More tears filled her eyes, and her bottom lip and chin began to tremble. “I hardly know you … this is too much.”
“You named your son after me. We might not know each other well, but …” He shrugged again. He’d never been good with crying women. “We have a connection.”
Her throat wobbled on a swallow as she stood up and took the bouquet to her kitchen. He wasn’t sure if he should follow her or not. Or if he even could follow her without waking up Ike. But he figured he had to. Had he gone too far with his gifts? He didn’t have a clue if he’d bought too much. He actually thought, as he drove there, that he’d bought too little, that he should have brought more.
Adjusting Ike in his arms, he carefully stood up from the chair and made his way down to the kitchen. “Have I done something to upset you?”
She was filling a vase with water, but it seemed like more tears were falling from her eyes than water was filling the vase. He approached her gently, reached over and shut off the water. He’d shifted the baby to his shoulder like he’d seen Lauren do, cradling Ike’s butt in his palm. With his other hand, he took Lauren’s hand and turned her to face him.
“What’s wrong?”
Her eyes were red-rimmed, her face a blotchy array of various shades of pink, but that didn’t for a moment detract from her beauty. It was those eyes that got him. He had blue eyes too, but they were pale in comparison to hers. Her eyes were the color of a prairie sky in the dead of summer.
She huffed out a humorless laugh from her nose. “I cry over everything right now. Like everything. Commercials, music. I saw a three-legged dog the other day; it was alive and happy, but I still burst into tears.” She rolled her eyes at herself and laughed again before hitting him with a look he felt deep in his solar plexus. “But you hardly know me and yet, these gifts …” She shook her head. “They’re all so me. It was like you knew me without knowing me. I already owe you so much gratitude for being there for me and Ike. For running through traffic to find a doctor, for holding me and supporting me when I literally had nobody. And now this … it just feels like too much from a stranger.”
Shit. He’d gone too far. He’d done too much. He needed to go.
“I feel like my thank-you card is”—she glanced away from him—“it’s nothing compared to how much you’ve given us. And I can’t very well just give you another card.” Her eyes held such sadness, such unsureness, he wanted to do nothing more than take her in his arms and hold her. Wipe away her tears and let her know he felt her gratitude and didn’t need another piece of paper to tell him she was thankful.
Still holding on to Ike’s butt, he pulled her hand until she was against him and wrapped his free hand around her. “You don’t need to thank me again. I get it. I feel your gratitude. I mean, you named your kid after me. I feel like I still owe you. The flowers will wilt. You’ll use the gift certificates, and he’ll grow out of and bored of the gifts. But he’ll always have his name.”
She shivered against him, her breath stuttering before she relaxed. “Do you want to stay for nachos?”
His chest shook on a laugh. “I’d love to stay for nachos. But then we’re even, okay?”
She nodded against his chest, and he could feel her hot tears soaking through his shirt. “Okay.”
3
This was not at all how Lauren saw her Christmas Eve going, but as she stood in her kitchen grating cheese while Isaac held Ike and asked her about her life, she couldn’t imagine a better way to spend her first Christmas Eve as a single mom.
A stranger had shown her so much kindness, and he continued to do so. Surprising her in all the very best ways.
“So I feel it only right for me to ask what you do for a living,” he said, thanking her for the beer she offered him. “I mean, you don’t strike me as a criminal. Not that they don’t come in all forms.” He made a show of crossing his fingers and holding them up. “I just would really rather not arrest you.”
Smiling, she took a sip of her wine. “Law-abiding citizen, I swear. I’m a voice actor and narrator.”
His brows scrunched. He’d done that a few times since showing up unexpectedly on her doorstep, and each time a deep crease formed above his nose that was absolutely adorable. “What do you mean? Like cartoons?”
She nodded. “Among other things. Radio ads, documentaries, video games—I do a lot of those lately. I narrate audiobooks. I’ve done voice work for a bunch of different cartoons, animated movies. Pretty much anything that requires voice work, I’ve done it in some fashion.”
His head cocked to the side like a puppy, and that crease between his brows seemed to grow even deeper. “I’ve never met a voice actor before. And there’s good money in it?”
She nodded again. “There can be, yeah. I mean, I do well. I built a recording studio in my garage and work entirely from home. I make my own hours. I worked like a dog before Ike was born so I could coast for a few months.”
Awe continued to fill his eyes. “Would I recognize anything you’ve done?”
Lifting one shoulder before she scattered the shredded cheese over the olives, jalapenos, tomatoes and nacho chips she said, “The Captain Fantastic movie franchise? I do the voice for Penelope the Magnificent.”
The man’s very chiseled jaw nearly hit the floor. “You are Penelope the Magnificent?”
She snorted. She hadn’t expected him to know the children’s animated phenomenon about a crime-fighting Labradoodle and his gang of trusty neighborhood pet sidekicks. And she certainly hadn’t expected to land the part of Penelope the Magnificent, a tabby kitten with nerves of steel and a killer roundhouse kick. Normally, those starring or supporting roles went to big Hollywood names, and she was left filling in the blanks with background character voices. But she’d landed Penelope the Magnificent, and that gig alone was paying her mortgage every month and her car payments, not to mention her monthly subscription to Zara’s bouquets and a few other luxuries she allowed herself.
“You know the Captain Fantastic series?” she asked, washing her hands before she started to clean up her prep station.
“I might not have kids, but I still love a good animated movie. Toy Story, Shrek, Captain Fantastic. I love them all. And I definitely think Penelope the Magnificent is one of the best characters.” He was all sexy smiles as he casually bounced his body up and down and patted Ike’s butt. He was a natural. Truly. With wide eyes and boyish excitement, he asked her, “Can you do Penelope’s signature catchphrase for me? Just once. I won’t ask ever again, I swear.”
How could she refuse when he looked at her like that?
Clearing her throat and wiggling her lips, she donned her best Penelope the Magnificent face. “Another crime solved purrrfectly. Time to celebrate with a saucer of milk!” His cheesy, pleased smile made her buoyant, so she decided to say one more line. “I don’t know about this, Cap, seems awfully fishy to me. And I know fish.”
Laughing, he clapped his hands quietly over Ike’s back. “Bravo. Just like the movies.”
She nodded once and twirled her fingers sideways in the air like she was doing some flamboyant bow, smiling from ear to ear until her son made a noise of discontent and squirmed in Isaac’s arms. Ike began to lift his head, only to slam it back down against Isaac’s shoulder. He was searching for food.