Juked by M.E. Carter Page B

good-looking. Not quite six feet, but he definitely has a few inches on me. Plus he’s kind, funny, good with kids. I have no idea why he’s still single. Unless, of course, he’s a man-whore.
    Well, he did pick me up at Walmart.
    That’s okay. I can still go out with him and have some fun. I’m only twenty-four years old. Acquiring a baby may have changed my life completely, but it didn’t change my desire to go out and enjoy myself.
    I return to my station with both colors, set them on the tray, and pull on my gloves. Geni is giving a trim to one of her regular male clients, who is reading today’s paper.
    “Since you have a date, I should tell you I have one, too,” I say to Sue. I see Geni whip her head up out of the corner of my eye.
    “You didn’t tell me this,” Geni says, obviously irritated with me.
    “That’s because it didn’t happen until last night,” I rebut, painting Sue’s hair and not taking my eyes off the foils I’m folding.
    Sue smiles. “Well, who is he, and how did you meet him?”
    I chuckle. “I actually met him at Walmart last night while I was shopping.”
    “Chance is still not sleeping through the night, huh?” Geni asks, trading in her scissors for some clippers.
    “Nope.” I sigh. “We’ll get through it, but for now, I’m sort of stuck shopping at midnight.”
    “That doesn’t seem to be such a terrible thing, since you’re getting dates out of it,” Sue says. “Who is he? Tell us about this young stud muffin.”
    I shake my head at her. Sue is my favorite client. Her enthusiasm for life always puts me in a good mood.
    “His name is Daniel. Last night was actually the second time I ran into him. The first time was the night my sister died.” I take a second to swallow the lump in my throat that comes up every time I think about Sarah. There’s a time and a place to wallow in grief. Now is not either of those. “I was trying to figure out what formula to feed Chance, and I was a blubbering mess.” The memory still stings, though not as much as it did a couple of months ago. “He has a bunch of nieces and nephews, so he helped me figure out bottles and formula and stuff.”
    “Aw,” Geni says. Her client has put his paper down and is doing a terrible job of trying not to eavesdrop. “That’s really sweet.”
    “It was,” I agree. “We ran into each other again last night. I’m surprised he recognized me without all the snot and tears.” I chuckle. “We got to talking and really enjoyed each other’s company, so we’re going out.”
    “It wouldn’t happen to be this Daniel, would it?” Geni’s client asks, holding his folded newspaper out for us to look at. All three of us crane our necks to see.
    There’s a picture of Daniel and me sitting on the bench by the pharmacy. Daniel is holding Chance in a standing position. They’re smiling at each other while I’m looking on. The picture really is sweet. The writer of the caption, however, jumped to a whole lot of conclusions.
     
    Caught Again: Is This Soccer Stud Turning into a Soccer Dad?
     
    “Um… yep. I guess that would be him.”
    “Are you kidding me?” Geni practically screeches and snatches the newspaper out of her client’s hand. “You’re going out with Daniel Zavaro? Captain of the Texas Mutiny? How did you not tell me this?”
    “I didn’t even know what his job was until last night. How do you know him anyway? You don’t follow soccer.”
    She gives the paper back, spouting statistics and ticking them off with her fingers. “Daniel Zavaro, twenty-nine years old. Six-year veteran of the Texas Mutiny. Number four on last year’s Top Twelve most eligible bachelor list as voted by the city of Houston, behind one baseball player and two football players. Single, loves his family, volunteers at a local children’s soccer league and all around nice guy.”
    I stare at her, mouth gaping. “I can’t believe you know all that.”
    “I can’t believe you don’t,” Sue says.