Sweet Caroline

#66 Invitation only

Nathan is less than pleased when he opens the door for me, pulling me outside instead of into the hallway. He shows me my own e-mail on his phone.

"Seriously?" he asks, annoyed. "You're going to have all the parents come in to talk about our relationship? In two days? Without talking to me about it first?"

Oh. Yeah. Shit. I should have done that. I'm just so used to making work decisions on my own and I was so excited that I totally forgot about running this by him.

"I'm sorry," I tell him softly. "I just... You know how hard it's been for me and I'm done with it."

"I get that, but-"

"Nathan, the kids are teasing Rose," I say softly, glancing through the small crack in the door to make sure Rose is not listening from the hallway. "Those moms are real gossips and kids pick up on more than you think. She calls me Caroline instead of Miss Collins sometimes, slipping up, and the other kids give her grief about it."

"What?" His eyes widen. "Why didn't you tell me? How long has this been going on?"

I shrug. "Since the break is over. I told Elise about it, but she told me to fix it myself because... well, because it's my problem and not hers. Which is true, of course. I just didn't want to worry you. I was afraid that..."

Nathan shakes his head and grunts. "You were afraid that I would freak out on you again like I did before. You never keep secrets from me, Caroline. At least, you never used to. Why start now?"

"I know." I'm nothing if not honest. "I am just so happy with how things are going and I wanted to fix this before having to tell you about it."

He pulls me against him and kisses me tenderly. "We're a team, honey. You're the one that made me realize that even though you're not Rose's mom or even her stepmom, you are allowed to chime in when it comes to her well-being. In order for that to work, you need tell me things like this. If I wasn't your boyfriend, you would have called me into your classroom already to discuss how she's doing. Right?"

"Right," I agree. That is why I called Elise in, after all. I always discuss everything that happens in my class with the parents. It's just my style. Which is exactly why it hurts so much that all those parents seem to have lost faith in me. "Do you want me to cancel the parent-teacher conference?"

He shakes his head and leans in to kiss me again, longer this time. Just when I start melting into him, wishing we were in his bedroom, he pulls back with a smirk. "Don't get carried away now, Miss Collins. We've got a whole lot of muffins to bake for the party tomorrow."

Laughing, I follow him into the house, where Rose is dancing around happily to a popular song from one of her favorite TV shows. I know it well, since I often bribe the kids to do their dictations by promising them to put on this very song. Rose giggles when I join her in the dance. She's far better than I am, but I do know the steps and hand gestures that go with the cheesy lyrics. We both cheer when our little dance is over, and she hugs me with a huge grin on her face.

"Ready to bake?" I ask her, stroking her soft hair.

In response, she skips into the kitchen and shows me the box that Nathan bought for the muffins. It's one of those kits that you only need to add water to. They taste horrific, so I turn to my boyfriend with a frown, ready to tell him off for buying something so horrible, but I freeze when I see the look on his face. There is so much love in his bright green eyes that I feel like I'm going to melt right here and now. I will surely turn into a useless puddle if he keeps smoldering like that.

He moves over to kiss me. "Beautiful," he murmurs into my ear. "Absolutely beautiful."

"Gross!" Rose comments from the kitchen. "Stop kissing and help me make these muffins!"

I break away from her father and grab the box from her hands, tossing it in the trash. They both cry out when I do that and Nathan tries to save it, but I give him a death glare. "If we're going to do this, we're going to make them from scratch," I inform them. "Rose, could you find me the largest bowl you have? Nathan, five eggs please." As I keep shouting out orders, they both comply – not without rolling their eyes at each other, though. My heart warms when I see those two together. I'm so lucky to be part of this little family, even if it's only for a few hours.

When the muffins are in the oven and the frosting is ready as well, Rose holds out her hand to me. "Do you want to see my room?"

"Really?" I ask, surprised by the offer. "I thought you said I couldn't go in there?"

"My room is invitation only," she explains, her green eyes twinkling just like her father's always do when he's being a smartass. I wonder if any future kids we'll have will be like her or if they will take after me. I sure hope that they'll all be like Rose, because the girl is such a perfect mixture of naughty and sweet that I just can't help but love her.

Her room is exactly the way I imagined it. It's obvious she helped Nathan paint it, since the paint job is truly horrific. Everything is either pink or orange and there are glittery posters everywhere, showing all her favorite artists and actors from TV shows. The band from the song we danced to earlier is on there as well, right above her bed. The covers are yellow, clashing with the rest of the room so badly it hurts my eyes. At least most of her furniture is white, adding a little bit of relief for my bleeding eyes. Her toys are everywhere, as are her stuffed animals.

"It's beautiful," I tell her with a smile. "Did you paint the walls yourself?"

"Yes, me and daddy," she says, smiling at Nathan who is leaning against the doorpost as Rose shows me all her favorite things.

"Is your room at your mom's place just as colorful?" I can't keep myself from asking. I just can't imagine Elise painting walls in glittery orange with those perfectly manicured fingernails and her carefully dyed hair.

"No!" Rose explains, scrunching up her nose. "Mommy says that this room makes her eyes bleed."

I raise my eyebrows at Nathan when I answer. "Then you must be happy that your dad is such a pushover."

"Yes," she agrees with me, not seeing the way Nathan rolls his eyes at me. "Daddy lets me pick my own colors for the room."

"So pink and orange are not his picks?" I ask her, winking at her father. "I thought they were his favorite colors."

She giggles. "No, his favorite color is blue. So boring."

Blue. I remember one of our first conversations back when I didn't even know his last name. His favorite color... "blue, like your eyes," he had told me, laughing when I had accused him of being cheesy. So he hadn't been lying when he said that. Even his daughter knows it's blue.

"Mine is green," I tell Rose. "Like your eyes. And your dad's."

Nathan smiles, knowing exactly what I am thinking about. Rose just sighs and tells me that I am just as boring as her dad before taking off to see if the muffins are ready yet. Nathan winks at me before running after his kid to make sure she won't hurt herself on the hot oven.

I stay in Rose's bedroom for a few more minutes, examining the pictures above her bed. Just like downstairs, there are just so many. On the wall in the living room they are all in frames, but here they are just pinned carelessly on a large bulletin board. Most are of Rose through the ages, posing with friends and family. Elise and Nathan are in over half of them, but I spot one of me as well. It's one Nathan took of us two weeks ago, watching TV in the living room after dinner. Tears spring into my eyes when I realize just how important this little girl is to me already. If Nathan and I don't work out, I won't just lose a boyfriend, I will lose Rose too.

"Caroline!" Rose calls from downstairs. "Daddy took out the muffins. Can we frost them?"

"They need to cool off first!" I call back, exiting the room and closing the door behind me. "How about we put on some music and have a dance competition while we wait?"

She cheers and by the time I get down, she and Nathan are already jumping around like crazy people. He looks so young with that adorable grin on his face and his messy hair flopping around. I love him like this, in sweats and a T-shirt, playing with his kid. Of course, I love Nathan no matter what he wears or what he's doing.

And to think that half a year ago, I hadn't even met him yet.