Eleven days later neither Andy nor Justin had brought up the kiss. Each assumed the other was drunk enough to not remember, which wasn’t true, they both remembered vividly.

The guy Andy had went out with a few times decided the night before he wanted Andy for his girlfriend. As reluctant as she was, she finally agreed. Cole and Andy sealed the deal by spending the night together at his apartment in bed.

Andy showed up at Justin’s on Thursday at 4 pm. He had to be at work at 5:30, she was cutting her timing close.

”So, Jason says you got some new boyfriend,” Justin brought up, almost in a sneer.

“Yeah. He seems like an alright guy,” Andy said, all smiles.

He handed Emma to Andy, the baby smiling warmly at Andy, causing her smile to get even bigger.

“Are you still alright with babysitting?”

Her head jerked up, eyes wide. “Of course! I wouldn’t give up my time with these guys for the world.”

“If you can’t, let me know-“ She grabbed his hand, causing him to shut up. The emotions on his face were unreadable.

“I’m not going anywhere Justin, I promise. These kids come before any guy ever will. They’re kind of my world.”

He smiled warmly at her. “Funny how someone so little and demanding can become such a big party of your life, isn’t it?”

“Yeah it is. Don’t worry about anything ok? I even laid down rules with him.”

“Like what?”

“When I am here, he can pretty much forget I even exist. He’s not to come here, we don’t meet up. I’ll talk to him on the phone, but only when the kiddos are sleeping.”

Justin smiled, feeling a sense of triumph. “Thank you. Now tell me about him.”

“His name is Cole Peterson. Works construction, he’s 20. Going in the Marines next year.”

“Own house?”

”Apartment. Has a real nice truck though.”

Justin smiled, thinking her needed to trade his Civic in on something a little bigger. “Construction huh? So he’s not gonna like when I have to do an all nighter on Friday or Saturday night.”

Andy laughed, causing relief to spread through his body. “He doesn’t have a choice. That’s the way it is.”

“Good. I gotta get to work. Oh, Alex is trying to start walking.”

”I’ll work with him some. Have a good evening at work.”

”Thanks Andy. See ya later.”

The following Saturday, Cole and Andy were hanging out before Andy need to be at Justin’s at 7.

”Can’t you call and tell him you’re sick?” Cole sighed, working on getting pissed.

“No I can’t. I’m his sitter, I can’t do that to him.”

“He’s not even paying you, what’s the big deal?”

“He offered to and I told him no. Don’t try to pull this shit Cole.”

“I just want you to spend the night with me Andy. Come on,” he tried persuading, pulling her closer to him on the couch.

“I said no,” and she stood up.

“Where ya going baby?”

“To the store. I gotta get the kids diapers before I go over to Justin’s.”

“I don’t like you being there all the time. And staying the night when he gets home late.”

“Don’t go there Cole! You knew about this before we went further than friends!”

“I know, I know. That doesn’t mean I have to like it though.”

“I love these kids. I’m helping him out, it’s not like I’m sleeping with him, don’t get the jealous boyfriend thing going on.”

She hadn’t slept with Justin, only kissed him. A lot. The memories of her birthday came flooding back. The dark corner of the club. His hands all over her, his mouth covering hers, their tongues teasing each other. The feeling of his lips on her neck, the way her body fit against his perfectly with her leg around him. She started getting butterflies in her stomach, till Cole’s voice broke her thoughts up.

”Ok, Ok. Call me when you get home in the morning.”

”Ok. Bye, have fun with your friends tonight.”

Andy stopped and got the diapers, along with an outfit for each of the kids, then went to Justin’s.

When she got there, his car wasn’t in the drive way, a huge Suburban took its place. She knocked nervously, not sure what was going on. Justin answered, all dressed in his uniform.

“Whose car is that?” she asked, walking in with the bags.

“Mine. Like it?”

“When…why-“

“Just an urge that struck me this morning,” he smiled at her.

She just laughed. “I got the diapers. And they each have a new outfit.”

She held up Emma’s first to show him. It was a bright pink sundress with purple and white polka dots. Alex’s outfit had khaki shorts, a white short sleeve button front shirt with a deep red clip on tie.

”Those are cute Andy. Might have to save those for his birthday. Hey, do you think you could get that set up> I was thinking of having the party on the 22nd since his birthday is on a Monday.”

The smile that spread on her face was priceless to him. “I’d love to! What theme are you thinking?”

“I saw John Deere stuff last week when I was looking around. That’d be awesome.”

“I’ll take them up there later to get the invitations. How many?”

“Hmm prolly around 25 or 30. All of Nicole’s family, even though I barely hear from them anymore.”

“You know you don’t have to invite them Justin,” Andy whispered.

“I want to. So they can see how great their grandkids are that they ignore.”

“Ok. I’m just saying though. You don’t have to.”

“I know. Hey invite your little boyfriend too. I’d like to meet him.”

She froze. “Really?”

“Yeah, why not?”

She hadn’t wanted Justin and Cole to meet. On top of being awkward for her, she wasn’t sure how either of them would react to each other.

“I gotta get to work. I’ll see you in the morning. Oh, and there’s a key for you on the kitchen table so I don’t have to keep taking mine off the ring.”

“Ok. Thanks.”

“No problem,” and he was out the door.