Page 48 of Almost Always

“Maybe I’ll convince Grandpa to visit soon, yeah?”

“Yes! Tell him about Boots too,” Cal said and at the mention of his name, their dog snuffled. “And that I’m a Wildes expert, so I’ll be his tour guide.”

“Those are two very good reasons for Grandpa to visit.”

“Exactly. Also tell him how much I’ve grown.”

Smiling, he pulled up in front of the MacArthur house. Cal was out of the car before he’d turned the engine off, Boots trailing behind him to the front door. Rafferty grabbed the bags from the trunk and locked the car, walking up to where Mack was letting his kid and dog into the house.

“Thanks for letting these two stay for the whole weekend,” he said, stepping inside to set the bags down in the entryway.

“Honestly, you’re helping me keep Dig busy. I’ve run out of ways to entertain my kid.”

They shared a laugh as the kids and dog ran into the small backyard, squealing loudly. He suddenly felt the exhaustion of the last two days weigh on his shoulders and tried to shake it off.

“You okay?” Mack asked.

“Yeah, totally.”

With an arched eyebrow, he closed the front door and waved him to the kitchen. “I’m guessing you’ve never been told that you’re a terrible liar.”

Chuckling, he stood at the counter and watched Cal and Indigo tossing a ball while Boots sat by patiently. A glass of water was set in front of him, but he didn’t touch it.

“All right. I know we don’t know each other that well, but if you need to talk shit out, I’m happy to listen,” Mack said, stepping into his line of sight.

“I don’t even know where to start or how to…explain this.”

“Pick a random place, I guess.”

He smiled and rubbed the back of his neck, then untied his hair, dragging his fingers through the freshly washed strands.

“I think I fucked up with Daisy and I’m not sure how or what to do to fix it.”

“Okay. What did you do?”

His whole life, Rafferty had only opened up with Louise in therapy. When he was married to Zara, he kept a huge part of his life a secret from her. She knew all the surface-level things, but nothing about his mother or his childhood best friend. He didn’t want anyone to taint his memories of Daisy and that meant keeping that to himself. Looking back, it might have strengthened his marriage if Zara kneweverythingabout him. Louise said as much and he didn’t appreciate that.

So the idea of unloading onto Mack felt strange. He was right; they didn’t know each other well. But this was what Louise asked him to do—make friends. Their kids were alreadybesties, as Cal often reminded him. So it made sense for the two single dads to become friends as well.

“We’ve known each other since we were kids in New York and she’s my first real love,” he said and took a big gulp of the water before continuing. “She moved away twenty years ago and we’re now playing catch up. And my feelings are apparently doing the same thing, so it’s fucking messy.”

“Feelings have a tendency to do that,” Mack offered with a grin and gestured for him to sit down.

The back door swung open with a loudthwackand the kids spilled inside, sweaty and happy. They didn’t acknowledge the adults more than a quick grin before juice boxes were snatched from the fridge and they were running off again. Seeing how tired Boots was, Rafferty grabbed his bowl and filled it with water. The dog half-collapsed at his feet once he was sitting on the stool again. The sounds of a video game echoed through the house as Mack nudged him.

“So, feelings.”

Grunting, Rafferty nodded and slumped forward. “I’ll spare you the details, but I made a comment that set her off. I kinda wish she got angry with me, but she mostly just shut down. Tears streaming down her face and everything. We were doing fine until I spoke and I figured she needed the space, so I haven’t gotten in touch since.”

“I’m no expert with relationships or anything, but giving her space is not the worst thing in the world. And I think it might be good for both of you to take that time to figure this out.”

Rafferty sighed and dropped his head to the counter. “It was a total foot-in-mouth situation, and I didn’t even know that’s what would happen. I thought I was being flirty and romantic and man, we were doing so well until that point.”

“Are you twotogether?”

“No,” he said, straightening up. “Not yet, anyway. I know that’s presumptuous of me to assume we’ll get there, but I think we could.”

“So you’re what…friendsjust catching up?” Mack asked.

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