Page 26 of A Case of You
Grace grinned. Showing lots of teeth.
He pointed at her. “You, girl, are a menace.”
“But you love me. I’m the bonus daughter.” Her grin widened. It looked all the more playful—and was thereby all the more deceptively dangerous—because of her diminutive stature, which housed a borderline demented and definitely genius-level mind.
Laughing, Jeff grabbed a regular cart and headed for the first aisle, his phone out and displaying his grocery list. “Come on, Frick and Frack. Let’s get this done.”
Emma had driven him to the store after they’d arrived home from school, mostly because while the Xanax didn’t totally knock him out anymore, unless he took one right before bed, he didn’t like the way they made him feel. Fuzzy-headed, responses slow, and admittedly less than safe to drive. When Brandon had suggested the girls go with him to the store, Jeff had been happy to take the suggestion.
Especially since theywantedto help.
They were going to pick up the bulk of their Thanksgiving dinner needs now, saving a few perishables for closer to the date next week. This way, they were beating the rush and had time to discover if they’d forgotten anything.
He wouldn’t refuse the girls’ help schlepping the groceries inside the house and putting them away, either.
In fact, Brandon had forbidden Jeff from doing that part.
“What about dinner?” Jeff asked halfway through their shopping, realizing that was one thing he hadn’t nailed down yet.
“Ooh, can we grill hamburgers?” Grace asked. “Please? I’m sick of chicken.”
“Your dad still trying to perfect that recipe?” Grace’s father was an amateur barbecue competitor. Man could grill like crazy, and had won several contests for his ribs and briskets. Now he was determined to win medals in poultry.
“He swears he’s going to get this chicken rub recipe down, even if it kills all of us. I haven’t had red meat in about four weeks. I’m probably getting anemic. I keep wanting to take bites out of people.”
Emma snorted. “No, that’s just you on a normal day.”
Grace playfully nudged her.
“Sure, go get what we need. And the good buns, not the cheapo ones.”
The girls rushed ahead to get what they needed as he paused and consulted his shopping list.
A year ago, he’d been living alone and puttering around with his old Edsel.
Now he was a…dad.
Okay, on this side of the worst of his pain, he could appreciate how lucky he was, that he had not one buttwohusbands who had jobs which could provide for them.
And that he had both Emma and Grace to help him out during times like this.
They were going to have family over for Thanksgiving. Including Brandon’s parents, two brothers, and their families.
Brandon had a slightly strained relationship with his family. They had not been happy with him when he’d come out and divorced Tracey, and Brandon suspected had it not been for Emma, they might have disowned him. To their credit, they hadn’t acted like full-on assholes—yet—since Brandon had become involved with Jeff and Stuart.
Especially since they doted on Emma, and Emma flat-out told them how much she loved Jeff and Stuart, referring to them as her bonus dads.
Jeff’s family would also be in attendance. Grace and her parents were coming, too, and would bring a second turkey with them.
Smoked, natch.
It would be a full house, for sure. Jeff had felt so nervous during their wedding, and had felt so crappy physically, that he really hadn’t spent much time talking with Brandon’s family. Jeff wasn’t very close to either of Brandon’s brothers, or with Brandon’s parents. A month ago, they’d met for dinner at a restaurant with Brandon’s younger brother, Steven, and the man’s family, to celebrate Steven’s wife’s birthday.
It hadn’t been tense, exactly, but it hadn’t been the casual, easy dinners they’d had with Jeff’s family, or even with Grace’s parents.
The girls caught up with him a few minutes later, carrying meat, buns, and even a half-pound of the good cheddar, freshly sliced for them by the deli counter. By the time they got out of there, Jeff was openly glad to have their help.
He felt exhausted.
