I stood on the front doorstep for a moment and wondered if I was making a mistake going on this date. I’d brought the bottle of wine for Steele and me to enjoy and the board game for the kids. I’d taken Shelby’s advice into consideration. I didn’t want to be a complete suck-up. I wasn’t going to buy all of the kids presents. I mean, I didn’t even know their names, but I thought a board game for them to share showed that I was a kindhearted and generous person, loving and fun without being too extra.
I rang the doorbell and approximately five seconds later, the door opened.
I saw the little boy that had run over my feet with the cart. I smiled at him. “Hi.” I gave him a big wave.
He looked me up and down and nodded. “Hi, you here for dinner?” he asked me in a cute little voice.
“Yeah, I am. Can you tell your daddy that I’m here?”
“Who?” He looked behind him.
“Your dad,” I said, but the boy had already run off.
I waited for him to get his dad, but after a couple of minutes, I realized he wasn’t coming back. I walked into the house and then closed the door behind me. It was homey and nice. Much nicer than I would have thought. Was this is where Steele and his wife had lived? I looked around the living room, at the large white couch with toys all over it, and lots of blankets. The little girl from the store was sitting in the middle of the rug in front of the couch, watching a cartoon on TV that I didn’t recognize.
“Hi.” I walked into the living room. “I’m here to see your dad.”
She looked at me, her thumb in her mouth, blinking.
“Can you go and get him for me?” She turned back to the TV, and I sighed. Were all of these kids ill-mannered?
“Hello?” I called out into the house because I didn’t want to walk any farther into the house. That would be kind of creepy. “Hello? It’s me, Nellie, I’m here.” I said one more time and walked back into the hallway. “Hello, is anyone here?”
“Oh, hey, Nellie,” I heard from up the stairs.
I walked to the bottom of the stairs and looked up. Steele was standing at the top, a smile on his face. “I didn’t hear the doorbell.”
“Oh, yeah. I rang it. And one of your sons answered, and I asked him to get you, but—”
“Hold on a second,” he held a hand out. “I’ll be down in a second.”
“Okay.” I nodded, still clutching the bottle of wine and the board game in my hands. This was not going exactly as planned. Not at all.
I waited awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs for a couple of minutes. Finally, he walked down wearing a nice pair of gray slacks and a white button-up shirt. He looked absolutely gorgeous. And I was surprised that he’d gotten so dressed up for our date. It was nice, though. I felt slightly underdressed as I surveyed him. Maybe I should have stepped up my game.
“Hi, good to see you, Nellie.” He smiled at me.
“Hi.”
“You didn’t bring any watermelon or cantaloupe?” His eyes twinkled.
“No, just the wine and a board game.”
“Well, I don’t think you should drink tonight, do you?”
“Sorry, what?” I was confused by his comment. Why wouldn’t I want to drink?
“I said I don’t think you should drink tonight, Who knows what you might do?” He chuckled.
“Well, I think I’m okay with a glass.”
“Well, if you think so,” he said. “Follow me.” I followed him into the house and toward the kitchen.
“I brought a board game as well,” I said, holding it up. “I wasn’t sure if you guys had Monopoly, but I always thought it was a fun one to play. Though I’m not sure if the kids are too young.”
“I guess you’ll find out,” he said.
“Yeah, I guess we will,” I laughed.
We walked into the kitchen and my jaw dropped. It was absolutely the most beautiful kitchen I’d ever seen in my life, with white Carrera marble countertops, stainless steel appliances, and a huge window looking into the backyard. There were sliding glass doors on the side near the dining room, and I could see a pool outside.
“Wow. You guys have a pool?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “I love to swim. What about you?”
“Oh, I love swimming. I always wished my parents would’ve gotten a pool, but they never did.” I shrugged, “I’ve always wanted one myself.”
“Cool. Cool.” He turned toward me. “So I was surprised to hear from you but happy.”
“Really? You’re happy.” My heart rate kicked up a notch. So maybe he liked me after all, even though he’d been snippy to me in the store.
“Yeah, I mean, that an expert such as yourself contacted me.”
“Sorry, what?”
He turned away and opened the fridge. “Do you want a glass of juice or anything?”
“No, I’m okay for now, thanks. What were you saying about being an expert?”
“You, right? You’re a child-rearing expert.” He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, I wouldn’t call myself a child-rearing expert. I just thought—”
“You just thought you would give me some advice, right? In the store and then in a note. Well, I appreciate it, you seem like you know what you’re talking about.”
“Well, I mean, I definitely can give you some pointers. I don’t know that I—”
Steele looked at his watch. “Okay, well, I’ve got to get going now.”
“Sorry, what?” I blinked. “What do you mean?”
“For dinner. I’m going out to eat.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize we were going out.” I laughed to cover my confusion. “I thought we were eating here.”
“We?” His “we” was spread out in a long draw, and I could feel myself growing cold. “We’re not going anywhere,” he said with a chuckle.
“Sorry, I’m confused. We’re not?”
“No, I have a date tonight,” he shrugged. “I’m going out to eat, and you’re babysitting, right?”
“I’m what?” My jaw dropped.
“You’re babysitting the kids for me tonight because you’re such an expert on child-rearing. I mean, I figured that’s what this was all about. You come up to me in a store and you lecture me, and you leave me a note and you lecture me some more. You must be an expert.”
“Wait, what? You think I’m here to babysit your kids?”
“I thought that’s what you were volunteering to do.”
“I— What— I just don’t even!” I was so flabbergasted that the words that were coming out of my mouth didn’t even make sense. I put the bottle of wine on the countertop, along with the board game.
“I don’t even know the kids’ names. I—”
“Well, I guess we better get them into the kitchen so you can meet them officially before I go. I don’t want my date to think I’m standing her up.”
“Your date? You’re going on a date with someone else?”
“What do you mean with someone else?” His eyes bore into mine. And if I didn’t know better, I could swear that he was laughing at me. “Who else did you think I had a date with?”