His Sunshine

4

Chapter Four - Chemistry

"Mum, can we get this?!" Aria races up to me with a pack of chocolates.

"No Aria. I said no chocolate either remember?"

She pouts and widens her eyes but I shake my head in response. The grey in her eyes turns stormy with anger before she huffs and whirls around to put the chocolate back. I smirk at her fire before grabbing two packs of bread and putting them in the shopping cart.

Aria's teacher had called me into the classroom on Friday yesterday evening to inform me that my troublemaker of a child had kicked a boy. The boy, Jack, had provoked her first with nasty comments before attempting to throw her lunch away but I was still not happy that she thought violence would be the right answer. Of course, Jack's parents made him apologize as I did the same with Aria but I'm being a bit strict with her now so she doesn't think that what she did was right.

"Why did I have to come here? You're not getting my favorite food." She sulks as she follows behind me throughout the grocery store. "I wanted to stay with grams!"

"Grams would have fed you with chocolate and let you watch your favorite cartoons until I came back. I know her well enough!" I scoff as I tell her to grab me the tomato sauce.

"I like grams more!" She sticks her tongue out at me.

"Me too."

"Mum!" She whines and latches herself to my leg. "You said I will always be your favorite!"

"Not when you kick someone Ari." I mutter distractedly as I pick a pasta before moving down the aisle. "Go find the tuna."

"Ugh!" She makes a face before dragging her feet towards the shelves where the canned products are.

We get our weekly shopping done quickly before checking out and loading everything into the car. By the time we reach home and put everything away Aria is begging to go for a walk and it doesn't take much to convince me. We've been here a month now but I'm still not as familiar with the city as I'd like to be. So, I take her hand in mine and we leave the house to walk around aimlessly.

We make our way past her school, a park, some stores that we pop into for a few minutes before I notice the sun beginning to drop from its afternoon peak. Just as I'm about to tell her that we should head back she gasps loudly before letting go of my hand. I chase after her as she runs up to a man and throws herself at him which makes my eyes widen worriedly.

I'm about to apologize and pull her off him when she turns to me. "Mum, this is Bear!"

The man looks up and I'm a goner. He has light brown hair with the lightest green eyes. His skin is golden tan with a muscular build. Appearance wise he looks quite rugged and strong which is very attractive to me. My heart races when he smiles widely and holds out his hand. I shake it and feel the numerous callouses etched into his skin which indicate that he's worked a lot.

"Hi, I'm Theodore Jackson but please call me Theo."

Oh god, his voice is just as alluring as he is. It's rich, warm, and comforting all at the same time. I find myself wishing he would talk more. Swallowing harshly and begging my poor heart to stop beating in overdrive I shake his hand in return.

"I'm Charlotte Davidson, Aria's mom. It's nice to meet you and sorry about –"

"That's okay, I love a warm welcome." He chuckles and I smile shakily as I tug Aria towards me. He then narrows his eyes at my baby playfully. "Bear?"