Tame the Beast : Small Beach Town, Single Mom Romance

I can’t help the snicker that comes out and roll my lips to prevent laughing full-on.

Matteo has been doing ridiculous things like that. He has about ten different signs he walks around with, while holding Mel. Ranging from innocent My baby girl is better than yours to Don’t even think about dating my daughter. My personal favorite is the one he made for the Fantastic Four and his mom in particular: If you steal my baby, I’ll bite you. Grandmas included.

“So, guess who made a fucking sign this morning?” Joy continues.

“Um, I’ll take a wild guess.”

“Bingo.” She snaps her fingers at me. “As if the ridiculous shirts, hugging socks and a rubber duck collection that screams ‘I am a secret maniac’ wasn’t enough for me.” Joy sighs but there is also that dreamy look on her face.

My grumpy friend wouldn’t change it for the world.

“Speaking of your puppy, where is he? Why isn’t he interrupting our conversation yet?” she asks, looking around the little screen for him.

This has been another new norm around here now. The first time Joy and I FaceTimed, Matteo came crashing into the room where I was sitting and planted himself right next to me. When I asked what he was doing there, he simply said he can’t be apart from me for that long.

I was on the phone for six minutes and forty-four seconds, insert eye roll…and ever since then, he’s taken to doing that every time. And always chipping in with his own comments here and there. Sometimes, he would just lay down next to me or with his head on my belly, asking with those puppy eyes for me to run my fingers though his hair.

Other times he would be next to me with Mellie, playing with her. But the point was to be with me. That’s all that mattered and maybe I should’ve found that weird or clingy, but the truth is, I don’t. I love how much he needs me, wants me.

Because I need him just as much.

But today he’s not home. A few of the employees at Love and Peace got sick and Willa couldn’t handle the bar on her own, so Matteo was forced to go to work.

God, it took me a solid hour of convincing him that we will not forget him and that I’ll call every half hour on the dot so he could see Mellie and if she’s awake, talk to her.

“He had to go to work,” I tell Joy.

“And he actually went?” she asks, her eyebrows touching the hairline.

See, everyone is very well-versed in Matteo’s obsession with Mellie and me by now.

“Yeah. He did.”

“You don’t sound too enthusiastic about that.” Joy looks at me with suspicion.

“I am.”

She laughs. “Yeah, that came out very convincing with that scowl on your face and growling tone.”

I fall face forward to the table, sending out a frustrated groan. “He flipping ruined me! I feel like a part of me is missing when he’s gone. I’m being irrational and clingy and jealous.” My head snaps up. “Do you have any idea how many girls throw themselves at him over there?”

“How many?” Is that a freaking smile on her face?

I narrow my eyes at my soon-to-be ex friend. “Too many. They just all sit there, batting their eyes at him while their nice, not-mom tits spill out of their barely-there tops.” And then I lose all control over myself when my voice turns high-pitch and fake, mimicking them. “Ohhh, Matteo, I missed you, my pussy missed you too. Ohhh, Matteo, can you work me like that shaker? Ohhh, Matteo, I am so desperate for you, can I open my legs up for you right on this bar top?”

I could keep going on and on if I didn’t get distracted by Joy’s booming laugh.

The bitch is literally twisted at her seat, laughing so hard she has to wipe the tears from her eyes.

“Well, I’m so glad someone finds my misery hilarious,” I grumble, and it takes her a good minute to calm down.

“Jesus, Zoe, you are so far gone for that stray of yours.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Go get ready,” she tells me, still smiling.

“For what?”