He reaches a hand behind his head, rubbing at his neck. “Uh… I just wanted to come over and properly introduce myself and apologize for the little incident from the other day,” he says before holding out a hand to me. His long, brown hands are accented by short, blunt nails covered in perfect black polish. There’s an assortment of silver rings on his fingers. “I’m Emmet.” He offers me a smile and the boyishness of it is somewhat adorable.
No, men who accuse you of being on your cycle are not adorable.
I narrow my eyes at him, but I take his hand. It’s soft in mine and when I look up, his smile is wider. “Ivy,” I tell him as I get a whiff of the same familiar weed smell as the other day and… chocolate?
I tilt my head to the side as I study the man. Standing in front of me now, he doesn’t seem threatening in the slightest and he surely doesn’t look like a person I’d want to punch. His half lidded eyes watch me closely. There’s this air about him, a bit of laid-backness that I’ve seen from stoner friends in the past.
“It’s nice to re-meet you, Ivy,” he says as if the incident is already well into the past. He gestures down to the dog at his feet. “This is Charlie.” He reaches into his pocket and I watch as he pulls out a chocolate bar. He holds it out to me as if it’s the most normal thing in the world for strange men to bring me chocolate. “We’re sorry for what happened the other day, it was a complete misunderstanding.”
“We?” I ask, before I realize he’s also talking about the dog. “Oh.” I accept the chocolate as I try to think of something more to say than oh. I’m not used to people apologizing and honestly, I don’t often expect it since I myself have a hard time with it. Yet, he’s trying and that’s more than I can say for myself, even after my therapist advised me to. I shake my head and offer him a smile though it feels a little forced. “It’s okay, there was fault on my end too.”
There, that sounds a little like an apology.
This time when he smiles, it reveals a wide grin with straight, white teeth and I can’t help but take in his plump lips.
Fucking any of your neighbors would create a toxic environment.
“Well,” he says as he shoves his hands in his pocket, “we’re just next door if you need anything…” He glances behind me, “or if there’s another prison escape by a toddler.”
I smile at that. “Thank you. I fully plan on shutting down those escape plans in the future, but it’s nice to know I have help if I need it.” I shove the piece of chocolate into one of my pockets. “We’ve got to head off to swim lessons but thank you for stopping by. I appreciate it.”
He nods and takes a step back. My eyes draw to the interesting necklace hanging around his neck and I try to see what it has on it, but it’s tucked beneath the neck of his graphic tee. “Nice. See you around, Ivy.” I watch as he and the dog move back across the yard before moving into the house.
Interesting.
There’s a niggling bit of familiarity about him and it reminds me that Patricia said my anger is likely the root of something else and not the actual man.
Who does he remind me of?
I decide not to think too hard about it as I call out for Tanner again. At this rate, we’ll be lucky if we even make it to lessons before they’re over.
“I’m ready,” he says as he pops around the corner. His hair is tossed in a thousand directions, his shirt is rumpled, and the blue pants don’t quite match the striped pink shirt he has on, but I don’t bother to correct his appearance. Instead, I grab my keys and both of the kids and head out. “Okay, Aunt Ivy is going to have to break a couple of speeding laws, but we’re going to make it.”
We end up ten minutes late and I start to wonder if my tardiness is the reason other parents seem to hate me because the other parents look at me in disappointment as I pull off Lilly’s clothes to reveal the purple swimsuit under it.
“What’s their problem?” Tanner asks as he looks at the other parents.
“Not sure, bud,” I tell him before I take Lilly over to the instructor who offers me a pitying smile.
I refrain from rolling my eyes.
I guide Tanner over to a spot in the bleachers away from the other parents and recline in my seat, as I watch the instructor help Lilly into the water after placing floaties on her arms.
“Can I have your phone to play on? We forgot my tablet,” Tanner says.
“Sure.” I pass him my phone. “By the way, why were you so grumpy this morning?” I’ve yet to see the kid angry until this morning and I can’t quite stop thinking about it.
He shrugs his shoulders, but he won’t meet my eyes. “Don’t know, just sleepy.”
I almost tell him that you can’t lie to a professional liar, but I decide it may not be the best way to approach it, so I let it go. I’ll talk to Patricia about it in our next session.
Speaking of Patricia…
Her words about Emmet’s character run through my head and now that my mind isn’t crowded with the fastest routes to get to swim lessons, I think about what could be the actual cause of why I don’t like Emmet.
Who does he remind me of?
This time an answer comes to mind.