“Mind if I use your restroom?”
“Nope, first door on the right down the hallway.”
I leave her with my phone. While walking down the hallway, I take in the way she has her home decorated, and that’s exactly what it is—a home. It’s not sterile or stodgy, but comfortable and cozy. Throw blankets are on the back of the couch, and pillows are everywhere but on the couch as if Clairabella had a hay day with them. It brings a smile to my face. Something tells me Callie and her daughter are two peas in a pod and are full of mischief.
I carry on about my business, finish with washing my hands, then go back toward the kitchen. On my way, I see Clairabella’s room. I figured it’d be bright and crazy and full of toys, but it’s not. Her room is clean, painted in a soft grey like the rest of the house. She has fairy lights hung across her ceiling that are on and twinkling. Her bed, though, is fit for a princess with a canopy top and sheer material hanging from it. There are some shoes and clothes piled on the floor, along with baby dolls scattered here and there. That damn spot in my chest, it thumps louder with every chance I get to look in on their life. It’s another sure tell sign that my mother is right. Callie and her daughter are becoming living and breathing entities to my cold ass heart. Something tells me this is only the beginning.
9
Callie
Someone should really pound it into Jamie’s head that you should never allow a woman access to your phone because I totally snoop. The best part, though, is I have absolutely no shame about doing it.
While thumbing through his pages, I see the normal news apps. So utterly boring. So, I scroll through until I find his pictures icon and open it up. There are pictures of his mom and him together and a few scenic pictures from a few years ago, but nothing juicy. “What a bust,” I grumble to myself.
Doing what I was originally set out to do, I save my number in his phone; only I don’t use my real name. He’s going to have a shit fit when he notices it, not to mention how he’ll react if he ever sees what name I saved his number under in my phone.
When I hear Jamie’s approach, I exit out of all of his apps and slide it back to where he was sitting.
“Find what you were looking for?” he questions.
“Nope, you’re… well, how do I say this? You’re rather boring. Unless that’s your work phone and not your personal phone.” I take him in; his jet-black hair is in a shaggier style than he usually has it for work, and his mink eyelashes frame his blue eyes. He has to be the luckiest man alive; women would kill for his eyelashes along with the color of his eyes. They’re so blue it’s like looking into the sky during a Florida rain shower, where the sun still peaks through the puffy clouds. And he has this beautiful deep skin tone that I know was handed down to him from his mom. Jamie is the total package. Too bad his personality sucks. Well, at least, it did. Now he seems to be a completely different man. Hell, he’s even wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with Harvard on it. You can tell it’s soft to the touch by the way it’s faded. I’m guessing it’s one he’s had since college. His mom loves to brag anytime Claira and I go to her boutique. She always showers my girls with attention and it gives us three girls a chance to have fun.
The man fills out a pair of fitted blue jeans. I can’t even deny that I watched him walk down the hallway, almost breaking my neck as I took in his muscular back, down to the way his waist tapers in, his ass though, that’s what really has me looking long and hard.
What can I say? Apparently, I’m an ass man. I only wish I got a better glimpse of his legs, but they were covered up.
“I barely like carrying around that phone, let alone a second one. What you see is what you get, Callie.”
“Well then, yep. You lead a boring life, much like your mother tells me. She always says, ‘Mijo, he’ll never find a woman to settle down with if he doesn’t leave his office,’ and Jamie, I have to agree with her. There is so much more to life than work,” I tell him.
“You and Claira could spice up my life, you know,” Jamie tries to persuade me.
“Oh, no, you don’t. It’s bad enough you met her last night without me knowing, but there is one thing I will always do, and that’s not bring an unknown male into her life. She and I set down rules a long time ago of the kind of man I’d bring into our lives,” I state, not giving him any hints.