LISA
Jennie sucked in a sharp inhale as she walked into my kitchen, staring wide-eyed at the cut on my hand. "Lisa, oh my God, what happened?"
"It's fine; it's fine. I was just trying to make cookies," I said, grabbing a fistful of paper towels to soak up the blood. Applying pressure to the cut, I raised my hand in the air above my heart. "See? All better."
"But there's no step in a cookie recipe that requires a knife," she exclaimed, dropping her purse on the counter and looking around to figure out what went wrong. "Were you trying to cut open an eggshell?"
To be fair, my hand was bleeding profusely, but it felt a little like she was overreacting. Still, watching her freak out over my well-being was kind of sexy.
"Listen, when I asked for your help with Lily's preschool bake sale, I wasn't looking for any of your judgment," I said, raising my eyebrows at her. "Clearly, the cookies are a bust."
"When I agreed to help you, I didn't realize you were so helpless," she said, placing her hands on her hips as she surveyed the ingredients lined up on the counter. She began sorting through them all, separating the dry ingredients from the wet, before clapping her hands and looking at me triumphantly.
"I figured it out!" she said, beaming at me as she tied an apron around her waist.
"Did you bring your own apron?" I chuckled. This woman is something else.
"I'm choosing to ignore your mockery. I've decided to make a pie instead," she replied, cutting butter into a bowl.
"What are you doing here?" Lily asked Jennie, walking into the kitchen from the backyard, where she'd been playing outside.
"Lily, be nice to our neighbor. Jennie's here to help," I said, raising an eyebrow at my daughter as I gathered first-aid supplies for myself.
"No, it's fine. That's a fair question." Jennie smiled, brushing her hair out of her face with the back of her hand. "Well, Lily, I'm here to help with your bake sale. Your dada was trying to make cookies, but she couldn't quite figure it out. So now I'm making a pie."
Lily nodded, looking over at me before turning and watching Jennie measure out a cup of flour and pour it over the cold butter. "Does pie have gluten in it?" Lily asked, scrunching up her nose.
"Not this one," Jennie replied, turning the label on the sack of flour so Lily could see it. "I'm using gluten-free flour for the crust, so it won't upset your tummy. Or mine," she said with a wink.
Lily smiled and climbed up onto one of the bar stools at the counter to watch Jennie more closely. Jennie worked the flour and butter together, making sure to stand a little to the side so that Lily could see what she was doing. Jennie cracked an egg over the crumbly dough, mixing it together even more before turning to give Lily a long, measured look.
"Hey, Lily, do you think you could help me?" she asked.
Lily's eyes widened as she nodded.
"Make sure you wash your hands first," I said as Lily clambered down from the stool. She quickly made a beeline to the guest bathroom.
"Is that okay?" Jennie turned to me. "I guess I should have checked with you first before asking Lily. She just looked so interested. Plus, I figured it'd be good to have her finally forget about that whole adult-time thing once and for all. Give her a new memory to replace that one."
We both laughed.
"It's more than okay," I said. "I'm just hoping she didn't inherit my baking skills—or lack thereof."
I couldn't believe how easily Lily seemed to be warming up to Jennie. Once Lily came scampering back into the kitchen, Jennie rolled out the pie crust, and the two of them laid it in the tin together. For as anti-kid as Jennie had told me she was, there was no denying that when it came to letting my daughter help her make a pie, she was a natural.
For a moment, I just watched them—under the pretense of cleaning up the mess I'd made on the counter. But really, it was just such a rare thing to have a woman cooking in my kitchen, listening to my daughter's giggles as they worked together, that I wanted to linger. I hadn't dated anyone seriously enough to warrant domesticity like this since Lily was born.
Jennie and Lily made the filling together, Jennie slicing apples into a bowl while Lily poured sugar and lemon juice over them. I did my best not to hover, but I was honestly fascinated by how easily they connected. It always bothered me that Lily didn't have very many female figures in her life besides her grandmother and her teachers, and she was clearly enjoying herself.
The two of them continued to assemble the pie, cooking the apple slices over the stove, adding more ingredients I didn't understand to the concoction, and pouring the filling into the tin. I was shocked by how focused Lily was the whole time, and how well she listened to Jennie. It seemed to me that we might have found a new hobby for Lily to explore when she was older.
Once they put the pie in the oven, Lily turned and looked at me triumphantly.
"Did you see that, Dada? Me and Jennie made a pie!" She was grinning from ear to ear, flour stuck to her face and dusted all over her clothes.
"I did see that. Great job, sweetheart." Reaching out, I gave her a high five.
"I can't wait to taste it," Lily said, practically bouncing with excitement.
"In the meantime," I said as I brushed flour out of her hair, "why don't we get you cleaned up in time for the bake sale?"
"Can Jennie come with us?" Lily asked, looking up at me with wide, pleading eyes.
"Well . . ." I looked at Jennie and back down at Lily. "That's up to Jennie. It's a Saturday, and she probably has other plans."
"Pleeease come with us, Jenniee," Lily pleaded, throwing her head back and sticking out her lower lip. "I want to tell everyone that I helped you make it. No one will believe that she did it," she added, jerking her thumb in my direction.
Ah, yes, nothing like a burn from your daughter to really turn on your casual hookup.
I furrowed my brow and looked over at Jennke. "You really don't have to. You've already helped us so much."
"I'd love to come. No way I'm letting you take all the credit for our awesome pie." She winked.
Lily let out an excited yell, bouncing around the kitchen as she talked about all the people Jennie would meet at the bake sale. Jennie and I couldn't help laughing, watching Lily freak out, and I walked over to stand next to Jennie.
"I don't want you to feel obligated," I said to her, my voice low. "I'm going to give the little one a quick bath, and it'll be easy to make up an excuse for you. Preschool bake sales weren't really an item in our recent negotiations."
She grinned, arching a sculpted eyebrow in my direction. "I'm not doing this because I feel obligated as your buddy to pound town," she whispered, watching Lily to make sure she couldn't hear. "I'm doing this because your daughter asked me to, and we're just starting to warm up to each other. Besides, I was serious when I said there's no way I'm letting you take the credit."
I smiled and shrugged. "Whatever you say. Just don't come crying to me when you're dying of boredom at a preschool event."
• • •
An hour later, Jennie knocked on our front door again, looking freshly put together in jeans and a flowy red tank top and sandals. She looked good enough to eat.
When she left to change and finish up a short article before the bake sale, she had given me strict instructions on when to check the color of the pie and how to know when it was done. Between giving Lily a quick bath and getting her into clean clothes, I followed Jennie's instructions as best I could. My one small failure was letting one side of the pie get a little darker than the other—a fact that Lily wouldn't let me forget, no matter how many times Jennie told her it was okay.
"But, Dada, Jennie and I made a pie and you messed it up!" Lily protested, getting that look on her face that told me she was about two minutes away from a meltdown.
And I thought today was going so well.
"You're right; you and Jennie did a great job with the pie. But like Jennie said, the pie will taste fine, even if one side is browner than the other," I said calmly, smoothing Lily's hair back, but she scrunched up her face and turned away from me, crossing her arms with a humph.
I looked to Jennie apologetically. Suddenly, bringing her with us to the bake sale didn't seem like such a good idea. I was about to open my mouth to warn Lily that our neighbor wouldn't come with us if she didn't change her attitude, when Jennie walked over to Lily, squatting down low so they were at eye level.
"I think that this pie will be even better now that your dada helped us. You and I did great putting the pie together, and your dada was a huge help taking it out of the oven," she said, her expression serious, then leaned in a little closer to Lily. "And you wanna know a secret?"
Lily nodded and leaned in.
"I like the crust a little brown on one side," Jennie whispered.
Lily's eyes grew wide, and she stared at Jennie for a moment before turning to look at me. "I guess you did good, Dada," Lily said shyly, looking down at the floor.
Well, I'll be damned.
"Thank you, that's very nice of you to say." I gave Jennie a grateful look. "Now, who's ready for a bake sale?"
The three of us piled into my car, Jennie holding the pie in the front seat while I clipped Lily into her car seat in the back. The whole ride to the school, Lily chattered about her friends at preschool, what their moms were making, and what treats she was hoping to buy. Jennie listened politely, oohing and aahing at all the right times, while looking over at me periodically with a knowing smile.
I did my best to listen and respond to Lily during the drive, but I couldn't help having second thoughts about bringing Jennie with us to the bake sale. A lot of the moms at the preschool were . . . overinvolved, both in their kids' lives and in the lives of other parents. I was one of two single dads at this preschool, and let's just say that between the two of us, I was the one more highly sought after. I didn't want any claws coming out because the single moms thought I had a new girlfriend.
By the time we arrived at the school, the front lawn was already jam-packed with parents and their kids milling around a long wooden table, where rows and rows of baked goods were on display. Lily quickly spotted her friends and dragged Jennie and me over to them, where I introduced Jennie to the other parents as our new neighbor.
"Jennie was kind enough to bake this pie for us—with Lily's help, of course," I said. "I'm hopeless when it comes to baking."
"When I walked in, she was trying to crack an egg open with a knife."
Jennie snorted, already charming the hell out of the other parents. They all laughed and began teasing me about my horrible baking skills, sparing no details when it came to all the times I'd tried to pass off store-bought cookies as my own.
"You would've gotten away with it if you'd just remembered to remove the price tag," my friend Sandra said, laughing.
Sandra was Ashley's mom, and Ashley was Lily's best friend. The two of them were already giggling and pointing at all the different cakes and cookies lined up on the table, chattering away like only four-year-old girls can.
Just as I was about to come up with a response, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to find a petite woman standing there in tight jeans and one of the T-shirts the preschool had made for the parents on the board. She was smiling widely at me and tossed her hair over one shoulder before speaking.
"Lisa, I didn't know you'd be here! Did you bake something?" she said loudly, her voice cheery and excited.
"Hey, Mina, how are you? No, this time around I had to call in reinforcements." I stepped back to make room for Jennie in the conversation.
Mina gave Jennie a quick once-over before smiling broadly and sticking out her hand. "Well, hi there, stranger! I'm Mina, Erika's mom. How do you know our Lisa?" she asked, looking quickly from Jennie's face to mine, and then back to Jennie's.
Our Lisa?
"I'm her neighbor," Jennie said, smiling and shaking Mina's hand. "I didn't realize she had such a reputation for being a horrible baker."
Mina kept smiling, but something in her eyes changed. I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable about the way she was looking at Jennie. Mina had been hinting that she was into me for a while, and judging by the eye daggers she was silently throwing in Jennie's direction, I was guessing those feelings hadn't changed, despite the fact I'd never shown any interest in her.
"Well, Lisa," Mina said, her voice taking on a more serious tone, "you know you can call me anytime with whatever you need. I'm always here to offer you my services," she added, raising her eyebrows slightly. As she spoke, she put her hand on my arm, squeezing it slightly.
"Thanks, Mina, I appreciate that." I smiled politely.
Mina nodded and gave my arm another squeeze before sauntering away to monitor some rogue preschoolers stealing licks of frosting off cupcakes around the corner.
"I didn't realize how popular you were here," Jennie said, watching Lily and Ashley survey brownies a few feet away from us.
"Yeah, the whole single-dad thing kind of makes me stand out," I replied as the two of us wandered in Lily's direction.
"It seems like you're a pretty hot commodity around here," Jennie said.
"I guess. I think the moms are just happy to see some dads around every once in a while."
We walked in silence for a while, watching Lily and occasionally chatting with the other parents. Jennie continued to be her charming, outgoing self, but in between conversations, I could tell that something was bothering her. Suddenly, I felt bad for bringing her. I was sure that hanging out at a preschool bake sale was the last thing she wanted to do on her Saturday afternoon.
Great, drive your hookup away with how boring your life really is. Nice one, Lisa.
Lily picked out the baked goods she wanted, and we stepped in line to pay. Jennie stood with me in line while Lily ran around the lawn with Ashley and a few of her other friends. I was happy to let her get the last of her energy out before going home for the afternoon.
"Hey," Jennie said, crossing her arms and lowering her voice. "Just because we're messing around doesn't mean you can't date. Clearly, Mina's into you, and I'm sure a lot of the other moms here are too. If that's what you want, you should totally go for it. I'll just . . . fade into the background, no hard feelings."
Her words hit me like a sucker punch straight to the crotch. Didn't see that coming.
"Jennie, I—"
Before I could finish, Lily came barreling into me, wrapping her arms around my legs and laughing.
"Safe, I'm safe!" she cried, laughing hysterically as her friends formed a circle around us, clearly annoyed that they couldn't tag Lily in their game. I gave Jennie an apologetic look before looking down at Lily.
"This is your five-minute warning, okay? It's almost time to go."
"Aw, okay," Lily said, still gripping my legs and leaning into me, opting to stay at my side rather than run off and enjoy the last five minutes with her best friend.
Soon, we were at the front of the line. We paid for our two brownies and slice of cake, happy to find that every slice of our apple pie had been sold.
"Told you a little brown on top makes it better," Jennie bent down and said to Lily. The two of them smiled at each other, and Lily ran to her side to give her a small hug.
Once back at my place, I put Lily down for some quiet time. When I came back into the kitchen, I found Jennie standing over the sink, cleaning up from the pie baking earlier.
"You don't have to do that," I said, joining her by the sink.
"I made the mess. It only makes sense that I clean it up," she replied, scrubbing the last bits of crusty dough out of the mixing bowl.
I gently took the bowl and sponge out of her hands. "I don't think that's how it works."
Jennie let me take them and moved out of the way, turning to stand next to me as she leaned against the counter.
"I really appreciate all your help today," I said, loading the measuring cups into the dishwasher. "I can't imagine what we would've done without you."
"Yeah, of course. Don't worry about it. It was fun," she said, shrugging with a smile.
"Also, as far as what you were saying earlier about Mina . . . she's been into me for a while, and she's been less than subtle about it. If I wanted to date her, I would've done that already. I'm not interested."
Jennie nodded but didn't look at me, staring into the living room behind me. "Well, even if it's not her, just know that I'm okay with that. You dating someone else."
She was trying to be nice. But why does that thought make me want to hit something?
I took a deep breath, trying to keep any agitation out of my voice. "I'll keep that in mind."