The Player and the Single Mom

It shouldn’t. But it did.

I wanted Cash to fall in love with me. Which was selfish. I knew that. It was why I had dropped that comment about him missing out on his dream girl. I had been picking at him to gauge his reaction and then didn’t understand his reaction. He’d gotten angry, but I wasn’t sure why.

The whole reason I hadn’t wanted to date him after Mexico was that I was scared of feeling too much and it not being reciprocated. Of falling in love and then getting hurt.

Now here I was and I was pretty damn sure that was exactly what was happening.

Cash

“Oh my God,”I said to Miles, running my fingers through my hair in frustration. “How do I come back from that? Why the fuck did I say that like that?”

We can get married if you want.

We’d just left Sera’s to go hit the gym and workout. I climbed onto the seat and slammed the door of my truck behind me hard.

“I don’t know. That was, let's just say, not good.” Miles shook his head as I backed my truck out of Sera’s driveway.

“I’m an idiot. She already told me that somewhere in the world there is a pretty twenty-five year old who is supposed to be my soulmate or wife or whatever and then here I go and say that. Could I make her feel any less special?”

“Have you guys ever talked about getting married?”

“No. My plan was to propose to her sometime here soon and then get married when everyone is in town for the Fourth of July party.” It had been a good plan. “I want to be married before the baby is born.”

“Good luck with that plan now. She’s going to think you’re doing it just because she’s worried about the kids.”

“That’s very helpful, thanks.” I shifted gears and opened the truck up on the expressway. “One of the things I think she appreciates about me is that I’m solid, steady, calm. That was too calm.”

“So don’t be calm. Do something that’s kind of crazy.”

“I don’t know. I need to think about this.” I wasn’t sure Sera would appreciate a proposal that was any sort of ambush. “Hey, did Toni make you fire Dora and Nelsie?” Miles had been the one who had introduced me to them in the first place.

“No. Toni believes very strongly that men and women can be friends and not want to have sex, so if she makes me let them go, she’s disapproving her own theory, and she’s way too stubborn to allow that to happen.” Miles rubbed his jaw. “Did Sera make you fire them?”

“Yes. She said she’s not allowing women under forty in the house. She also made me order all new bedding for the main bedroom. I don’t know if she thinks I had a threesome with the maids there or just other women in general, but she wants new sheets immediately, if not sooner.”

“She’s jealous then.”

“It’s the stupid age gap. I swear, I’m tempted to change my birth certificate and just start saying I’m thirty-five. That’s how dumb I think worrying about age is.”

“Maybe she’s jealous because she cares more about you than she’s letting on.”

She was also jealous, or insecure, or whatever it was exactly, because her husband had cheated on her. That was not something I could tell Miles though.

“I don’t know. I doubt it.”

“Did you have a threesome with Dora and Nelsie?” he asked, sounding really damn curious.

“No, I did not. They’re both married. You know I don’t mess with married women.”

“What if they weren’t married?”

“I think hooking up with identical twins would be disorienting. You’d lose track of who you’re touching where.”

Miles laughed. “You of all the dudes I know are meant to be married. You’d better figure out how to fix this shit with Sera because the single life is not where it’s at for you.”

“I know. I want to be married. I want to have a big family. I’m thrilled that I knocked Sera up.”

“Please tell me you didn’t say that too.”

“Not in so many words. She knows I’m happy about it though.”

“Only guy I know who would be happy about the whole situation. You’re taking on a lot with those three kids.”

“Good thing it’s happening to me then. When we marry Toni and Sera, does that mean we’re brothers-in-law?”

“I think technically, yes, right?” Miles grinned. “Who would have thought me and Bayou Boy would be hooking up with sisters?”

That made me laugh. “I want to take Sera and the kids back home for Faith’s graduation. You and Toni should come too. You know my mom loves you.”

“All mothers love me. I’m fucking charming.”

“You’re something.” I had a random thought. “When we went to Vermont after Christmas was that the first time Toni had flown on a plane? When we went to Mexico that was Sera’s first time flying.”

“No, she said she went on spring break in college with her friends a few times.”

“That makes sense. But I guess the kids haven’t flown before.”

“Might be a good time to plan a proposal. I’m just saying.”

“Yeah,” I said, even though I had serious doubts about it.

I had the feeling that I could ask, but that Sera might very well say no.

We were having a baby. She’d agreed to move in with me.

But that didn’t mean she wanted to marry me.