Page 22 of Night of the Living Manny
“Have you talked to your dad about that?” Brenden asked. “Calmly?”Dear boy child, never, never, never accuse a woman of being hormonal if you want to keep your balls.
“No.” Peter ducked his head. “I just—I get mad. It’s hard to stay chill.”
“Well, sure, but if you want your dad to listen, you have to meet him halfway and speak his language.” Brenden had had this very conversation with his last family just a few months in.
“I’ll try, maybe. Not right now.”
There was screaming coming from downstairs. Yeah, maybe not.
“No, not now. We need to let them work it out, and then we’ll go to dinner….” He hoped. If he had to stay home, he meant it, he would. With Susanna. The other kids needed dad time.
“You promise?” Britt asked.
“One way or the other, you two and one of us will go out and have a nice supper.”
“Okay.” That seemed to make her and Peter both pretty happy. Moose jumped up on the bed, and Britt squealed. “Stop it, Moose, I’m getting braids!”
“He wants to help,” he teased.
“Is he good at braids?” She couldn’t even ask it without giggling.
“He’s the best! Hair gel drool!” Peter started laughing too.
“Right? He can slick you up.”
“Ewwww!” Britt flailed her hands.
They all cracked up, laughing hard. About that time Liam appeared in the doorway.
“There’s a lovely sound. Are we ready to go to supper? Did we decide on what we wanted?”
“Spasketti!” Brittany said.
At the same time, Peter called, “Steak!”
“Luigi’s, then. Steak, pizza, noodles, salad—plus I can get a beer. Sound good, Brenden?”
“Sounds great.” He loved that idea. Everyone won.
“Perfect. Let’s go.”
God, he wanted to know what was up with Susanna. Desperately. He waggled his eyebrows at Liam, who just shook his head slightly. Right. Finish the braids.
They all headed out to meet Susanna, who was sitting on the couch, cheeks red, her head down.
“Come on,” Liam said, and when she opened her mouth, he snapped, “Now.”
She stood and headed out without a word.
Brenden hid a smile. Liam had the Daddy voice down. Discipline was good and consistency even better.
He locked up, telling Moose, “Be good, buddy. Watch the house.”
Britt and Peter both stared at Susanna a little like they’d eye a snake—both with respect and terror. In fact, they observed her like that all the way to the restaurant, which made her cheeks flame, but Susanna sat in stony silence.
Liam didn’t let it affect anything. In fact, he chatted easily, even though Brenden knew Liam had to be fuming. No one wanted to fight with their kids, but it was especially hard when said kid had done something on purpose….
Of course, the best punishment for a sixteen-year-old was to make her go out with her siblings and be seen in public with her dad. Obviously, Liam knew that. The man surprised him, over and over.
