“Welcome back,” he said, stepping aside so she could come in. Her black sneaker scuffed on his shiny floor. “You just get done at the gym?”
“Why, do I stink?” she teased, swatting at his arm. “Yeah, I stopped after some meetings to take a cardio class. Trying to start some new habits.”
“You should come work out with me,” he said, unable to prevent the suggestive smile he sent her way. Dammit, flirtation was second nature to him. And she was too beautiful to resist.
“I couldn’t hang at NFL level,” she said, laughing as she followed him through the house and toward the living room. “No, thank you. I’d die on the first day.”
“Aw, come on. I’d go easy on you.” They stepped into the living room, and as soon as they noticed Jill, the triplets came scampering her way. Soon she was hugging the three of them, passing out kisses and greetings like they were candy.
“I missed you little lovelies,” she cooed. The kids immediately herded her over to their play area, where she was roped into stacking blocks with them. Maxwell eased onto the couch at a distance, wanting to give Jill her own space with the kids. He grabbed for the remote control and started flipping through channels, intent on finding something more pleasant than Peppa Pig for background noise.
“Peppa!” demanded Kevin.
Maxwell sighed. “Fine.” He flipped it back to the channel it had been on previously. Satisfied, Kevin refocused on playing with the blocks. Maxwell shook his head. “Doesn’t make sense. You weren’t even watching it, Kev.”
Jill snorted, flanked by three columns of multicolored blocks. “That apparently doesn’t matter.”
“And that’s only one of the quirks of these kids,” Maxwell said, leaning back into the couch. “Man, I’d give anything to be able to have one final Q&A with Carmen and Wayne.”
Jill nodded sadly. “Me too.”
“I don’t know how they did it.” There was a strange volcano of emotion bubbling inside him right now, one that he didn’t entirely know how to corral. Nor did he want to. “Most days it feels like I could never be enough for these three.”
Jill’s big eyes shimmered, and he wondered for a moment if she might cry.
“All we can do is try our best,” she finally said. “And I think that will be enough.”
Jill played with the triplets for a while as Maxwell watched and occasionally joined in. He enjoyed watching her interact with them, even picked up a few tips along the way as she effortlessly maneuvered around meltdowns and sharing battles, and injected preschool lessons into even the simplest moments.
After she’d been there nearly an hour, Maxwell finally broke free of the spell she had him under. “Shit, Jill. Are you hungry? Thirsty? You want anything?”
She laughed, waving him off. “No, no. I ate dinner before I came. What did y’all eat tonight?”
“Grilled chicken, mac and cheese, and approximately one bite of sweet potato,” he said with a smirk. “I’m speaking for the triplets, of course. I always eat all my sweet potatoes.”
“As a good Southern boy should,” Jill said with a wink. He found it hard to look away from her after that. Something about her was so effortlessly sensual, brimming with promise and sexiness. And really, it was a little unfair: she was easily the first and maybe only woman to catch his eye over the past couple of months, and of course she would come wrapped up in an awkward situation like this.
No matter how much he wanted to tug that tank top off and see what silken delights awaited him there…he shouldn’t. And more importantly, he wouldn’t.
He cleared his throat, yanking his gaze to safer territory: the soft rug of the play area. “So how did your work meeting go last night?”
“Pretty good,” she said, sending him a hopeful look. “I met with my partners. Originally, I was going to open up the practice with only one other dentist, but we’re looking at bringing on a third—that’s who we grilled yesterday. Sorry, interviewed,” she corrected with a laugh.
“So you’ll be three now?”
“Yes. It was my decision, since I realized that I’ll need some more leeway, with these three in the picture.” She stood and came over to the couch where he sat, which the triplets immediately protested. “Aw, come on kids, Auntie Jill needs to talk to Unka Mack.” She looked around, then asked, “Where’s your remote? I want to distract them with something while we talk.”
Maxwell grabbed it, navigating to the smart menu of his television before handing the control over. She selected something he’d never heard of, but the childish gasps that erupted told him the triplets were more than happy with her choice.
“CoComelon,” she explained, settling on the far end of the couch. “The kids can’t resist it.”
“I’m slowly beginning to learn the fascinating world of children’s programming,” Maxwell said, linking his fingers together behind his neck. “And to be honest, I never thought it was something I’d have to learn about.”
“You never saw yourself having kids?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Never thought about it. Now I got three.”
Jill snorted. “Well, I want to help ease your load a little.” She rummaged in her handbag, bringing out a small planner. “Let’s talk schedules.”
“Okay,” he said with a small laugh, crossing his ankle over his knee. “What exactly do you want to know?”
“Well, like I was telling you before, I want to be involved with the kids. And now that we’re bringing on the third partner, I can be a bigger part of their lives. So when do you need me? Where can I fit in?”
Maxwell shrugged. “It’s really up to you. I have everything covered with the nanny, so it’s a matter of what works for you.”
Jill tutted. “See, I don’t think you have to use the nanny so much. Not if I’ll be around.”
“Well, I need the nanny regardless,” he replied. “I think it’s great that you want to stop by and hang out, but—”
“No, no,” she interjected. “I’m not talking about hanging out. I’m talking about helping raise.”
He blinked. “Okay. So you want to move in?”
It almost seemed as though she was considering it, but finally she said, “Not exactly. What I mean is this: we want the kids to have as normal a life as possible, right? Well, I know the nanny is great, but the kids need us. People who aren’t going to be disappearing once they start going to school. Keep the nanny if you want, but these three need at least one of us on hand at all times. If not at all times—most of the time.”
“Fair enough,” Maxwell said. “But how do we do it?”
“I was picturing something like a co-parenting arrangement.”
He snorted. “Like what happens when parents get divorced?”
“Sort of,” she said with a smirk.
“So now you’re my ex-wife?”
Jill looked like she was fighting a smile. “Please. I’m already an ex-wife to one man. I don’t need to make it two.”
His brow twitched as he fought the urge to ask more questions. But now wasn’t the time. No, they were figuring out the future of the triplets, not diving into the story of what sort of man would be stupid enough to walk away from Jill.