The Heartbreaker I Adore by Haley Zaragoza

Author:Haley Zaragoza [Zaragoza, Haley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-19T05:00:00+00:00

Seth arrived thirty minutes ago, and in that time, Riley has fallen in love with him. She’s currently sitting in his lap, gnawing on his fingers. I think it’s all of his calluses that have won her over. My smooth hands were not cutting it for her.

Lily has finally agreed to come out of her room and make pizza with me. I brought over ingredients to make personal pizzas for dinner, and it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without a little sous chef beside me. Seth keeps Riley content while I chop up an onion and bell pepper.

“I don’t want any vegables,” Lily says as she watches me.

“That’s okay. I won’t tell your Mommy,” I lean in close and whisper in her ear, earning me an appreciative smile.

“Good. You can tell Daddy, though. He doesn’t make me eat green stuff when Mommy’s gone.”

I hear Seth chuckle in the living room. Thinking he’s laughing at Lily, I turn to say something about it. When I turn around, however, I see him playing with Riley. He has her sitting in his lap, facing him. Her slobbery hands are reaching up to his cheeks, and he’s squishing her face in return. Riley tries to babble, and Seth loses it.

“Hannanah, you have to come see this!” he calls to me. I place the knife out of Lily’s reach and walk over to the chair. He squishes her chubby cheeks again and laughs like he’s watching comedy gold.

“Seth, have you never played with a baby before?”

“Not really. I’ve always been afraid I would break them. I think you were the last baby I held,” he says as he continues to watch Riley’s face. I’m twenty-three. He was eight years old when I was born, but now I feel like a kid talking to her grandpa. I can just imagine him rocking on a front porch, saying things like, “When I was your age, we had to wait for dial-up internet. You can’t even imagine the screeching sound we were forced to endure.”

“Okay, old man, what do you want on your pizza?” I ask, patting his shoulder. His very muscular shoulder. I jerk my hand off him like he scorched it. I fan my face for a moment. Why is it so hot in here?

“What are you putting on yours?” he asks.

“Everything…but why does that matter? You can put anything you want on yours. Just tell me what you want.”

“I just thought maybe yours would sound better. What does ‘everything’ include?”

I proceed to list off all of the toppings I brought: pepperoni, sausage, onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, and olives. He turns his nose up at almost everything I say.

“I’ll just have pepperoni,” he decides.

“What do you mean? You can’t be serious.”

“None of the other stuff sounds good,” he says.

One minute, the guy sounds like he’s in his golden years, and the next, he sounds like a child. I now feel like I need to take on the role of mother and sneak some vegetables into his food.

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