“Five-second rule?” I said, leaning back once my area was picked up.
“Obviously.” Shelby popped a handful in her mouth as she picked up the last of the popcorn at her feet before settling back onto the couch, directly into the crook of my right arm.
Her body stilled, and I watched in secret delight as it all slowly clicked into place. She tried to hold it back, but her smile would not be contained.
“Maybe you are easy,” I teased. “We’re not even five minutes into the movie yet.”
Shelby refused to look at me, instead turning her face to the other side, but I smelled a rat. I turned toward her, trying to catch a glimpse, but she kept her face suspiciously averted.
“Are you blushing, Tuck?”
“No! Shut up!”
It wasn’t until Jim Craig from the movie,Return to Snowy River, began to speak for the first time on screen that I realized I still had a sloppy grin on my face.
Eventually, she turned back and, with some hesitation, slowly relaxed against me.
“So, the popcorn spill was on purpose?”
“Yeah.”
She admitted defeat with a smile, and I left her alone for a bit to watch the movie. It was one of my favorites, but for all my effort, my mind paid very little attention to the screen before me. Shelby gradually grew more and more comfortable leaning against me. Ever so slowly, she curled toward me, her head more fully on my chest.
“What do I do with this?” She held up her hand.
“Sit on it.”
“Huh?” She raised her head to look at me, but I pressed her head back down on my chest before grabbing her hand and resting it on my stomach, intertwined with mine. That’s how any good coach would have taught her.
I had planned to hold it there, but after only a few seconds with my thumb caressing her knuckle, I moved my hand back to my side.
My eyes flicked down to the red hair fanning across my shirt before I flicked them away again. For the first time since we made our deal, I was beginning to wonder if I had bitten off more than I could chew.
I sat up and carefully removed my arm from around her shoulders. She glanced up, and for a second, I imagined she looked disappointed before she smiled up at me.
“Too sexy for you?” she taunted.
I ignored the insinuation. “Alright, Tuck, you passed that one pretty well.”
“What’s next?” she asked just as Sophie’s sharp cry from the back bedroom broke into our quiet night.
13
SHELBY
Jake had moved awayfrom me and was striding toward the second bedroom down the small hallway to our left before I had even realized that the sound came from Sophie’s room.
“I want Mommy!” came a desperate cry spilling into the living room as Jake opened her door and stepped inside.
I heard Jake’s low tone trying to calm her, though I didn’t hear what he said.
More wailing.
“No! I don’t want you! I want Mommy!”
Over and over, her shrill voice screamed and struggled. The biting innocence of a child. Not knowing why her mom left her. Not understanding. And perhaps it was better that way. For her. But for Jake…my hand found my mouth as my body sat frozen in place. Several long minutes later, the screaming stopped.
The sound of Jake’s low and hushed voice filtered through the hallway, and before I could talk myself out of it, I treaded toward Sophie’s door, open just a crack, and peered inside. Jake sat on the floor with his back to Sophie’s bed, holding his daughter across his chest and lap. She looked like she was on theverge of going back to sleep, her eyes closed with sniffles and an occasional hiccup.