Page 44 of Say Yes to the Hot Mess
“All right, baby,” I say to Archer, who’s in his carseat, looking vaguely around the room. I unbuckle him and get him out, bringing him close and cradling his body against mine. “I’ll be back in two days, okay? And I’ll miss you. And maybe we can video chat?” I say, glancing up at Frank. “So I can see him?”
“Course,” Uncle Frank says immediately. “Course we can.”
A little of the tight knot in my chest eases at this. I press a few last kisses to Archer’s head before passing him to Frank, who takes him with a gentleness that should seem out of place on a man so gruff. But Frank is great with Archer; he always has been.
“Thank you, Uncle Frank,” I say, my voice strangled as I try in vain to speak past the knot in my throat. “I’d better run.”
Frank seems to understand that I just want to leave before I lose my composure, because he nods at the door. “I’ll call if I need anything,” he says.
“Please do.” I give Archer one last kiss, and then I all but fling myself out of the front door, closing it securely behind me.
It feels like I’m leaving part of my soul behind, and this time when my eyes sting, I don’t stop the tears.
* * *
When I’ve calmeddown a bit, I call Scarlett to give her an update.
“Okay, I have a lot to go over, and not a lot of time. Are you ready?” I say, jumping right in because Dex will be here soon.
“Yes. Go.”
“Okay. So good news, my neighbor got maintenance to fix my dryer! And he changed my flat tire. And in return, I’m being his date for the wedding. I’m leaving with him in like, fifteen minutes. And I’m a little nervous because I’m not completely sure how I feel about him.”
“Oh, wow,” Scarlett says after a second of silence, during which I know she’s processing everything I just dropped on her. “Okay, you’re doing it. Okay. Well, first, yay that your dryer is fixed, and your tire! Now talk about the feelings thing and the wedding thing, please.”
“Right,” I sigh. “Okay. So Dex’s mom wants him to—”
“Dex?” she says. She clears her throat, and when she speaks again, her voice sounds funny. “His name is Dex?”
I frown. “Yeah,” I say. “Dex Anthony.”
“Huh,” she says with a forced casualness. “And you said it’s a family wedding? What, like a brother or something?”
My frown deepens. “No,” I say slowly. “His cousin, I think.”
“Oh,” she says, and I can’t help but notice that although she spoke quietly, there’s a whole world of relief packed into that tiny little syllable.
“Scarlett, what’s going on? Do you know him?”
“Uh, yeah, actually,” she admits. “Old family friends, and to be super honest with you, Isodo not feel like talking about it right now. Tell me about your feelings and all that. What did you—”
“No, Scarlett, wait,” I interrupt. “We totally don’t have to talk about you knowing him or whatever,” I hurry to reassure her, “but just tell me—were you guys a thing or something? Like, am I going on a fake date with your ex? Because I don’t want to touch that with a ten-foot pole—”
“No,” she says, laughing. “I never dated Dex, and I’ve never had feelings for him. We know each other well enough, but I was—” She breaks off, then goes on, “Well, yeah. There was nothing between us. I was just surprised it’s him you’ve been talking about. Now talk, Mayari Ellis. What did you mean, you don’t know how you feel about him?”
“I don’t know,” I sigh. I’m choosing to drop the subject of her past relationship with Dex for now, because she obviously doesn’t want to talk about it, but I hope she will sometime. “I don’t know,” I repeat. “He’s trying to kick me out of my apartment, but when we’re not talking about that, we get along decently well, and he’s—I don’t know. Kind of a breath of fresh air, in a way. Like, okay,” I say, trying to explain. “When he was helping with my tire, right, my boobs really hurt because I needed to pump or feed Archer, so I put cabbage leaves in my shirt because it’s supposed to help.”
“Okay,” she says slowly. “Not what my first course of action would have been, but okay. Go on.”
I laugh. “It was because I didn’t have time to feed Archer or pump, because Dex had already come over.” She makes a little noise of understanding, and I go on, “So we were out there fixing my tire and long story short, the cabbage fell out of my shirt. And he completely wasn’t weirded out. I mean, he laughed, but it didn’t feel like he was laughing at me in a mean way, you know? And then he just told me I should go feed Archer or whatever, and he’d finish the tire. Most guys would be weird or grossed out or whatever, but he just took it in stride. And sometimes…I think sometimes we flirt,” I admit, because I’m on a roll, and I want to get this all out before Dex gets here. “And when he’s not being all fussy and businessman Dex and whatnot—I really like that side of him. The more relaxed side. He has a really nice laugh.”
“Plus he’s hot,” Scarlett adds.
“He is,” I agree, my cheeks heating. “He actually heard me call him ‘stupid hot,’ and it was not my finest moment.”
Scarlett laughs for a full thirty seconds at this. When she finally calms down, she says teasingly, “Well, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you had a little crush.”
I snort. “No, I don’t. I don’t like himthatmuch. Just…sometimes. When he’s being nice or helpful.”
