Page 30 of Wicked Love

“Thanks a lot,” I choke out.

Henley and Rhodes chuckle and Penn walks in, shaking his head.

“Those old bastards are trying to scare off the customers. Too crowded for them.” He holds out his hand. “But I managed to talk them down.”

“How’d you do that?” Rhodes asks.

“Gave them tickets to our first game.”

“I thought they hated going to games,” Henley says.

Penn shrugs. “They seemed happy about it. At least as happy as those guys ever get.”

“We’ll let you deal with them from now on.” Henley laughs. “Clara will be happy about that.”

Penn sits down. “What did I miss?”

“Rhodes is asking what he’s missing about Poppy and Bowie because they were all about one another at the wedding and then this one was a distant motherfucker. Inoticed that too, but you’ve been too busy this week with your dad to chat.” Henley tilts his head up toward me. “We’re waiting for the answer.”

My dad being sick has been distracting in a lot of ways, but not nearly enough.

“It’s a long story, and one I don’t have time to go into,” I say, standing up.

“What? You’re leaving?” Rhodes frowns up at me. “Come on, man. Talk to us.”

“If I want to make it to your house tonight, I need to go see my dad now and then get home to Becca.”

“All right. But you’re not off the hook. Text us,” Penn says.

I lift my hand in a wave and don’t say anything, and the motherfuckers notice.

Of course. They might be oblivious about a lot of shit like most men are, but when it comes to gossip, they’re like a bunch of old biddies.

“Here, take the book with you,” Rhodes says, handing me The Single Dad Playbook. “It’ll give you something to read in the hospital.”

When I get there, I open our book.

Being in love is making me a better dad.

Hell, I’m a better human for it.

I wake up every morning

and feel so grateful to be alive.

If this is what seeing everything

through rose-colored glasses is like,

I’m all for it.

~Henley

My jaw clenches and I look up at my dad in the hospital bed. Mom has a chair pulled up to the bed, and her chin is brushing her chest as she dozes. Every now and then, her head flies up and she relaxes when she sees that I’m here before nodding off again. I’ve tried to get her to go home for a while to rest, but she refuses.

Dad’s bad off. His liver is failing, and his organs are shutting down.

I’m shutting down too, but I don’t have the health reasons to blame.

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