Page 61 of Man Advantage

I stiffened. “You… picked up on that too?”

“Are you kidding?” Cam made a face and shook his head. “Who the fuck drops an ultimatum like that on their co-parent with almost no time to figure out a solution unless hewantsyou to fail?”

I sat back, startled to hear my own thoughts coming from his lips.

He tsked. “It’s pretty fucking obvious, isn’t it? I mean, if he wanted to actually work with you and figure out an arrangement that was best for the kids, he’d have given you some time. And he wouldn’t have come up with an arrangement in the first place that meant your kids—yoursix-year-old kids—will have to be without one of their parents for long stretches at a timejustbecause he wanted a more predictable schedule.” Cam rolled his eyes and made a disgusted sound. “Nobody has kids because so they can have a predictable schedule.”

I managed a halfhearted laugh. “Isn’t that the truth.”

“Right? And I mean, I could be biased because I don’t like Bryan, I think he’s a dickhole, and I hate how he treats you. But that’s really how it looks to me.”

I chewed my lip, not sure what to say. As much as I couldn’t stand my ex-husband, I bent over backwards looking for ways to give him the benefit of the doubt when it came to his parenting. Hewasa good dad. But… maybe Cam was right. Bryan could be the world’s greatest dad, but he was a shitty co-parent, and it was taking its toll.

“It sucks,” I admitted. “Especially because there isn’t much I can do. If this starts hurting my relationship with my sons…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence because it hit me hard to imagine this whole shitshow—whether it was Bryan’s deliberate sabotage or not—damaging the relationships I had with Zach and Zane.

Cam touched my arm. “Trev. I need you to listen to me, okay?” He sat up and faced me fully, his expression serious but not unkind.

With no idea where this was going, I nodded. “Okay?”

“When I first got here, you said you weren’t sure if you were a good dad.”

I swallowed, dropping my gaze. This was not something I wanted to think about on top of everything else. “Yeah. I did.”

“Okay. Well. For what it’s worth, your boys get super excited when I tell them you’ll be FaceTiming with them soon.”

I met his eyes. “They do?”

“Oh, yeah. Then when I say they can stay up and watch the game if they finish their homework, they sit down and do it without a single complaint.” He motioned toward the door to the garage. “And whenever they hear your car after practice or a game, they go nuts that Dad’s home.”

My throat tightened, and I wasn’t sure why.

“All those videos I send you?” he went on. “The pictures? Those are because the boys ask me to. Every single one.”

I had to cough to get my breath moving. “They—really?”

“Yeah.” Cam smiled. “They don’t resent you for being gone. They miss you, and they wish you were home, but they know you’re just doing your job.”

I winced. “Doing my job, and not living with them even half the time. What kind of dad has their kids scrambling to make videos so he doesn’t forget they’re alive?”

Cam’s lips parted. “What? No, it’snothinglike that!”

I held his gaze, hoping like hell he’d elaborate, because I was dubious to say the least.

“Trev.” He shook his head. “Theyadoreyou. No, I won’t bullshit you and tell you they like it when you’re gone. They miss you.” He shrugged. “It is what it is. But they love talking with you. They…” He laughed softly. “My God, they getsoexcited when they watch you play hockey. Whether it’s on TV or in person.”

I swallowed hard. “Really?”

“Of course. Yeah, I’m sure they would love it if you and Bryan still lived together and you could be home 24/7, but that’s because they love you, not because they think you’re abandoning them.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. Or how to say it without falling apart, because his words had found their way to a tender spot I hadn’t even known existed.

“No parent is perfect,” he went on softly. “But the two people whose opinions matter the most think the world of you.”

Fuck. He was going to make me cry. “Really?” I whispered.

“Really.” He smiled and squeezed my arm. “Trust me.”

I did trust him. It was hard to believe that the divorce and the distance hadn’t tarnished my image in my kids’ eyes, but Cam was not someone who’d blow smoke up my ass. If there wasanyone on the planet I could trust to sit me down, look in the eye, and say, “Trevor, you need to unfuck things,” it was him.

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