I tried to reach around her, sandwiching her between me and the couch. “You’re sabotaging me.”
“I’m not sabotaging you!” she said with a laugh, trying to squirm away from me. She pushed on my chest to try to shove me away.
And for just a second, I let myself relish the fact that I was on top of her. On the couch. Just like I’d pictured countless times in my head. I could smell the scent of her floral shampoo. It swirledaround me, drawing me closer. Her lips were only a few inches away from mine.
The front door clicked opened and I jumped off the couch. It was one thing to dream about kissing Penny. It was another to actually do it. Especially right in front of James. I could bench press more than him, but James had always been a good fighter. I wasn’t sure I’d win that fight.
But it wasn’t James coming through the front door.
“Uncle Matt! Uncle Matt!” Scarlett darted right past her mother and jumped into my arms.
“Hey, Scar.” I kissed the top of her head. “What have you been up to today?”
“Ellie took me and Liam to the zoo. And I got to watch the red pandas.”
She’d become obsessed with red pandas recently. I was pretty sure she liked that their fur was the same color as her hair.
“That sounds like fun. Did you get to feed any?”
Her jaw actually dropped. “I can feed them? I didn’t know that was allowed! Ellie, can I feed them next time?”
I glanced into the foyer to see Ellen lifting baby Liam out of the stroller. She was the most patient person I’d ever met. She didn’t even care that Scarlett called her Ellie instead of Ellen. She walked into the living room with Liam in her arms. And she shook her head at me, giving me a pointed glare. “Only UncleMatt is allowed to feed them. Next time you go with him, he’ll let you.”
Oh shit.Ellen could dish it out too.
“Really?” Scarlett looked up at me with her big doe eyes.
“Sure.” I’d figure it out. Anything for her. I looked over at Penny. Anything for her too.
“You’re ridiculous,” Penny mouthed silently as she took Liam from Ellen.
Scarlett gave me a big hug and then turned to her mother. She stood up on the couch and looked down at her baby brother. “He was a good boy today. He didn’t cry and scare the animals like last time.”
“Is that so?” Penny tickled Scarlett’s side.
“Scarlett,” said Ellen. ”Let’s go get you a bath before your daddy comes home.”
“Okay. Uncle Matt, tell my Mommy when we can go to the zoo. I’m always free.” Scarlett jumped off the couch and started running toward the stairs.
She was so freaking cute.
Ellen took off after her.
I watched in silence as Penny stared down at her son. The son she almost lost. The miracle baby sitting in her lap. Liam started to whine. And it looked like Penny was about to cry again.
“Penny?”
She blinked fast and didn’t look up at me. “Yes?” Liam started to really cry now. “Shh, baby boy.”
“Are you okay?”
She laughed, but it sounded forced. “I’m fine.”
Fine.Women’s universal word for not okay, as far as I could tell. “You know you can talk to me.”
“Hm?” She finally looked back up at me. She shook her head like she’d been lost in a trance.
I pulled Liam out of her arms and cradled him in mine. Liam immediately quieted down in my arms. “I can tell when something is bothering you, Penny.”
