“It’s a lot, but I like it,” I admit. “It’s always loud and crazy, but that’s the way it’s always been.”
“You must be close to Quinn.”
“We’re all pretty close.” We stop at the edge of the street and after making sure Jackson remembers the concept of looking both ways, we cross and make it down half the block before either of us speak.
“So,” she starts, voice soft. She pushes a loose strand of hair from her face and turns to me, blue eyes sparkling in the fading sunlight. “Jackson mentioned his mother. He didn’t go into detail, but I don’t know how you want me handling the situation. He seemed a little upset.”
Well, shit. I didn’t think this fun piece of conversation would come up already. Out of the mouth of babes…
“We don’t talk about her.” I set my gaze forward, watching Jackson peddle his little heart out. Indiana is relatively flat all around, but there’s a slight incline on the way to the park that he sometimes needs help with.
“Oh, okay. I’ll just try to change the subject.”
I let out a sigh, knowing that sooner or later, this is going to all come out, and I’d rather have Scarlet hear it from me than anyone else.
“Jackson’s mother left a few weeks after he was born. She came back once, stayed a few days, and that’s the last time I’ve seen or heard anything from her. When Jackson asks, I tell him Daisy had other things to do.” I shrug. “It’s not the best response, but nothing is a good response in that situation.”