Page 57 of Down the Aisle
"Oh, you are so evil," I commented under my breath with a breathy chuckle and shake of my head.
Poor Hailee, there was no winning this time, not with how her daughter took off towards Adam. Her blabbering mouth ran a mile a minute, prattling off about all the dogs she wanted, the size, the color, how many, and how she would ride them around the house. Not gonna lie, I felt a little bad for Hailee becauseeither she'd either break this little girl's heart later when they got home, or learn how to live with a few dogs. I wasn't gonna bank on Adelaide forgetting this conversation any time soon or ever, and knowing how much Adam adored and spoiled her and Asher, the dogs were going to happen sooner rather than later.
"Mama." Asher swung around my legs with a sheepish smile on his face. "Woof woof? Want woof woof."
Oh boy.
Hailee's eyes snapped to me with a knowing look full of sympathy because both of us would have our hands full soon. Yeah, this was not gonna be fun.
Sighing, I bent down to Asher's level and took him into my arms. With a somewhat regretful smile, I swayed him back and forth a little. "No doggy, baby, mommy has her hands full with you and Adam."
"Oh, Eliza darling, don't worry." Adam piped up, grinning innocently and excitedly at me. "I'll take care of the dog. Besides, I've been thinking about getting one recently. I just never got the time to talk to you about it."
Rolling my eyes, I deadpanned at him. "Uh-huh, that's how it always starts before I end up with a child on four legs who licks their butt," I remarked sarcastically.
Of course, Adam being Adam, flashed me a knowing smirk. "Darling, when have I not been a man of my word?" he retorted like a little smart-ass.
Well, I couldn't argue with him there. Of all the people in the world to doubt, Adam was not one of them. If he said he'd do something, then I could bet my ass he'd do it to the best of his abilities and then some.
"Bub, you have work still on top of basically being a stay-at-home parent to Asher," I replied with a lopsided smile. "I don't want you biting off more than you can chew."
"She has a point, you know. A dog is just like another child." At least Hailee was on my side, but she was probably in it to prove a point to Adelaide in hopes of making the 'we're not getting a dog' talk easier later.
"It's not like I'm getting a puppy," Adam threw back at us, rolling his eyes softly. "Besides, I get things done with time to spare more often than not currently."
Again, no arguing with him there because he was right. Even though I gave him breaks when I came home, he mainly used them to get ahead with work. Rarely did he ever have to play catchup with his career, which I had to give him props for. Also, I envied the little shit a bit because I wished I had my life that organized.
"Eliza, darling," Adam begged me with pleading eyes.
A tug at my shirt deterred my attention from my boyfriend to Asher. "Mama." God damn it, Asher, not you, too. "Pwease? Dada dawggy?"
I felt my jaw drop and hang there in the air at his words. The glimpses of everyone's shocked reactions were caught in of my periphery, but I paid them no attention as I was too busy looking at my son like some stunned idiot.
Maybe I'd misheard. "What? Honey? What did you just say?" Although judging from how everyone else reacted, I doubted that.
I mean, how was I supposed to react to that? Neither Adam nor I had taught him the word or indicated that Adam was his dad. Also, I was in no way prepared to deal with that broken-down bridge yet because I thought I'd have a few more years to formulate an answer and straighten it out. So, to have Asher blurt it out of nowhere like this was like a bucket of iced water to my face.
Just as my stupor died down, anger was quick to replace it. Had Adam been teaching Asher or referring to himselfas such around him? I mean, how fucking convenient was it that this happened right after Adam made it very clear about how he wanted to be a father to Asher this morning? Had the conversation this morning been an attempt to soften the blow for me? I mean, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right?
We’d never had an in-depth chat about Asher and Adam's relationship before. The furthest we’d gotten in that department was a few late-night talks where I made it clear to him that I didn't want to touch that can of worms yet. One thing was clear, though: we'd both agreed to let things unfold naturally to see how much damage control we had to do. But I made it vehemently clear that I didn't want Adam butting in, which he very clearly agreed to.
"Ah Dawm dada," Asher repeated himself with a proud grin.
Asher's repeated words had Adam smiling so brightly with teary eyes, but it only lasted a flash of a second before realization straightened his face in horror when his eyes landed on me. "Eliza, darling, listen, it's not what you think," he quickly said with a frantic wave of his hand. "This is as much of a shock to me as it is to you. I swear, whatever you're thinking to make you upset, it's not true. I didn't cross a line or anything, I swear."
Well, at least the fear in his eyes was genuine enough to make me believe him, even if it was possibly a lie.
But his words did nothing to change the boiling rage bubbling in my chest.
The anger I'd wrongly displaced onto Adam shifted back to where it belonged.
Me.
Chapter 20
Adam
~2 weeks later~
