I take out my credit card while the woman fills out the rest of the order slip. I laugh inside because this old lady has no idea who I am and still won’t when she sees the name on the card.
“You have a beautiful wife. Is that the only child that you have?”
I hesitate, trying to decide if I’ll correct the misunderstanding or let her continue to believe the misconception. “Just the one.”
“A bit of advice from an old woman… don’t wait too long to have another. We had two that were fourteen months apart and then my husband and I waited four years before we had the next one. It’s easier raising them together when they’re closer in age. They play better together. Anything more than two or three years is too far apart.”
I give the old woman a wink. “We’ll keep that in mind.”
* * *
Leighton is in the backseat with Scarlett on the drive back to the ranch. I’m guilty again of stealing quick glances in the rearview mirror. Except this time, Leighton catches me. “What is it?”
“Just thinking about the lady in the frame shop and something that she said.”
“Oh… about Scarlett being mine?”
“Did that bother you?”
“No.”
I wait a moment to see if she’ll mention my interruption. But she doesn’t.
“She also thinks that we’re married.”
Leighton laughs. “What did she say when you told her that I was the nanny and not the wifey?”
I keep my eyes on the road, not looking back at Leighton. “I didn’t correct her.”
“Oh.”
The few times that I’ve tried to explain, people have looked at me like I’m some kind of an asshole for hiring a beautiful nanny to replace Scarlett’s deceased mother. I don’t like the judgment I see in their eyes.
“It was easier to let her be mistaken rather than explain.”
Leighton doesn’t reply.
“Does it bother you that I allowed her to believe that you’re my wife and Scarlett’s mother?”
I glance at the mirror and see her suppressing a smile. “I don’t mind.”
“Thank you for coming up with the shadowbox idea for my mom. It’s going to look great. She’s going to love it.”
“I think it’s going to look great too, but I can’t take all of the credit. You’re the one who came up with putting her barrel-racing memorabilia in it.”
“Well, you’re the one who suggested a keepsake. And this one is extra special because that’s how my mom and dad met.”
“At a barrel race?”
“Yeah. My dad came to watch his sister race. She and my mama were competing. Dad saw her and fell head over heels for the girl who won the blue ribbon.”
“Your mom was a beautiful girl. Still is. I can see why he would fall for her.”
“Both were still teenagers when they got married. Eighteen and nineteen.” I was doing other things at that age. Love and marriage weren’t anywhere on my radar. Still aren’t.
“They were kids and they managed to make it last. That’s pretty amazing. I was an adult when I got married and couldn’t make it work.”
Leighton is a lovely person, inside and out. I’m certain that she wasn’t the problem in that marriage. “It isn’t possible to make it work when one of you is a cheating asshole.”
Scarlett fusses and Leighton leans over her, speaking in her special baby voice. “No truer words have ever been spoken. No, they haven’t, have they, baby girl?”
I’ve not known Leighton for long, but from what I’ve seen, she checks every box for what a man would want in a wife. Intelligent. Fun. Kind. Interesting. Gorgeous. Sexy as fuck. I can’t imagine what in the hell that man was thinking when he decided that he was going to cheat on her.
His loss.
My gain.
My gain?The notion pops into my head without any thought at all. Like it’s been there all along, waiting to jump to the front of my brain at the first opportunity.
And now it has.