Page 5 of Not How I Saw That Going

Two

Ward

WhatdidIjustdo? I haven’t so much as flirted with a woman in years, and not only did I do that, but I also had to wink at her. Winking isn’t even a thing anymore, is it? She probably thought I had something stuck in my eye.

I start up my truck. I need to get away from this place before I do something even more idiotic.

The only single ladies in my life are my four-year-old nieces and, evidently, it shows. I wish I could go back in time, hand her the kid and leave. Skip buying the naughty but cute little boy Swedish Fish. She’d already told him no. My sister hates when I undermine her parenting. My actions were completely inappropriate. But something about the hopeless innocence in the woman’s bright blue eyes had my knees giving out faster than getting shot by a rifle at point-blank.

I turn off the main road and slow down on my street.

She had a kid, which means she is—or at least was—in a relationship of some kind. Even though she didn’t have a ring.

Yes, I checked.

I shake my head free of its ridiculous thoughts and pull into the garage. It doesn’t matter. I’ll never see her again. I don’twantto see her again.

I manage to load all ten bags of groceries in my arms and push into my house. But that smile of hers, it lightened something heavy that’s been hanging around my heart for the last six years.

“Do my eyes deceive me, or are you actually smiling?”

I jump at Caleb’s voice, not realizing he was in the kitchen. I drop my grocery bags on the counter and frown.

“What on earth is that?” he asks, pointing at the seven bags of shredded cheese that now look more like cheese curd. The store employee had been staring down the woman after she left. I couldn’t watch her get in trouble over her little boy. I’d grabbed all the damaged cheese I could and followed her out.

Like a freaking stalker.Who does that?

I drop a bag of cheese on the counter, then pull out the few other healthier items I got, sliding them along the marble counter. “I saved a little boy from the fridge section today.”

“They’re selling kids now? What kind of grocery store do you go to?” He scowls but already has a hand in the first cheese bag.

“The kind with beautiful moms.” The words slip out before I can stop them. Just like when a certain beautiful mom saidI’m in love.She was embarrassed by her little boy’s behavior, and flustered by me following her, but I have a feeling she often says things without thinking. It was refreshing.

Caleb’s eyebrows shoot up. “Do they sell those too, or do they come free with the purchase of a kid?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” I take the bags of cheese he isn’t eating and pack them neatly into the freezer. Just because Caleb is a barbarian doesn’t mean I have to live like one.

“No way. Women are complicated enough. Add a kid and bam! You’re living in the circus,” Caleb says around a mouthful of cheese.

Gross.

I pack the rest of the food away before he can get his grimy hands on it.

He’s right, though. My nieces, Hallee and Mollee, are equal amounts adorable and terrifying. They dropped my phone in the toilet last week and, when it didn’t flush, tried to push it down with a shoe. My shoe. It’s safer to visit a circus than live in one.

“You know this stuff is terrible for your health,” Caleb says, still devouring the cheese.

“So is inhaling smoke, but we do it anyway.”

“Not for long, man. Just submitted my application for the FBI.”

My hands drop to my sides, and I watch the fridge door close by itself.

“Whoa.” I knew he was thinking about it, but I had no clue he was so far into the process.

That has always been his goal. He’d planned on applying right after he got out of the army, but ended up coming back to Arizona to take care of his mom. She passed away almost a year ago and it’s been hard on Caleb.

I’m glad he’s doing this for himself. “Congrats, man. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”