“So you didn’t know he was leaving me that house in his will and insisting I move into it?”
Macy’s hands flew to her hips. “What part of ‘I didn’t know’ don’t you understand? You come over here yelling like you’ve lost your mind because you think I’m playing some game? Well, I’m not. I don’t play those types of games.”
“Daddy!” Macy heard the high-pitched voice before she saw the cutest little boy running across the yard toward Derek, not stopping until his arms were wrapped around his leg. “Hi. What’s your name?” the little guy asked, hiding slightly behind his father.
A smile tugged at Macy’s lips. There was no way this cutie-pie could be related to the big lug. She bent down to his level. “My name is Macy. What’s yours?”
“Jason.” He finally released Derek and approached Macy. “I’m four. How old are you?”
“Jason.” Derek’s warning tone caused Jason to glance up at him. “What did I tell you about asking grown-ups their age?”
Jason lowered his eyes and bit on the tip of his finger. “You said it’s not appopiate,” he said, butchering the word. Macy was impressed he had even gotten that close to saying it correctly.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Jason.” Macy stretched out her hand for a handshake. Jason glanced at his father before accepting her hand and grinned, showing off two missing front teeth and making Macy fall in love with him instantly.
“You want to be my girlfriend?”
“Jason!”
Macy burst out laughing and tipped backward on her haunches, catching herself with a hand behind her before tipping all the way back. She stood to her full height and dusted her hands on her shorts. She didn’t know what was funnier, the fact Jason knew anything about girlfriends or the horror on Derek’s face.
“What did I tell you?” Derek lifted his son effortlessly, holding him out in front of him. “You are too young for a girlfriend and you are not to ask another grown woman to date you. Do you understand me?” Jason nodded slowly and Derek threw him over his shoulder, clearly frustrated but eliciting a giggle from his son. “I’m sorry,” Derek said to Macy. “Apparently I need to break some of the bad habits he’s learned from one of his uncles.”
Macy waved him off. “No harm done. He’s absolutely adorable.” Thanks to Jason, some of the tension between them seemed to have dissipated.
They stood there in awkward silence. Like her, Derek was probably wondering what was on Noah’s mind when he’d purchased the house for Derek to move into. They continued to stand there, each in their own thoughts, until they heard a ton of noise coming from the movers.
“Listen, I’m sorry about yelling. I just—” he shrugged “—was surprised to see you.”
“Yeah, you said that.” Macy put the left earbud in her ear and started to put the second one in. “Next time maybe you can think twice before coming onto my property and yelling at me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He turned and Macy grinned when Jason, who was still hanging over Derek’s shoulder, waved at her.
Such a cute kid. Too bad his father is a jerk.
“Daddy, Macy is pretty,” Jason said when Derek set him on his feet but held his hand as they walked back to their house. “Do she have some kids?”
“It’s ‘Does she have some kids?’ and I want you to call her Ms. Macy.” Derek stopped when they made it back onto his property and bent to his son’s level. “And, Jason, I don’t want to have to keep talking to you about this girlfriend nonsense or about you asking grown-ups how old they are. Do you understand me?”
Jason kept his head bowed and kicked at the grass beneath his feet.
“Jason, look at me.” His son slowly lifted his head and looked at Derek. “Do you understand?”
“Yes,” he mumbled.
“Good, because if we have to have this conversation again, there will be consequences.” Derek stood to his full height. His son was quickly learning about consequences since he’d had his handheld video game taken away twice last week for misbehaving.
Derek grabbed hold of Jason’s hand again, knowing there was a good chance he would take off in a sprint toward the movers. “Oh, and Jason—” his son looked up at him “—you’re right. Ms. Macy is pretty, very pretty.” They grinned at each other and proceeded to the house.
He still didn’t know how he felt about Macy living next door to him. No. Actually, he did know. He hated the idea. She was a distraction he didn’t need, especially when she wore shorts that barely covered her butt, showing off just how long her legs really were.
More than once he had caught a couple of movers glancing her way, checking her out. He wondered why she was cutting her own grass anyway. Surely it wouldn’t take much effort for her to talk some poor guy into doing it for her.
Jason jerked on his hand, trying to pull away. “Daddy.”
“Nope. You’re staying with me, at least until we get in the house. I don’t want you getting in the way.”
“What are they doing?” he asked of the movers.
“They’re unloading the truck and taking all of our stuff into the house.”
“My toys, too?” Jason asked, his voice pitched higher with excitement.
“Yep, your toys, too.” After speaking to one of the movers who was near the truck in the driveway, Derek headed into the house. “Jason, maybe you should hang out in the family room until they’re done. I don’t want you getting in anyone’s way while they’re bringing in boxes and furniture. All right?”
“Well, I see you’ve still got it goin’ on with the ladies,” Keith said when he strolled into the kitchen, a stupid grin on his face and his key chain spinning around his finger. “I started to go over there and introduce myself to Ms. Short-Shorts, but by the way she was glaring at you, I didn’t want any of those daggers to accidentally hit me.”
Derek tried to ignore his brother’s bark of laughter. He could only imagine what the movers were thinking of the exchange, since he was sure they had witnessed every bit of it. He clearly had overreacted. It was just that when he saw her and the way she was dressed, something inside of him snapped. Thoughts of her had been flitting in and out of his mind for weeks. He didn’t want to live next door to her, but in order to fulfill the stipulations Noah had left behind, he needed to stay put for at least a year.
It’s going to be a long year.
“It’s time, man.” Keith interrupted his thoughts.
“Time for what?”
“Time for you to get back out there and start living. Dating.”
Derek shook his head. “Keith, don’t start. I have been living. As a matter of fact, I have a wonderful life that just got better.”
“Yeah, you might have more zeros on the numbers in your bank account, but your social life sucks. I know Sam did a number on you, but four years is more than enough time to mourn your marriage.” Keith sat at the breakfast bar, across from where Derek was standing. “When was the last time you went on a date? I mean a real date. Not some booty call with a friends-with-benefits type of date.”