She has no right to be mad. To feel irritated. He's not hers anymore - he's not anyone's. She has no claim over him and what he may or may not be choosing to do in his free time.
Yet, she can't help sick anytime she notices it. The way in which women seem to fawn over him anytime their precious daughter is attached to his chest, all wide-eyed and curious. It's almost as if they've never seen a man holding a baby before.
As she sits at a table in the coffee shop waiting for him to pay, she notices it once again. The baristas are cooing over her, and batting their lashes at him, and she rolls her eyes from afar, telling herself she's just annoyed because their baby isn't a prop to make him more attractive.
"You okay?"
He asks, as he sits down and returns with the coffees he ordered. (A coffee that, at one point, she never would've let him pay for because it felt like a massive waste of money. Motherhood had made her ten times more exhausted though, so sometimes you had to pick your battles, and sometimes that extra dose of caffeine was a necessity)
"Uh huh."
"You sure?"
"Do you have to use our daughter to pick up women?" April cringes internally, wishing that she hadn't blurted that out. They hadn't discussed dating much since moving in together as it didn't feel inappropriate, even if they were back to being friends. They were still exes, at the end of the day, and she felt it was best to keep her dating life discussions to Arizona.
"What?"
April sighs, exhaling deeply and avoiding eye contact. "Sorry, I just - do you not notice it? The way that they get all googley-eyed when you're holding her...?" She was fairly certain that she was failing at not sounding jealous. She wasn't jealous. Just concerned.
Jackson furrows his brows, before smirking slightly, "I guess. She's a cute baby. There's not much I can do about that."
April rolls her eyes once again, finally looking at him. He can tell by the beat of silence that she has far too many thoughts going on in her head - far too many possible scenarios that she's entertaining, so he decides to offer her some semblance of peace.
"Look, yeah, they were flirting, but I wasn't interested, okay? I'm not planning on using Harriet to pick up women, if that's what you're worried about. That feels icky. I'm not that guy."
"Oh. Okay...thanks," She says after another beat, "Uh, for not...using her, I mean."
She can't help but feel the jealously (that she definitely does not feel) wash away.