by Roxy Wynn
“Atta boy. Let’s get your junk covered up.” I held the pants out for him and helped him in one leg at a time. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Bailey grabbed his backpack and filled it with enough toys to keep him entertained until his twentieth birthday. Once he was satisfied with his choices, he let me take his hand while the two of us walked to Alfie’s house.
Luckily, it was right down the road from Chrissy and Jax. Living with a strange man wasn’t ideal, but knowing help was five minutes away did ease my mind a bit.
When we got to the house, a contemporary mansion with floor to ceiling windows and killer landscaping, I felt giddy. I wanted to explain to Bailey one day this place would be ours, but I kept it to myself for the time being. As smart as he was, explaining a green card marriage to a kid wouldn’t have been in anyone’s best interest.
“Wow, cool house, huh, bud?”
Bailey shrugged his shoulders and stayed quiet holding my hand. He did love people, but sometimes it took a few minutes for him to warm up and become a little chatterbox.
“You want to push the doorbell?”
Bailey looked up with his gap-toothed grin and emphatically nodded his head. I crouched down and picked him up to give him the boost he needed to reach, but right as I did so, Alfie opened the door.
“Hey guys,” he said, leaning against the frame.
I set Bailey down again and held his hand tightly. As per usual, he clung to me immediately, wary of stranger danger. I crouched down to his level and whispered in his ear. “Hey kid, do you remember mommy’s friend?”
Bailey peered around me to look up at Alfie, before shaking his head and hiding again.
“Are you sure? Don’t you remember the show we watched where he played music? He played that song you like, Station Girl, remember?”
Recognition dawning, his face lit up. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and stood up again.
“Alfie this place is… amazing.”
“I know, right. Come on in and take a look around.”
A little star-struck, but still shy, Bailey followed me into the house with large eyes taking in everything around him. The entryway led to a large open-concept living room/dining area with a kitchen to the rear.
“I love this house,” I said, touching the orchids tastefully arranged along the wall.
“I really like it too. Ollie did an amazing job with the furnishings.”
“Does all this stuff stay here… after?” I didn’t want to outright mention him leaving so soon, but I had to know.
“After I’m out of your lives?”
I nodded, biting my lip. “Yeah.”
“Yes. You can keep whatever you want. Or toss it. Doesn’t matter to me.”
Though I had cooled down from this morning’s hand holding incident, my stomach still did a somersault whenever our eyes met. He was clean-shaven and more like the guy I remembered from Music Makers. The guy everyone was in love with. Even I had dirty fantasies about him on occasion.
Okay, several occasions, but who was counting?
As he showed off the furniture in the living room, I caught him looking at me every so often. I told myself I would wear something boring, but when I got out of the shower this afternoon, I chose my new baby blue v-neck romper and a pair of white platform sandals instead. I thought I looked nice, but when I saw Alfie’s eyes drink me in, I realized just how short the romper was.
Suddenly I was very thankful Bailey was with me. Left to my own devices, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from pinning Alfie down and straddling him.
“You want to see the best part?” He asked. He addressed both of us, but Little Man in particular. Bailey nodded enthusiastically.
“All right, lead the way,” I said.
Alfie suddenly took on the persona of a safari guide, speaking with an exaggerated Australian accent. “And right down this hallway, we have the most exciting, and thrilling room of them all….” He looked down at Bailey and raised one eyebrow in suspense before pushing the door open.
The room looked like the inside of a jungle, complete with fake foliage, plastic dinosaur fossils and toys as far as the eye could see. Bailey’s jaw dropped, and he squealed, clapping his hands. As an adult, I was impressed, but to a four-year-old, the room was heaven on earth.
“Jiminy Christmas,” I said.
“Is this for me?” Bailey asked, looking up at me. The only time I had ever seen him this happy was on Christmas morning when Santa brought him a dig your own fossil set.
“I think it is, Bud.”
Bailey dropped my hand like a hot potato and ran to Alfie’s side.
While Alfie pointed out all of his favorite features, the most extravagant being the jungle slide that could only be entered from a small cut out in the bunk bed, I stayed back and watched the two of them interact like they had known each other for years, breathing a sigh of relief. Since signing the contract, there had been a rock in the pit of my stomach over how the two would get along, and now here they were, instant best friends.
If one of them invited me to the fucking Catalina Wine Mixer, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
While Bailey got acquainted with the slide, Alfie broke away and joined me in the doorway.
“You had six hours. How the hell did you put all this together?” I asked over Bailey’s screams of delight.
Alfie shrugged. “I have the money, and people I can call to do things for me.”
“That must be nice.”
“I can’t take all the credit though. The bunk bed and slide were already here, Ollie just brought in the dinosaur stuff.”
Everything had worked out so much better than anticipated, and I couldn’t hide my smile. “Alfie this is amazing. More than amazing.” I turned to him and put my hand on his arm. “I can’t thank you enough for taking him into consideration.”
He tilted his head in surprise. “No worries. I just thought of what I would want at his age. It was either dinosaurs or snakes.”
When I tried taking my hand away, Alfie surprised me and dragged it over his heart, holding it in place. Everything else fell away and I pictured him on stage, covered in sweat. For the first time in five years, I found myself battling a serious crush again.
Under his shirt, Alfie’s heart pounded, matching the beat of my own. Was he nervous? If it wasn’t for the small, screaming maniac on the slide, this would be a very different situation.
“Alfie, are there dinosaurs in your room?” Bailey asked, breaking the spell. He held a T-Rex to his chest like a shield.
“Sorry, Mate. I do not have any dinosaurs, but I do have guitars,” he said. “Do you like music?”
Little Man nodded again. “Mommy watched you on TV, and we sing Station Girl in the car sometimes.”
The corners of Alfie’s mouth turned up into a grin. “You do?”
“Of course,” I said. “Your music is beautiful. Kiddo and I are huge fans.”
For a guy used to fame, his reaction to Bailey’s adoration was endearing. He turned and pointed down the hall. “I’m down that way. There’s a small studio next to my bedroom, but it’s soundproofed, so you two shouldn’t hear a peep. And if you ever need anything, I’m only a few steps down the hall. Day or night.”
I knew he meant house stuff, but holy shit did he have a way with words. The man could read the back of a shampoo bottle to me and it would sound sexy. I had never been so turned on and tormented in my life.
Stay strong, Sarah. He gets groupies all the time. He knows how to get women in bed.
Maybe it was the accent.
Maybe it was the fact that his face could have been chiseled out of marble.
Or maybe, it was that bit of dark brown hair that fell in his eyes.
Whatever it was, I was royally fucked.
Chapter Twelve
Alfie
“Alfie, now pretend I’m a dinosaur and you can be the astronaut,” Bailey said, handing me the tiny helmet. Fingerprints and a substance I hop
ed was candy, covered the exterior.
“Do I really have to wear this, Mate?” I asked.
When he nodded emphatically, I shrugged, and slipped the plastic helmet down over my ears. It was snug, but nothing I couldn’t handle.
In just over a week, we had developed a comfortable routine. In the mornings, Sarah made breakfast for the three of us before dropping Bailey off at daycare and heading to work. When they were gone, the place was mine to work on the new album. By the time they came back around in the evening, everyone was excited to see each other again. We made dinner, laughed, played music, and had fun. Besides the sexual tension, we had the perfect set up.
However today, daycare was closed and her regular sitter had the flu, so Bailey and I were on our own. She wanted to stay home, but I insisted, volunteering to watch Bailey.
While she stayed in her room getting ready, I made the breakfast and kept the lad entertained with a dinosaur space mission. I didn’t mind forgoing my studio time at all, especially if it helped her out.
“And now, let’s pretend I’m on the moon,” he said, jumping onto a pile of stuffed animals.
“I can’t believe there are dinosaurs on the moon,” I yelled into the tiny helmet, holding my hands out to inspect my new alien atmosphere.
“ROAARRRRR.” He growled, throwing the toys in the air and letting them bounce off the costume. Out of all the things Oliver had purchased for Bailey, the inflatable T-Rex outfit was by far the kid’s favorite.
“Hey, Alfie?” He asked, out of breath and happy.
“Yes, Master Bailey?”
“Can we make sketti when mommy leaves?”
I glanced down at my new watch. Nine in the morning. Too early for anything but a strong cup of tea in my opinion, but how could I say no to that little face?
“Bailey, I haven’t the foggiest what a ‘sketti’ is. Is it food? Because you just ate.”
He stood up again and tossed another armful of toys into the air, laughing at my stupidity. “Yeah. It’s red and you eat it all the time. Then you poop it out.” He fell over again, laughing at his clever joke. The kid was a regular comedian.
“Well in that case if we can eat it AND poop it, I better go check the kitchen,” I said. “Can you handle exploring the face of the moon alone?”
When Bailey tilted his head and gave me a thumbs-up, my heart just about exploded. The expressive brown eyes and smile made the two of then nearly identical. The closer I got to him, the more I worried I was playing with fire.
“Yes, sir!”
“I’ll go look, but you stay here and give me the reading about any alien life forms you find.” I pointed to the pile of stuffed animals at his feet.
Stepping over the toys littering my path, I made my way down the hallway, tugging at the helmet and cursing the makers. Why couldn’t they have created a button or a latch for an easy escape? Surely I wasn’t the only thirty-year-old man who stuck his head up in one of these. No matter how I twisted, my blasted chin hit the plastic locking it in place.
When I got to the kitchen, I searched their side of the food cabinets for a red food substance named ‘sketti’, but all I found were dinosaur shaped cheese noodles and ketchup.
Maybe sketti was made with ketchup?
Making my way back to the small dinosaur moon invasion, I noticed Sarah’s door ajar. Giving the ridiculous helmet one more tug, once again, it caught on my chin.
“This is shite. How on earth did it get on there in the first place?” I grumbled.
“Sarah, are you decent?” I called out. When I didn’t hear an answer, I tapped on the door. “Sarah, I have a helmet stuck on my head. Can you help me?”
Silence.
Since the door was open, I nudged it far enough to get the helmet inside the room. “Sarah. You decent?”
She wouldn’t sneak out without telling me, would she?
I took a deep breath, noticing how little air came in. If she didn’t help soon, I might suffocate. “Sarah, I’m a grown man wearing a child’s helmet and I require your assistance,” I said louder.
Knowing her, she would love the situation I was in. Against my better judgment, I pushed the door open further, and made my way in. I checked her walk-in closet first, but when I didn’t see her, I took a seat on her bed, cursing and tugging at the plastic. The lack of oxygen was making me woozy.
If only I could get it over my chin…
She will never let me forget this. The first time she lets me watch her lad, and I’ve already ruined it. Grumbling in frustration, I laid back and cursed myself. How would I explain this?
As I lay there, I heard the faint trickling of water and a voice singing. When I sat back up again, I found myself face to face with her open bathroom door.
Wanker! She was in the shower.
And she was naked.
And singing Station Girl.
Get out, Alfie. Go back into Bailey’s room and think about literally anything but this until she comes out fully clothed to help you.
Between smudged fingerprints and NASA decals, I spied the most perfect silhouette known to man. Like a naked angel, close enough to touch, yet still so achingly far away.
I had to admit it now, if not to her, then just to myself, Sarah Taylor was a witch. She had powers over me no woman should possess.
If she were any other girl, I would go in there and fuck her senseless, child’s astronaut helmet or not. But this wasn’t just any woman. This was Sarah, and I cared about her and Bailey deeply.
…Oh bollocks… Bailey! I left him alone.
I jumped up off the bed and dashed for the door just as the water shut off.
Did she see me?
Standing just outside her door, I took a moment to collect myself before going into Bailey’s room. What I had done was deplorable. If she knew I had spied on her in the shower, she would never speak to me again, let alone ask me to babysit.
To be fair, I didn’t see everything, but I saw enough to know that she was naked, and standing with warm water running all down her body while singing one of my songs.
Thinking of me in the shower…
Behave, Alfie, I told myself repeatedly while I made my way back to the lad’s bedroom. This woman was off-limits, she wasn’t like the others. Spying on a woman in the shower was an excellent way to get slapped. Or worse, the police involved.
“Hey, Little Man,” I said when I got back to Bailey’s room. The lack of oxygen made my brain mush. Another few minutes and I might lose consciousness.
“Did you find sketti?” He asked, sitting on a mound of stuffed animals. Innocent little lad, I do not deserve to be around these people. He took the head of his suit off, leaving the limp shell of a plastic T-Rex hanging off his limbs.
“Skett… uh, oh, no. Sorry, Mate. I did not find your sketti. But we can ask your mum about that…”
“Ask me what?” She said, startling me. While she tied her wet hair up in a bandana, her eyes darted between the two of us. I stood my ground, trying to gauge whether or not she had seen anything.
“Sketti!” Bailey said happily.
She looked at him and smiled. “My dude, we don’t have anymore Spaghetti-O’s, you ate them all, remember?” Bailey stuck his tongue out and went back to his moon mission.
“Spaghetti-O’s!” I slapped my forehead, realizing what he had been requesting. I had never tried a Spaghetti-O, but I had a feeling my ketchup theory wasn’t too far off.
In unison, they tilted their heads to the side, wondering what I was going on about. Like mother, like son. When I laughed again, she shook her head and continued digging through his dresser for clothes.
“Wear your shorts today,” she said, tossing a pair of trousers on top of his head. “All day. No excuses.”
“What if I have an accident?” He asked.
“Simple,” she shrugged. “Don’t.”
She looked to me again and I froze, holding my breath waiting for the inevitable meltdown. “Are you sure you’re okay with
this?”
I nodded. “No worries, I’ve got everything under control.” The sweat beaded on my forehead. Did I look as guilty as I felt? She hadn’t told me to bugger off or made any move to suggest she knew what I had been up to, so maybe she hadn’t seen me.
“Great. I’ll be at work for an hour, two tops. We just have to go over some finishing touches with the contractors for the dessert bar expansion.”
“Mommy, me and Alfie are fine. You can go,” Bailey said, pushing her out the door.
“I’m glad you approve,” she said, ruffling his hair. “But I need to hear it from Alfie, not a dinosaur pretending to be a kid.” She leveled her no bullshit gaze at me again before knocking on the hard plastic helmet. “Are you okay? That looks… snug.”
“I got this. I mean… I’ve got the babysitting, Bailey and I will have a blast. The helmet, however, I do require your expert assistance with.”
“Yeah, I had a feeling something was wrong outside of you just being weird.”
Not only did Sarah run a business and raise an amazing young man, but with a simple twist, she removed the helmet immediately.
“How did you…”
She smiled and tossed the helmet on the bed. “You think this is the first time I’ve had to remove a head from a helmet?” she asked, laughing. “Please. When you have a kid, you’d be surprised at the skills you pick up.”
I lifted Bailey into my arms and followed her to the door.
“Be good. Both of you.”
We looked at each other and gave her a thumbs up. When she pulled out of the driveway I set him down and followed him into the house, ready for a day of shenanigans.
I think I’m in love with your mum, kiddo.
“Houston, we have a problem.”
Chapter Thirteen
Sarah
“I don’t think there’s enough storage,” Chrissy said, peering behind the completed dessert bar. “What do you think?”
“It looks fine to me,” I shrugged, halfheartedly. “But you’re the pastry chef.” I distanced myself from the group and turned my attention to my phone, and the plush booths lining the far wall.
