Page 13 of Succeeding Love
“You’re right,” he nodded seriously. “I’ll re-gift it back to you.”
“Well, that’s better, I guess,” I laughed wholeheartedly. I don’t think I have laughed or smiled this much without forcing myself to in years. “You know, you’re really easy to talk to,Vin, my action hero.” I looked up at his face and caught the pink hue on his thick neck and cheeks highlighted under the streetlights. It stood out from the tattoo on his nape.
“Well, thanks. You’re tolerable too, I guess.”
“Aw, aren’t you a sweetie?” I giggled.
We were almost back at our houses when Nick’s car came to life in my driveway. We stood still and watched as he backed up and sped away. I guess it is getting pretty late, and Preston isn’t one to make his dad feel welcome.
“Was that your, um, your ex-husband?”
I smiled tightly and nodded. “It’s getting late. He probably needed to get back to his girlfriend. He just wanted to hang out with the kids for the evening.”
“Must be awkward for you,” Vin commented.
I shrugged. “It’s not too bad. I don’t want my kids to have a poor relationship with their father. I would rather feel awkward than have them feel abandoned.”
Vin stared down at me, contemplating for a moment. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I thought you were way too young to have a daughter that old.”
I smirked with a glint in my eye. “I have another child, too. He’s older. Sixteen.”
“Sixteen?! You can’t be over twenty-eight.”
“Aw, you just became my new best friend. No, I’m thirty-five. We had Preston when I was young, then three years later, right after I graduated from college, we had Jessie.”
“So young,” he whispered.
“Yeah. I’m using myself as an example to my kids of why you don’t marry young. People change too much,” I sighed. “But I got my babies, so I have no complaints. They’re pretty outstanding.”
“They must take after their mother.” He continued to stare at me, and I felt self-conscious under his gaze. It wasn’t a passive stare, or merely observing. It was a look that I felt against my skin, and made me feel that tingling feeling inside once again, just like I felt when his face lit up seeing I brought him food. He’s a little disarming, which makes me feel vulnerable.
Man, he could probably hear my heart pounding in my chest. I can hear it pulsing behind my ears. “I, uh, should go in,” I murmured. “School day tomorrow.”
He slipped his hands in his front pockets, smiling gently. “Alright. Thanks for the food, Lynn.”
“Lynn?”
He smirked. “You gave me a nickname. I think you need one too.”
“So, Lynn?”
“Do you not like it?”
I shrugged. The only nickname I ever had was Fay, but that is tainted by memories of Nick calling me only Fay for the past seventeen years. “Vin and Lynn,” I said out loud, then giggled. “They rhyme.”
“Makes it even better,” he chuckled, then started walking towards his house. “Thanks again for the lasagna, Lynn. I’m going to eat it all right now.”
“Save some for your mom!”
“Nope!” He shook his head. “Snooze you loose.”
I was laughing and smiling at myself, all the way inside, until I got to my room to get ready for the evening. Vin and Lynn. I like my new neighbor. I think I like him a lot.
I was just about to slip out of my jeans when I glanced over at the bed. Dozens of wrapped packages were on top of the bedspread.
“What the heck?” I muttered, buttoning my pants again before walking towards the pile.
“I told him to take those with him,” Preston appeared at my door as I was examining one of the wrapped boxes. “After he went around the entire house to check the windows like a freak, he put them there anyway. Want me to throw them in the trash. Tomorrow is trash day.”