Page 79 of The Dating Charade

No trace besides a long red streak of crayon across the couch.

22

Jett

If Sarah was any clearer about her interest, their names would’ve been written together in sky writing. Or in this case, knitted in a winter hat.

“It’s just so cold out, and I was already making hats for the kids.” Sarah shrugged. “The yarn was there so I kept going.”

“These are awesome.” Sunny checked his new look with the orange-and-white beanie in the mirror.

“Wow. Thank you.” Jett didn’t feel like mentioning that the yarn of the crocheted hat in his hands looked nothing like the pink of Dakota’s or dinosaur green of Timothy’s and Drew’s.

He wasn’t a crocheting expert, but he had a feeling the yarn couldn’t have “kept going” from pink to orange. No, the fact that she had knit a total of three baby blankets, six pairs of toddler socks, and not one, not three, but five hats since the night Trina had come, unsuccessfully, to retrieve her kids six weeks ago was the writing on the wall.

Timothy rolled from his stomach to his back on the baby blanket, eyes widening as he surprised himself, as he did every time since the first one week ago. He started squeaking, and Dakota, seated at the dining room table, pointed with her pink marker, her cheeks stuffed with Cheerios.

“Timmy’s fussin’,” she declared, marker scribbled all over her hand. She went back to coloring her paper heart.

Sarah picked up the baby, placed him on her hip as though she’d done it a thousand times—which at this point, wasn’t too far from the truth. She touched the back of Sunny’s beanie, inspecting what appeared to be a loose yarn.

“I like the stripes. Nice touch.” Sunny gave her a wink and she backed up immediately, turning to Jett.

Suddenly her perfume was washing up in his face. And as she tugged nervously on the skirt of the satin number she was wearing, Jett suddenly knew. It was time for a sit-down chat.

It didn’t matter that he only had about five minutes to spare before having to jump into his truck for work. The woman—the poor, sweet woman—had made herself available too many times. Had twisted his arm with her baked goods and kid expertise and willingness to throw away her perfectly good evenings to watch the Bentley circus. It was time.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with Sarah. Just that, even after these two long months she’d helped him break in his new life, he still found he’d rather spend the evenings alone than muster up the energy to walk across the hall for a night of kabobs and wine.

Sarah deserved a man who’d walk across the hall for kabobs and wine.

Shoot. Sarah deserved a man who would make the kabobs and pour the wine.

She picked the hat up from his hands and reached for his head with a wry smile. “You, too, Jett. Don’t scoot out the door before we get to see how it looks.”

He gently took the hat from her hands and dropped his overnight bag to the ground. “Actually, can I talk with you for a second?” His eyes shifted to Sunny. “Privately?”

“Um.” Her eyes skirted to Sunny and back to him, looking as awkward and uncomfortable as he was. “Sure.”

Still hip-holding Timothy, she followed Jett into his bedroom.

“Don’t worry, guys,” Sunny called out, the twins now busy coloring the five o’clock shadow on Sunny’s chin, their new canvas. “I’ll hold the fort down here.”

Jett quietly shut the door. Rubbed his hands.

“Sarah,” he began slowly. This was going to be painful. There was no getting around the guilt he would inevitably feel after this. There was no getting around the hollow disappointment she’d feel after too. But he could try to minimize the damage. He just needed to cake on as many compliments as he could before throwing the knife. “You are just so special.”

Sarah’s soft blue eyes widened.

He hated that he was about to break her heart.

“These past months,” he continued. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you. Honestly, you’ve been a lifesaver to all of us. Me especially.”

She shuffled Timothy to the other hip. “Well, thank you, Jett. That means a lot to me.”

Not enough. After this long of her sacrificial kindness, he needed to truly emphasize, deeply, how great of a human being she was.

He took a step closer. “Really. I’ve never met anyone like you. You’re sweet. You’re giving. You’re the kids’ favorite person by far.” He laughed. “You beat me by a landslide.” C’mon, man. Don’t limit the compliments to what she has done for you. She’s more than a maid. He threw out a hand. “And you look absolutely beautiful—stunning—in that dress.”