Enjoying the Chase

  something wrong, upset him or Rosie, or he just plain old didn’t like me? I would end up losing the girl that I was falling deeper and deeper for every single day.

  DJ beamed down at his arm proudly. “Yeah, Auntie Anna drew it on there. Do you like Toy Story?” he asked.

  Auntie Anna – that sounded so cute. I immediately wondered if I would ever be Uncle Nate to him. “I love it actually. Toy Story 3, the new one, that’s my favourite.”

  Just calm your heart rate down, Nate! You’re going to make yourself look like a punk if you keep being on edge like this. I cast a quick glance at Rosie to see if I was doing okay, she smiled reassuringly. She looked a little in awe at the moment, a little taken aback, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

  DJ frowned, pouting. “I haven’t seened the third one. I likes the second movie though. Want to watch it after dinner?” he asked, his face brightening.

  Rosie groaned. “Again? Can’t we watch something else?” she pleaded.

  “Actually, I’d like to watch the movie, DJ,” I chimed in quickly, smirking at Rosie as she scowled at me.

  DJ smiled, bobbing his head enthusiastically.

  Rosie rolled her eyes. “Go read your magazine then, Baby, while I start dinner.” She waved towards the door, signalling for him to leave. He smiled and skipped out, swinging the book in his hand as he went. “You want a drink?” Rosie offered.

  “Sure, I’ll make it.” I shrugged and opened the cupboard, pulling out a couple of mugs.

  She smiled and went to the freezer, pulling out packets, wincing slightly. “I’m really sorry I’m making you eat this stuff. I usually only allow junk food once a week. You had to choose the day that I’m not cooking properly, huh?” she joked.

  “I love alphabetti pasgetti,” I joked, using DJ’s wrong word that he’d said earlier. She laughed and threw the frozen packet of fries at me.

  A little while later we were all sat around the table. I could barely force the food down my throat. The kid was making me nervous. I discreetly wiped the sweat that was starting to bead on my forehead, trying to calm my breathing.

  He was staring at me. His eyes hadn’t once left me since we had sat down. I couldn’t sit still under his intense gaze. I massaged the back of my neck and shifted on my seat, smiling nervously. I needed to say something, break the ice a little more; he was obviously curious about me and who I was. I cleared my throat and Rosie snickered quietly to herself, clearly amused by my unease.

  “So, er, what did you do today? Anything good?” I asked DJ, ignoring how my voice cracked when I spoke.

  He smiled and nodded. “Mary took us to the park, and I saw a rabbit!”

  “Oh yeah? What did it look like?” I asked before I could stop myself. What did it look like? Damn it, what the hell is wrong with me, it looked like a rabbit, you jackass!

  DJ dropped his fork and proceeded to show me how big the rabbit was. “It was this big, and brown, and it just sat there eating grass. Then it ran into the trees, and I wanted to run after it, but Mary told me I wasn’t alloweded, so it gots away,” he said, pouting slightly. I smiled. The kid rambled like his mother. Cute. He turned to Rosie. “Do you think we could gets a rabbit, Momma?”

  She almost choked on her food as she shook her head firmly. “We can’t, Baby, they don’t like animals in the apartment. You should ask your dad though,” she answered, smiling wryly.

  DJ nodded and shoved a whole chicken nugget into his mouth, struggling to chew it where it was so big, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll ask him tomorrow,” he mumbled with his mouth full.

  Rosie winced. “Baby, can we not talk with our mouth full? Remember we said we were going to eat nicely in front of Nate?”

  I smiled, bemused by her comment. She actually thought she needed to impress me? I’d considered that to be the other way around, if I was honest.

  DJ put his hand over his mouth, smiling sheepishly as he carried on chewing the huge mouthful he had. I forced some food down, trying not to make myself look like even more of a moron by choking in front of them. Rosie’s foot brushed against mine under the table, sort of hooking behind my ankle. That one small, intimate gesture seemed to relax my body tenfold.

  “So, are you doing anything good with your dad this weekend?” I asked, looking at DJ curiously. I couldn’t wait for this weekend; I was taking Rosie out for dinner tomorrow night and was also hoping to convince her that she wanted to spend the other two days with me too.

  DJ nodded, practically jumping in his chair. “Yeah! Daddy’s taking me to the zoo, and he said he’s gonna ask if I can feed the guins! Those are my favourite,” he chirped.

  Guins? I looked at Rosie curiously.

  “Penguins,” she explained, nodding along with DJ.

  I smiled in understanding. “Oh yeah? That sounds great. I wish I was going to the zoo.”

  “Maybe you could come too. Daddy already asked Momma to come, but she said no, but if you want to come you can. I’m sure my daddy won’t mind!” He looked at me, hopefully.

  I swallowed, unsure what to say to that. I was pretty sure his dad would mind if I tagged along. “Er, that sounds nice, DJ, but I’m busy this weekend,” I replied.

  He frowned. “Oh.”

  “Maybe we could go some other time though. Well, if your momma wants to that is…” I trailed off, wincing. I’d just overstepped the mark again. This was already a big deal for her that we met, and now I was planning a family day out without consulting her? I sucked at this.

  Rosie’s eyes widened in shock. “Umm, sure,” she mumbled, making it sound more like a question. I wanted to punch myself for putting pressure on her. I needed to stop or I was going to frighten her away by coming on too strong. “Is Nanna Juliet going to the zoo too?” Rosie asked, looking away from me, blushing slightly.

  DJ shook his head. “Nope, just me and Daddy. He said I had to try and gets you to come too. Daddy said he misses you, but that you don’t want to see him because you don’t love him no more,” DJ said casually.

  Rosie’s eyes narrowed, her whole body seemed to tense up. “Daddy told you that?” Her hand tightened on her fork.

  DJ nodded, carrying on with his food, obviously not noticing her change in mood. “Uh huh.”

  Rosie had turned pale. “Daddy shouldn’t say that to you. I’ll always love your daddy because he gave me you,” she said quietly. “Daddy and I just aren’t suited to be together like a boyfriend and girlfriend,” she explained.

  He cocked his head. “Why not?”

  Rosie’s eyes flicked to me for a second and I didn’t know what to do, I felt a little like I was intruding on a private moment.

  “Daddy and I just don’t get along when we live together; we’re both happier on our own.”

  DJ didn’t say anything, just carried on eating. Rosie sighed and picked up her plate, looking extremely embarrassed at the turn in conversation. She headed to the sink and stood with her back to us, obviously calming down.

  “What other things did you do today?” I asked DJ, trying to change the subject.

  He grinned; all thoughts of his dad now gone.

  When we’d finished eating we went into the lounge to watch a DVD. Rosie groaned and shot me an accusing glance when DJ picked up Toy Story 2. After putting it on, she sat on the two seater sofa next to me, purposefully leaving a respectable gap between our bodies. DJ sat on the floor, his eyes glued to the screen, waiting for the movie to start. After about ten minutes, he jumped up and ran to his room. I watched him curiously. I really wasn’t used to kids at all; they moved around so much, it was a little unnerving.

  He came running back into the room with both a Woody and a Buzz figure in his arms, jumping on Rosie’s lap, making her yelp with surprise. She shifted him slightly, getting comfortable, and then watched the movie as if nothing had happened. I didn’t see much of the movie; I was too busy watching Rosie and DJ from the corner of my eye. He was using his toys to act out little par
ts of the movie, saying their lines quietly as he did so. I could feel the goofy smile on my face, but I just couldn’t stop it. My girlfriend and her kid were absolutely adorable.

  “Wanna be Buzz?” DJ asked, holding out his toy to me, his eyes not leaving the TV.

  I laughed, a little embarrassed, not having a clue on how to actually ‘play’ with a child. “Sure, Kid,” I mumbled, hesitantly taking it.

  Rosie was smiling at me, obviously loving how uncomfortable I was with this. Following DJ’s lead, I made Buzz fly when I needed to, mostly, I didn’t do that much, just watched Woody talk and chuckled at the kid’s acting skills.

  The whole time Rosie was just looking between the two of us with a shocked, confused expression on her face and all I could do was hope I was doing the right things. If I wasn’t then hopefully she’d tell me where I went wrong so I could learn for next time.

  “Baby, want to skip the bath tonight and play for a little while, seeing as Nate’s here?” Rosie asked, once the movie had finished.

  “Yeah!” He grinned excitedly, jumping up and heading over to a red plastic box in the corner, grabbing it and tipping the contents all over the floor. I smiled excitedly. Lego was my thing as a kid.

  “Can I play?” I asked, hoping he’d say yes.

  He nodded and held out a flat Lego board for me to start building on. I smiled happily and moved to sit on the floor in front of Rosie’s legs. Not long after I joined in, DJ abandoned whatever it was that he was making, in favour of helping me build the robot I was constructing. His expression was awed as we joked around and worked together. Once the robot was built, we made him one exactly the same, and then smashed them both up by having an epic robot battle.

  Just before seven Rosie stood up. “Time for bed, Baby.”

  I raised one eyebrow suggestively, silently asking if she meant me. She laughed and slapped me on the back of the head playfully, and held her hand down to DJ, who was pouting and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “I don’t want to go to bed. Can’t I have an early night? I wanna play with Nate,” he said, frowning and looking at me pleadingly.

  I smiled a little proudly that he seemed to have accepted me a little.

  “Do you mean a late night?” Rosie countered.

  “Yeah, please, Momma?” He gave her the begging face and she shifted uncomfortably on her feet. DJ turned to me. “Nate, can you ask her if I can have more time? We can finish the war,” he whined, giving me the begging face.

  My eyes widened. It was an incredibly cute face; I didn’t want to say no. I looked at Rosie, unsure what to say. “Er… I think Momma said it’s time for bed, Kid. We can play that another time, okay?” I offered, hoping he wouldn’t beg me because, if he were my kid, I would have given in already and agreed. He certainly knew how to tug on the heartstrings!

  “Come on, Baby. Time for bed,” Rosie repeated. He sighed and pushed himself up off the floor, looking lovingly at the Lego. Rosie smiled at me. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. Make yourself at home, alright?”

  DJ smiled. “Night, Nate.”

  I held out one hand. “Slap me a five, Kid,” I said, nodding at my hand.

  He grinned and slapped my hand before skipping off towards the bathroom. As Rosie walked past, she trailed her fingers across my shoulders making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

  While she was putting him to bed, I scooped all of the Lego back into the box and then sat on the sofa. I couldn’t actually believe what a difference a couple of hours could make to my mood. When I’d left work I’d been beating myself up for doing my job, and now I felt like I was on top of the world because my girlfriend and her son just made everything better.

  I sat with my hands behind my head, chilled and relaxed in someone else’s lounge. This place just fitted me so perfectly. I smiled and closed my eyes, completely content, just waiting for my girl to come back out to me.

  Ten minutes later, she came back from the bedroom and plopped down on the sofa next to me, blowing out a big breath. I looked at her nervously. “Did I do okay?” I asked, waiting for her reaction.

  She closed her eyes and nodded. “You did so good,” she whispered. My body relaxed, but when she opened her eyes I noticed that they were rapidly filling with tears. She awkwardly looked away from me and stood. “Want a drink or something?” she offered.

  Wait, she was crying? What had I done? Had DJ said something in the bedroom, something he didn’t like about me?

  Before she could escape, I grabbed her hand and pulled her back down onto the sofa. “Rose?”

  “I’m just gonna make a drink,” she muttered, discreetly wiping her face, probably thinking I wouldn’t notice.

  “Will you look at me?” I begged. “Rose, did I do something wrong? Say something I shouldn’t have?”

  She shook her head fiercely before turning back to look at me, her eyes watery, her cheeks wet with tears. “No! You did so good, Nate, so good. I just, that meant a lot to me, so thank you,” she said quietly, swiping at another tear.

  Meant a lot to her. So, those were happy tears? “So… you’re crying because you’re happy?” I asked, needing confirmation that I’d not just completely grabbed the wrong end of the stick with that assumption.

  She smiled and nodded, blushing. “Yeah, sorry. Pathetic, huh?”

  I smiled and shook my head, leaning in and kissing the two fresh tears away as they fell from her eyelashes. “I think it’s adorable.”

  She sighed and wrapped her arms around my neck tightly. “Thank you for being so understanding, and thoughtful, and just plain sweet all the time. I never expected that to happen and I just… it meant a lot to me.”

  I tightened my arms around her, pulling her closer to me, just breathing her in. Just like I thought she would, she made me forget everything bad that had happened today, all I felt inside was happy and contented. My girlfriend was incredible, and so was her little boy. I was an extremely lucky guy.

  “It meant a lot to me too,” I admitted, looking into her eyes, loving the vulnerability I could see there. She really was letting me behind that brick wall that she’d built up. “Thanks for asking me over, even though the food sucked,” I joked.

  “Next time choose a day that I don’t agree on junk food.”

  I smiled and kissed her gently before pressing my forehead to hers, savouring the feel of this girl in my arms, she felt so right there, like she belonged.

  “Why don’t you just invite me over on a day that you’re not cooking from the freezer?” I offered, smirking at her playfully, silently praying that she would, in fact, invite me over again sometime soon.

  She traced her nose up the side of mine. “How about Monday?”

  I closed my eyes and relaxed. I really hadn’t messed up at all; I was more than a little proud of myself. “Monday’s good,” I croaked, my voice heavy with emotion.

  She grinned and seemed to relax too, as if she thought I was going to say no. She moved herself onto my lap, straddling me as she played with the back of my hair.

  “So, did we cheer you up?”

  “Stripes, you have no idea. Thank you.”

  She kissed me softly for a couple of seconds, her chest pressing against mine making my body react in the normal way. I was still a guy, after all, a guy with an incredibly hot girlfriend.

  “I don’t like you being sad. You want to talk about it?” She cocked her head to the side like a curious puppy.

  I sighed. I actually really needed to get it off my chest and unload onto someone. I launched into my tale, telling her everything from going into the building to walking out with the girl in my arms. I skipped over the drink offer from the girl; I didn’t think Rosie would appreciate that too much. The whole time she just sat on my lap, letting me talk, her hands resting on my shoulders, her eyes locked on mine. I’d never felt more comfortable with one person in my life – and that was when it hit me. I was totally falling in love with this little single mother. As soon as I rea
lised, I kind of wished that I hadn’t, because now I felt a little self-conscious about it.

  When I was done talking she blew out a big breath, looking at me in awe as she shook her head. “Nate, it sounds to me like you were a hero today. You saved innocent people; you did an excellent job, and those people were lucky that you were there. You shouldn’t feel bad for doing your job. You had no other choice, did you?” she asked, gripping the material of my T-shirt.

  I shook my head. I knew I had no other choice; I’d replayed it in my head enough. “There was no other shot,” I admitted.

  “Then you took two people off the streets that could have hurt or killed goodness knows how many people. You did the right thing. You should be proud of yourself,” she said sternly. “I know I’m proud of you,” she added as a whisper.

  That was exactly what I needed to hear.

  I pressed my lips to hers, letting all of my problems disappear into thin air. She made everything better, made all the guilt fade into the background so all that was left was me and her, and of course her cutie of a kid that was in his room. I found myself wishing that this was my life permanently, that this was my family, that I had this every night of my life, this closeness, this honesty, this intimacy. I really hoped I could make her fall in love with me.