Marisol is on a mission to discover the best workarounds to picky eating, so she looks at Callie as a valuable test subject. Her son Paxton is even pickier, and we stealthily watch to see if he’ll notice the new foods she’s introducing in with his old favorites. So far, he’s nevernotnoticed.
He can’t even get mad because she laughs in triumph like the world’s best kitchen prankster. Dinner should be fun.
I turn the corner onto Marisol’s street and see Liam’s sedan parked in the driveway next to Marisol’s minivan, so I pull up to the curb. I’m sure he’d prefer me to drive his nicer SUV when I’m hauling around the kids, but this way I can go straight home after.
I know what Kambryn would say. She’d tell me to work that angle and have an excuse to go back to his place later tonight, but I am not a schemer, nor do I want to become one when it comes to him. I don’t need late-night conversations messing with my head. Also, my date is tomorrow, and I’m already fluctuating between hope and dread. His texts have a lot of emojis in them. Based on all the star eyes and prayer hands, I think he’s excited to meet me.
Liam must have been watching for us, because he’s out the front door and walking toward my car before I even turn off the engine. Normally, his attention would go straight to the kids, but our eyes meet, and my stomach does a little flip.
He sees me.
I should be offended that he didn’t before, but it was smart. It was smart to not really look at each other when we were dating other people. This might be the first time since I started working for him that we’re both single at the same time. It’s kind of terrifying. Part of me hopes Mr. Emoji is the one for me, because then I don’t have to go back on this roller coaster of always wondering what could be.
I immediately focus on putting my keys away in my bag, and I’m relieved that when I check back, Liam’s attention is on Callie while he unbuckles her from her booster seat.
“Did you have fun swimming?” he asks.
“Yeah. I swam and swam, and I got so tired that I fell asleep on the couch and didn’t even eat my snack. I’m so hungry.” She hops out of the car with her hand tucked in his, and Wyatt slides out after them and runs ahead into the house, probably to find Paxton. The two are inseparable until they want to kill each other. That usually takes a good half hour.
“Coming?” Liam asks, glancing back at me. His wavy hair is tamed into corporate compliance, which is a real shame, but he’s in jeans and a tee, a relaxed look I love almost as much as seeing him with his crisp white dress shirt and slacks.
Since they’re waiting for me, I hurry out and lock my car behind me. “We didn’t bring a hostess gift.”
“I got us covered. We keep gift baskets at the office. I have one Andrew’s never seen, not that it matters, because it’s chocolate-and-peanut-butter themed. His least favorite. Marisol will be happy, though.”
“Yum,” Callie says. “I want chocolate.”
“Maybe after dinner, munchkin.”
The gravel crunches under our feet, and I run my fingers across their orange trumpet bush. I had one in my yard as a kid. We would pick the little leaves off and shred them as we walked by or pluck the orange flowers and taste the ends. Quite abusive, now that I think about it.
Liam opens the front door for us, and Callie runs in, jumping up and down when she sees her partner in crime, Bea. Andrew and Marisol’s daughter will someday either run a country or overthrow one, I’m sure of it. The two girls run toward the kitchen, probably to knock something over or steal food.
Thanks to Esther’s social life, the kids know how to sit quietly in a restaurant with adults, but this is not a restaurant, and they know it.
The gift basket Liam mentioned is sitting on the mantel in the living room. It’s stuffed full of delicious goodies. I’d almost takethe corporate life to get one of those, though not if it meant sitting at a desk all day. “Andrew has exactly the personality I would expect for someone who hates chocolate.”
“I heard that.” Like a bat, the man himself swoops in from around the corner and shoves Liam like he’s the one who said it.
“She’s not wrong,” Liam says, laughing.
Andrew and I are not people who normally tease each other, but when he grins at me, I relax and smile in return. Andrew’s slightly shorter than Liam’s six feet, and he’s starting to gray, even though he’s only in his early thirties. “Marisol’s in the kitchen?” I ask him.
“Yeah.”
I leave the two of them to go help Marisol with whatever she’s got going on, though it’s hard to continue walking out of earshot when I hear Andrew say, “I ran into Maggie at lunch today. She asked about Rosie. You want to explain what that’s about?”
The last thing I hear is Liam quickly shushing him, and then I’m in the kitchen and have to plaster a smile on my face when Marisol puts down her camera and comes over for a hug. Paxton’s twin, Gisela, comes over for a hug too. She’s the oldest by five minutes, but she carries the responsibility like she’s years older. She and Marisol have on matching black aprons and they both smell like cinnamon, cumin, and every good thing. I give Gisela a tight squeeze.
Marisol cocks her head, studying me over the top of her daughter’s head. “You okay, corazón?”
“I’m fine,” I lie. “What do you need help with? Did you get pictures of everything for your website?”
Chapter 12 – This Is Not a Landscape Conversation
Liam
Rosalie heard him. I know she did. Her shoulders stiffened, and she slowed for half a second before continuing on into the kitchen. I groan and give Andrew a look, and he’s of course oblivious. “What? Am I not allowed to ask you questions?”