Raising Tasha

Temptress 2

Jerry.

Married?

Me?

Since when? That did not make sense, she had to be talking about someone else.

How had she arrived to this conclusion? I had never even met the woman before.

'Such a nosy busy body,' I thought to myself.

I had never been married before, sure I had come very close once but I had not even proposed to Lucille so marriage was definitely something that had not happened to me.

Thanks for the heart break Lucille!

'If I was the married man knocking on the door the that means.... CLAIRE WAS THE TEMPTRESS!', the realization hit me like a truck. My meddling had gotten Claire in a mess.

All I had wanted to do was help, I had hit here with my care and I had to take responsibility for my actions and now my kind gesture had been misinterpreted and she was bearing the brunt of my thoughtlessness. 

I knew people like d to talk, especially neighbors but not once did I figure it would be this bad, from one ride home Claire had turned into a mistress, a home wrecker.

If this woman had the balls to say all that in front of me, just how much had Claire heard during the course of the week. How about Tasha? The five year old was thrown smack in the middle of a toxic judgmental neighborhood and I had been the biggest contributor of all.

I had provided the necessary ammunition, painted the target mark on both their backs with no mercy.

Guilt!

That was a new feeling, most of the time I do things without worrying about the consequences and now it was coming back to bite me in the ass. It burned!

Even my promise of giving Claire a piece of mind mind for coming outside barely dressed was thrown to the back of my mind. 

I had royally messed up.  

"Aaaargh!" I screamed out when someone tapped me the shoulder. I had to been too lost in thought I had not felt anyone approach me.

"Look mama, handsome Jerry is a scaredy cat," came Tasha's adorable voice in between giggles she was not even trying to hide from me.

How embarrassing! So much for trying to be a macho man, now even a five year old found me silly

Jerry 0 Tasha 1

"I did not mean to scare you." says Claire, now even she thinks I'm easy to scare. I finally take them in, Claire is fully dressed holding Tasha in her arms the baby looking sleepy head rested on Claire shoulder blades.

Claire must have interrupted her sleep.

"We can leave now." s**t I had been caught staring, she even had to remind me of a departure yet I had been the one that had drove all the way here to get them.

"Yes, yes! We can go now." I mutter, clearing my throat right after. I should have checked the calendar today before leaving the house, I was totally making myself look stupid in front of the two women over and over again.

"There is a car seat at the back for Tasha," I inform Claire when I see her walk towards the front seat still holding Tasha. "It is for my nephew but I am sure Tasha can fit, they are almost the same size."

There is no way I was going to tell her that I specifically bought that car seat for Tasha, I had done comprehensive research online, read articles, gone through reviews to pick one. I was not sure myself why I had gone through all that trouble but I was not looking to getting credited for it.

For one, Claire would think I am a crazy person, two, it would make look desperate and three Claire would grow wary of my intentions.

"Look at them! Acting all lovey dovey in public! Such a shame! AN adulterous couple!" and she was back! I had not seen where she had disappeared to after knocking on Claire's door but my gut feeling told me she had been observing us.

I do realize that the both of bent, heads almost touching, trying to strap in Tasha was such a couple thing to do but none of us were in a relationship so it shouldn't even matter. Well I was sure I was not in a relationship but maybe Claire was but I honestly did not think so. Neither her nor Tasha had mentioned anything about a man in their life so I still had a chance.

Wait!

What?

I still had a chance? What the Hell! When had my thoughts started shifting towards that direction. When had I started thinking along the lines of Claire and I?

There wasn't an us, besides Claire already had enough on her plate as it were.

As I turned to give the nosy lady a piece of mind Claire stops me, "Leave her be, it doesn't matter." she says.

"She is slandering you though! How can you be fine with her telling all those lies about you? I was getting angry. Just how could Claire still keep her composure in the face? The more Claire looked unconcerned the angrier I felt.

Just how much had she heard all this?

How much had she been ridiculed by others?

From the way she acted I just knew that this was a regular occurrence. She was not even fazed by it, she just bent there, eyebrow pinched in concentration trying to work out the car seat straps.

"Go sit at the front, let me do it." I finally tell her when I realize that with her doing it we will never leave this place and I had had just enough of her neighborhood. I needed to leave before I did something that could not be undone.

"Thanks," she mumbles in appreciation. I catch a hint of trembling in her voice.

I knew it! The words spoken by her neighbor were getting to her but she was trying to act strong. Maybe she did not want to appear weak before me or maybe she just didn't want me to get involved with her matters, which for some reason hurt my feelings.

I strap Tasha in as fast possible! Thank you sweet teddy bear. I had bought a toddler size plushie along with the car seat to practice on.

If the car seat belonged to my nephew then I had to know how to strap him in right?

Practice, practice, anger, frustration, more practice, I had done it over and over again I could now do it eyes closed.

Leaving, I made sure to s***h the neighbor some water from the puddle she was standing next to.

Yes. I am petty.

"...."