Eight Days a Week (24 page)

“I named him Steve. He’s just a spider.”

“Steve is a big-ass spider,” she said. “What kind is it?”

The boys shrugged, and she stepped into the living room where Ian and I were pretending to flip through Guitar Hero songs to play until Bree was ready.
 

Gwen’s breath caught, and I chuckled, knowing full well she was staring at me in my fluffy white towel. I had shorts on underneath, but she didn’t need to know that.
Yet.

Ian was wearing one, too, all ripped like a Bowflex spokesman. Between the two of us, she was definitely staring. It might have been because of the baby oil all over our bodies, too, but I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure.
 

“Ian?” Gwen said.
 

He slid his eyes in my direction, snickering before plastering on a straight face to answer her. “Hey, what’s up?”
 

“What kind of spider is this?” She pointed to the jar.

He set down the guitar and walked over to survey the arachnid. With a shrug, he took the jar from her. “I’ll go do a web search on it.”

“Auntie G!” Bree called from upstairs at the same time a knock sounded on the door.
 

Gwen spun around, torn between which direction to go. Bree yelled again, and Gwen ran up the stairs casting a pleading look my way.
 

I went to open the door, prepared to do battle, and stood face-to-face with my adversary.

He was shorter than me and had dark hair, but his smile was genuine, and I felt just a little bad about what was about to happen.

“Hi,” I said, opening the door wider. “Come on in. Gwen’s upstairs taking care of Bree. I’m Andrew.” I offered him my hand, and he shook it before stepping inside.

“I’m Thomas.” His eyes landed on Brady and widened. “Oh my God, you must be Brady.”

Brady frowned and moved to stand next to my leg.

Gwen rushed down the stairs and tripped off the last step, faltering in her heels before I caught her. She gripped my oily arms and slid to her knees with a gasp, turning bright red when her face ended up buried in my junk.

Well, Don was happy for a little face time, that was for sure.
 

“Why are you so slick?” she mumbled into the towel.

I wondered what context she was referring to.
 

After hooking my thumbs under her armpits, I lifted her to her feet. She wiped at the oil on her arms and looked around for something to clean it off with. I shifted my hip toward her and she reluctantly used my towel.

Ian jogged toward the front door, his towel flapping around his legs while he held the jar away from him. “Steve’s a
brown recluse
!”

Brady squealed with excitement, and Josh smiled wide.

“Poisonous!” Ian stage-whispered.
 

The boys screamed, and Gwen’s eyes grew wide as Ian spun toward us, tripping on the hallway rug and sending the jar flying into the air and crashing down right at Thomas’ feet.

“I got it, Ted.” I whipped off my towel and threw it on top of the spider, then scooped it up in my hands. It was a harmless garden spider, but Gwen didn’t know the difference.
 

Eat that, Thomas. Who’s the man? Manny. Man nanny.

Me.

“Oops,” Ian said. Then he turned and sauntered back to the kitchen to get the broom.

Bree ran down the stairs, and Thomas gawked at her like he’d seen a ghost. Ian swept up the floor, and Josh and Brady stared at Thomas staring at Bree.

“You okay, Tim?” I asked.

“It’s Thomas,” Gwen said.

Thomas nodded and smiled, but Bree gave him a dirty look. The hallway was packed tight with all of us standing in awkward silence. For a second I forgot I had a “poisonous” spider in my hands.
 

“Oh, dammit.” I ran to the kitchen to go find another jar to put it in. When I returned, Thomas was crouched down smiling at Brady and Bree, telling them they looked so much like Anna.
 

Moron. Did he not know to stay away from that topic?

Brady kicked Thomas in the shin, and it was official—I was adopting that kid one day.

“Brady!” Gwen shouted, dropping to her knees and scowling. “That was rude. What’s wrong with you?”

He took a step back and stuck his tongue out at her. Bree grabbed Brady’s hand and yanked him toward the stairs, and they ran as fast as they could up to their rooms.

“That went well.” I rolled my eyes. Then I jogged upstairs to find the kids in Brady’s room. “Are you guys okay?”

Bree nodded and smiled. “Yeah. Being bad is fun.”

Brady giggled and shook his butt at me.

“No, be serious. Are you okay?”

“We’re fine,” Bree said, and I sighed in relief.
 

Gwen padded up the stairs before she leaned into the room, her face a mask of worry.

“I’ll stay home tonight if you want me to,” she said to the children, but her eyes were on me. “I don’t want you guys to be upset. Thomas’ girlfriend is at the restaurant holding a table, so he needs to leave now.”

“Thomas has a girlfriend?” Bree asked.

Gwen chuckled. “Yeah, her name is Ainslie. She went to school with us, too. She wasn’t my favorite cheerleader, but Thomas says she’s changed. I guess anything’s possible, right?”

It was like a stupid game of telephone. By the time the information had gotten to me, it had been all kinds of screwed up. It wasn’t a date, it was catching up with old friends. And I was an asshole.
 

“The kids’ll be fine,” I said. “We’ll have fun at the pool party.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, her eyes on them.
 

They nodded in unison.

“Come on. Tell her goodbye,” I said, feeling like a total jerk.

Brady hung back, but Bree gave Gwen a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m sorry if what Thomas said upset you.” Gwen tucked Bree’s hair behind her ears.

Bree smiled and shook her head. “I like looking like Mommy. Why would that make me sad?”

“Good. Because you are just as beautiful as she was. Inside and out.”

I felt a rock lodging in my throat, so I took a step backward and motioned toward Brady. “Come on, li’l man. Say goodbye.”

His eyes flicked between the two of us, and then he stepped forward to give her a silent hug.

“What do you say, Brady?” I asked, the disappointment thick in my voice.

He shrugged, and Gwen’s eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

“Say, ‘I love you, Gwen.’ ”

He grinned and kissed her cheek. “Wuv you!”

She stood and, when her eyes met mine, our connection resurfaced.

“I, uh . . . thanks for taking them tonight,” she said.

“It’s my job, right?” I asked, knowing she could see this was above and beyond my responsibilities.

We walked down the stairs together, and Thomas had his phone to his ear. “Yeah, I’m sorry. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Okay. Love you, too.” He looked up. “If it’s not a good night, we can always reschedule.”

“I think it’ll be okay.”

“It’s fine,” I said, nudging the kids forward. “Can you say sorry to Thomas for running away? And for kicking him?” I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.

“Sorry,” Bree said with an angelic smile.

Brady grinned. “Sowwy, Tadpowe.”
 

I stood and extended my hand. “Have a good time tonight, man. Sorry about the circus.”

Thomas smiled and let go of my hand to open the door for Gwen. “No problem. It was nice to meet you,
Anthony
.” His eyes sparkled. He was on to me.

Touché, Thomas.

Gwen smiled. “It’s Andrew, but we like to call him Dee.”

The door shut behind them, and I groaned as Ian and Joshua appeared in the foyer, stuffing their faces with ice cream.

“So did we win?” Joshua asked, his eyes lighting up.

I ran my hands over my face and chuckled. “He wasn’t even an enemy. They were going out to eat with his girlfriend.”

“So?” Ian said. “There’s always a chance of a ménage à . . .” His eyes slid toward Joshua who was staring at him. He choked on his ice cream, coughing and turning red while the kids stared.
 

“Uh . . . we should head to the pool.”

All six of us were playing Twister when Gwen walked in from her date.

“Oh my God, what are you doing?” she said with a laugh, watching us contort on the mat. I looked up too fast and lost my balance, causing everyone to fall onto the floor in a jumbled heap of flailing body parts.

“Can’t bweave!” Brady gasped under Ian’s massive weight.

“I broke the baby!” Ian scrambled to his feet and lifted Brady off the floor.

Brady shrieked with laughter and held on while Ian swung him through the air. Bree and Jennifer ran at Gwen to give her hugs. I rolled over and stood up.

“Sorry, we must have lost track of time.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad everybody’s still awake. I missed you guys,” she said, looking right at me.

I simply mouthed, “Ditto.”

Manny Log

Monday:

If I do not get to touch Gwen soon, things might just get ugly. I’m having dirty thoughts about that Nina chick on
Sprout
. She can roll her Rs. That’s all I’m saying.

Tuesday:

Henry Hugglemonster is The Shit.

Brady has been less interested in piano. He enjoys helping me cook dinner, though. And he’s getting better at playing catch in the yard . . . still not interested in joining a team.

Bree has no interest whatsoever in doing ballet. Maybe she’s the one I should target to learn piano. And voice?

We got Gwen to play hide-and-seek. Brady fell asleep in a crawl space, and we ended up having to call the neighborhood watch to find him. Gwen was not impressed.

Wednesday:

Lost my shirt again at the table thanks to some rogue spaghetti sauce from Brady.

Thursday:

Can’t stop myself from dancing to those damn Choo Choo Soul songs. But Brady believes vegetables give him super powers now, so we’ll let it slide.
 

Chapter 27

It Won’t Be Long

The week before school was insane. No one knew how to drive, how to shop, or how to use their damn brains. I’d never seen two mothers fighting over a pair of safety scissors or last pack of eight-count Crayola markers before. And I’d never seen a kid pitch a fit over a pencil box. Or a Spongebob folder.

Bree maneuvered her way through the crowds easily enough, grabbing the items she could reach. She carried herself with such maturity, and I envied her, even though it made me sad. Brady watched with wide-eyed wonder as we perused the aisles and picked out his supplies, excited and anxious for his first day of kindergarten.

Gwen skidded around the corner and waved a pack of pencils above her head. “I got the last pack, Bree! Pink glitter!”

Bree smiled and took them from Gwen. “Thanks! These are my favorite.”

We got the majority of their items and paid before loading up the car. Gwen pulled her list from her pocket and scanned what was left.

“We just need to get some new clothes and we’re done,” she said with relief.

I snickered. “Yeah, because that’s the easy part, right?”

Four hours later, Brady and I were on the carousel at the mall, waiting on Bree to pick out a damn pair of shoes. Gwen headed toward us and, once the ride was complete, I helped Brady down and we grabbed his bags.

“She’s
just
like her mother—so indecisive and a little fashion diva.” Gwen sighed and ruffled Brady’s hair. “I should have taken this one instead.”

“Yep. Ten or fifteen Garanimals and he’ll be set until his next growth spurt.”

Bree rushed up behind Gwen, a huge smile on her face. I extended my hand, and she took it, skipping all the way to the car.