“I’m glad that having a kiss-slut for a sister is all it takes to make your day,” I said, suppressing my grin.
“Are you going to see him again?”
I shook my head.
“I don’t really have time to date right now, anyway. With how busy I am at work…” I trailed off. Emma had heard all my excuses before.
Tonight, though, she didn’t push me.
“Well, hurray for breaking the no-kiss streak, anyway!” she said. “Good for you, big sister!”
Arlen, wanting to join in the celebration, grabbed up the spoon and waved it around, conducting an invisible, applesauce-covered orchestra. A lump of applesauce flew across the room and splatted on the TV screen. Emma took the spoon away from her, and she started bawling.
“Aww,” Emma said, grabbing a napkin to wipe up the mess.
“Need me to clean her up?” I asked. I was somewhat grateful that Arlen had provided a distraction from the conversation. I really didn’t want to talk about kissing a perfect stranger anymore. I couldn’t explain what had made me do it. Even worse, I couldn’t explain what made me like it.
“Sure,” Emma said. “I think she’s coming down with another cold.”
“Another one?”
“I don’t know. She’s been cranky all day, and she started coughing again.”
As though on cue, Arlen coughed once, then buried her face in Emma’s chest, still wailing. I picked her up and hoisted her up onto my hip. She protested weakly, swatting her tiny fists against my arm.
“Bathtime for you, princess pie,” I said. Then, to Emma: “She’s getting heavy.”
“She’ll be a year old… what, next month?”
“A year old! Almost a grownup.”
“Almost to the terrible twos.”
“This princess will never be terrible. Will you, baby?”
Arlen was the sweetest baby, always had been. It was only when she got sick that she started crying. I kissed her on the top of her head. Her silky light-brown hair was already starting to grow out longer.
“Careful,” Emma said. “I don’t want you coming down with what she’s got.”
“I’ll take my chances,” I said. “I can’t imagine I haven’t already been exposed to those germs a hundred times over.”
“Thanks, sis.”
Emma plopped back on the couch and rubbed her eyes. She looked utterly exhausted. Normally I took over taking care of the baby in the evenings, but today she’d been on duty all day. Reason number seventeen why I shouldn’t be spending my free time dating. Which reminded me…
“Did Joey’s check come today?” I asked casually.
“Ugh. No.”
“You should—”
“I should call him, I know, I know,” Emma said. “Look, I didn’t have time to call him today. Maybe tomorrow, if it doesn’t come then. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said, not pushing the issue. I knew she hated talking to her ex. But rent was due in four days, and his check was already a week overdue.
She saw the worry on my face.
“I promise, Lisa,” she said. “Tomorrow.”
“Great!” I said, forcing a brightness into my voice. “No problem!”
I could tell that she didn’t want to talk about it. Emma blamed herself for getting knocked up by a guy who ran away. It was the same thing that had happened to Mom, she said. She had made the same mistake all over again. She won’t have two parents, Emma had complained. She doesn’t even have grandparents. She only has me.
Who am I, chopped liver? I’d told her. We’ll be her parents. Together.
I tried to live up to my end of the bargain, but holding down a full time job at the same time was tricky. I had no idea how my mom had managed it for so long.
By the time I finished with Arlen’s bath, Emma was passed out cold on the couch. I set Arlen down next to her and she instinctively drew her arm around the little girl, pulling her into a snuggle.
I tucked a blanket over both of them and lay down on the reclined couch next to them. Our apartment didn’t have room for both a bed and a couch, so this was the most comfortable solution we had found. And Arlen loved sleeping between the two of us.
“Lah!” Arlen said softly.
“Yeah, you and me both, baby,” I said, chucking the little girl under the chin and readjusting the blanket around her.
“Sorry your date sucked,” Emma said.
“Yeah. You know what?”
“What?” Emma mumbled sleepily.
“Between you guys and a blind date, I’d rather be here with you.”
“Honestly?”
“Honestly.”
Emma smirked, her eyes still closed.
“That’s so lame.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“You’re so lame.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “I know.”
“Love you, lamebutt,” she said.
“Love you too, dorkface,” I said.
I propped my pillow behind my head and opened my laptop. Hopefully I could get this article finished before I went to sleep.
I made the mistake of checking my email. There were three messages from my boss in my inbox, and two of them were labeled URGENT. Neither one of them was really urgent, but I plodded through everything he wanted me to do. By the time midnight rolled around, I hadn’t even written a single word for the new article.
Mac leapt up onto the couch and sat right on top of my laptop keyboard, purring loudly. If that wasn’t a sign to stop working, I didn’t know what was. I put my laptop away on the floor, and the fat gray cat curled into my lap, kneading his paws on my thigh.
“Just like a guy,” I murmured, stroking his soft gray fur. “All you want to do is jump straight into bed. No foreplay, huh, buddy?”
He purred in satisfied agreement. And I thought of the man in the mask, the one whose voice had turned me to Jello on the inside. The one who had kissed me. I let out a small contented sigh. A good kiss was worth it. Even if he was a crazy nut wearing a mask, it was worth it.
Emma was asleep, her body curled protectively around Arlen. Both of them were snoring softly, and Arlen had her mouth slightly open, her rosebud lips pinker than normal. I let myself drift into slumber alongside them, my thoughts finding again the reflective gaze of two green-blue eyes behind a black mask and the heat of two strong hands pressing against my hips.
In the darkness, under the ever-present rumblings of the city, you could almost hear the sound of three girls sleeping.
Chapter Four
“Why haven’t I found Mr. Right yet?” I asked. My pen tapped idly against my knee and I ate another gummi bear. Normally the little sugar rushes would propel me through an article, but this one was proving difficult.
I leaned backward in my chair and called out the door. “Help me out with this, Jessica!”
“Um, maybe it’s because Mr. Right is out drinking at the Tavern and you’re still here at work,” Jessica said. She leaned against the door frame, two steaming cups of coffee in her hands. “And before you say anything, Robert is on a double shift today, so we’re both working late. I have an excuse for being a boring workaholic.”