Somehow, Reed swindled me into a four-way date on Saturday. As he dropped me off at home at six in the morning, he used his charm to convince me to go to the zoo with him and Henry, and to bring Jade along of course.

Now, as they run ahead of us to see the dolphins, Reed’s fingers search for mine, brushing against them before pulling away again.

“This is torture,” he says.

I laugh, laying my head on his shoulder, keeping my eye on Jade and Henry. If she looks up, I can straighten fast.

“I need a whole night. How else can I show off my breakfast skills?” His fingers continue playing with mine and my stomach flutters with every touch of his hand.

“Well… Pete is coming in next week and he’ll be taking Jade for the weekend.”

“Pete’s coming?” he asks, and instead of being happy I can sleep over at his house for two nights, instead of one, his voice is clipped.

“Not the reaction I was expecting.”

He leads us to a bench where we sit down while the kids watch the dolphins swim around.

“Sorry, I guess I’m a little insecure when it comes to you.”

I take a chance and kiss his cheek. “I’ve been divorced for two years.”

“Yeah, but he might want you again once he knows you’re taken.”

His arm is swung behind me on the bench, but his expression says he’s not here in the moment, that his mind is far away.

I use my finger to turn his chin my way. “Taken, I am.” I eye him hard and he nods. Not convincingly though. “Reed?”

“I know, I know. I don’t doubt that, trust me.” He reaches out and squeezes my hand. “But I also know Pete. He’s not going to be happy about us.”

Jade and Henry run to the next window, following a dolphin. Jade tells Henry how dolphins can tell a woman when she’s pregnant and how a dolphin told her mommy she was pregnant with her. Pete likes the story much more than I do, but Reed definitely doesn’t need to hear that story right now.

“Maybe we should concentrate on the fact we can be naked in your condo for an entire weekend,” I lean to my side and whisper.

His gaze falls to my lips and I lick them. He shifts in the seat, adjusting himself. “Don’t tempt me.”

“What?” I ask, standing up to head toward Jade and Henry before the mob of people swallows them up and I lose sight of them.

“You know exactly what you’re doing.” He joins me, his hand finding my ass and squeezing.

“That’s highly inappropriate behavior for a zoo,” I say over my shoulder.

He inches closer. “You do realize this torture you’re inflicting will be returned tenfold in the form of me denying you orgasms, right?”

I laugh so hard people around glance over.

“What’s so funny, Mommy?” Jade asks.

“Oh, Reed just told a joke.”

The two small faces look to him. “Tell us!”

“Well…” he pauses to think of one. “Why did the dinosaur cross the road?”

They look at one another, their mouths transforming to different shapes as they try to think.

“Give up?” he asks.

Jade looks at me eagerly waiting for the punchline, so she can laugh as hard as I did.

“What? What?” Henry pleads.

“Because the chicken wasn’t born yet.”

The kids giggle, look at each other, and shrug before turning back around.

“Tough crowd.” Reed shakes his head and then leads us out of the dolphin area with his hand on the small of my back.

For the rest of the day, we sneak touches and manage to get in one chaste kiss while the kids were enthralled with watching the chimpanzees fly from tree to rope and back.

We stop to drop off Henry, and Reed asks if we want to go in and meet Henry’s grandparents.

“I want to see your room.” Jade opens the door of the taxi before I can object.

“That’s what I get for letting her sit by the door.”

Reed pays the taxi driver and waits patiently at the car door until I get out.

Henry and Jade walk right into the house.

“Jade!” I softly scream because I’m sure Henry’s grandparents won’t appreciate them storming in so noisily.

“Ned is quiet, but Helen will keep you here until tomorrow if you let her, so you might want to plan your exit now,” Reed says as we walk up the path to the front door.

Again, his hand lands on the small of my back and those butterflies slap their wings in my stomach.

Reed knocks on the door. “Helen? Ned?”

“Reed.” A woman emerges out of the kitchen drying her hands on a waist apron.

She’s cute, with short, curly dark hair and a small frame. I’m not sure I’d even think she was a grandparent.

“Helen, this is Victoria Clarke, Jade’s mom,” he introduces me.

She holds out her hand. “What a pleasure. We’ve heard so much about Jade and you. You guys have had a lot of joint outings it seems.” She smiles and her petite hand fits in mine.

“It’s great to meet you as well. Yes”—my eyes search Reed out—“we have been doing a lot. The kids have fun together.”

“Henry just adores Jade. Talks about her all the time.”

A huge boom rocks the floor, a few glass knickknacks wobble in the curio cabinet to my left.

“HENRY!” a man sitting in a recliner yells, who I assume is Ned.

“Sorry!” Henry screams down. It’s the loudest I’ve ever heard him speak.

Helen glances over to the bald head, shakes her head and waves him off. “Grumpy,” she whispers.

“I hear you,” he says.

“Then get up and introduce yourself. Reed is here with Jade’s mother.” All the while she’s lecturing him, she’s eyeing us with an apology.

“Who’s Jade?” he asks.

“Listen to your grandson every now and then and you’d know.”

The recliner rocks, creaks and then it’s not only a bald head in my view but the rest of his imposing figure. A tall man and if Henry gets his grandfather’s height, basketball might be in his future.

“Evening, Ned.” Reed approaches the man, hand out, straight back.

“Reed,” he says, but his eyes are on me.

Immediately, I want to shrink into a ball and roll back down the porch.

Reed returns to my side. “This is Victoria. Henry’s friend Jade’s mother.”

Ned’s big hand swallows mine up. Callused palms scrape against my skin while we shake.

“Hi,” I say in my meet-the-parents sweet voice. They aren’t Reed’s parents, but they are important to him.

“Pleasure.” He eyes Reed. “Is this what you do when you take Henry out? Use him as bait?”

I swallow deeply and Reed laughs, though it’s not his usual one. This one is forced, and I can tell he’s uneasy.

“No. We met during a drop-off at school. Henry and Jade were already friends and I know Victoria from way back.”

“Well, if I’d known you can catch something like this, I’d take him out more often.” He laughs, but Reed and I stay quiet, unsure how to react.

Helen swats him over the head and joins in laughing.

“Please excuse my husband. He’s joking.” She eyes him, and he moves fast, tickling her ribcage.

“I had them going, didn’t I?” He looks over at us, yellow stained teeth emerging, but a genuine smile nonetheless.

“Would you like some pie? I just made blueberry, Henry’s favorite.”

Without waiting for an answer, she turns and heads to where I assume the kitchen is.

“What do you have, half a brain? Go,” Ned says.

Reed and I step forward. I can’t speak for Reed, but I do so out of fear. Someone failed to mention that Ned is scary.

The smell of baking hijacks all my senses when I step into the kitchen. “It smells delicious, Helen.”

She busies herself with cutting the pie and getting some ice cream out of the freezer. A woman after my own heart.

“I like to make one of Henry’s favorites at least once a week. After Trevor and Katie’s accident, I like to see him smile.”

She turns around with a sad smile on her face and points to the fridge where a much younger Henry is wedged between the smiling faces of a man and a woman. He’s the spitting image of his dad.

“I’m sorry,” I say, and Reed slides a chair out for me.

“Thank you. It’s been three years now. If God would’ve allowed us, we would’ve had more children. Then Henry would be having fun with his aunt or uncle rather than learning how to play pinochle.” She glances over her shoulder.

“He’s a great card player.” Reed’s hand finds my thigh under the table.

“Let’s hope I can raise him decent enough not to be a card shark in Vegas when he’s older.” She brings two plates over.

“I’ll never allow it to happen,” Reed says, removing his hand from my leg and digging into the pie with his fork.

“I know you wouldn’t.” She pats his hand and stares over at me. “Reed is our savior. Treats Henry like he’s his son, not just a Big Brother mentor.”

I smile over at the man who’s stolen my heart. I imagine he’s collected Henry’s too. And Helen’s. Not sure about Ned.

“Well, we live just over on Monroe, Henry is welcome anytime.”

“Thank you. Henry said Jade is new. When did you move?” Helen asks.

“Reed!” Ned’s bolstering voice booms from the other room. “Come here!”

Reed wipes his mouth with the napkin Helen gave him and stands up to exit the room.

Once Reed leaves, Helen’s eyes rest on me to answer the question she asked. Is it wrong to be scared for Reed?

“We moved here a few months ago from Los Angeles.”

“Los Angeles? Oh, I was there once. A long time ago. Ned was stationed in San Diego right before he shipped out to Vietnam. We spent the last free weekend he had exploring southern California.” Her eyes glaze over and I assume she’s reliving some memory. “We’d thought that after Trevor left the house, we’d be able to do some traveling, but… God had other plans.” She pats the table and stands, exiting the room. “Henry! Jade! Come have some pie.”

Footsteps sound overhead to the sound of cheers.

“Never take time for granted, dear.” She presses her hand to my shoulder, stopping at the counter and cutting two more pieces of pie.

Jade’s never had blueberry pie. I hope she doesn’t offend Helen. I can’t help but take Helen’s words to heart. She probably never envisioned her elder years to involve raising her grandchild.

“Blueberry? YAY!” Henry jumps around and then his small arms cling around his grandma’s waist. “Thank you.”

She pats his blond hair and straightens his glasses. “It’s your favorite.”

He clings to her harder.

Jade stays by my side looking down at her small piece of pie and then back to me.

“Just try it,” I whisper.

“It’s so good, Jade.” Henry sits down, piling forkfuls into his mouth, leaving a purple stain around his lips.

Jade sits down next to him and only takes bites of the vanilla ice cream at first. Helen watches her intently.

“She’s never had blueberry pie before,” I say.

“You know Trevor and Katie were friends at their age.” She moves her attention from them to me. “Katie would sit right where Jade is. One of those next-door neighbors turn friends and fall in love things. It was such a romantic story. I’m glad I got to witness it.”

“My mom had dark hair too.” Henry points to the fridge at the picture I just admired. “Those are my parents.”

Jade looks over and then buries her head in her pie and ice cream. I have a feeling I’ll be playing a game of twenty questions later tonight.

“May I use your bathroom?” I slide out from the chair.

“Of course, it’s right near the front door.”

I walk through the dining room to find Reed and Ned’s heads bent over a set of papers, each with a glass of whiskey or scotch next to them. Reed glances up, the pen he’s using to keep his place as he reads through the papers pausing. His expression looks like he just saw the worst car crash. You know the one where you see the paramedics pulling someone out and goose bumps travel up your spine.

“I’m just going to the bathroom,” I say, not sure what else to say at our awkward exchange.

He forces a smile and then stares back down at the paperwork.

By the time I’m out of the bathroom, Jade has her coat back on and Reed is standing at the door with her. Helen, Ned, and Henry stand there to say goodbye.

“Oh, we’re leaving?”

“I told them how you need to study for that test,” Reed says.

Reed holds out my coat for me. I slide my arms through the sleeves. “It was great meeting you. Thank you for the pie.”

Ned shakes my hand. Helen hugs me and Henry high fives us, but hugs Jade close to his body.

I smile as widely as I can, baffled as to why Reed is pushing us to leave so quickly.

“Walk?” I ask.

“Yeah.” Reed’s hand smooths down his cheek and he blows out a breath.

Jade skips along in front of us, stopping to admire some tulips and flowers that are starting to bloom.

“So, are you going to tell me why we rushed out so fast?” I ask.

“They want me to be his guardian should anything happen to one of them.” There’s no tremor in his voice and he’s not fidgety. Does nothing get to this man?

“Oh boy,” I say.

“Yeah.”

“What did you say?”

We round the corner and Jade stops to pet a dog that probably just wants to do his business.

“I told him I had to think about it.” Reed seems lost in his own head.

I definitely don’t want to weigh in on the subject. I’m just a girlfriend, a recent one at that. Still, I can’t help but wonder what Reed will do. It’s not like when you agree to be a guardian for a young and healthy married couple where the chances are slim you’ll ever actually have to step-up. In this case, there’s a strong possibility that in the next eleven years, something could happen to Ned or Helen, and Reed will become solely responsible for him. Even for a saint like Reed, a request like that is enough to test anyone’s level of commitment.