Page 98 of Single Dad Dilemma
“Just give me a hint,” I told Griffin. “Was it good? Bad?”
“Eh, a little of both? She’s not happy with you. Well ...” He paused to consider, tilting his hand back and forth. “She’s not happy with me because she thought I was you. And that is all I’m going to say about it.”
“Shit,” I whispered under my breath. “When do you guys need to leave?”
Griffin glanced at the watch on his wrist. “Less than five minutes. I thought we’d have more time, but the roads are getting worse, so we should head to the airport.”
I nodded wearily. “I’ll try to talk to her after you leave. I need to say goodbye to the kids.”
Griffin leaned in and tapped me on the chest. “Snowed-in weekend. No work. No kids. Don’t fuck this up, Barrett. This might be your best shot at getting laid in the foreseeable future.”
Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered something under her breath.
My brother grinned. “She does that a lot.”
“Thank you,” I said flatly. “That’s helpful advice, while she’s over there plotting my death.”
“I am here for you, brother.” He winked, and I wondered how he might respond if I punched him in the throat.
With a sigh seemingly born from the depths of my weary soul, I pulled myself together enough when the kids jogged out of the house, hopped up on adrenaline for their long weekend in Colorado. They both hugged me fiercely.
“Be respectful, use your manners,” I told them. “Listen to Uncle Griffin, and make sure you abide by the house rules.”
“Pfft. We don’t have any house rules,” my brother said.
Ruby just shook her head and mouthed,Yes, we do.
I smiled.
The kids promised all manner of things—that they’d be perfect and never get in trouble again and I was the best dad in the entire world for allowing this. Their eyes were bright with excitement, and it tempered the sting of missing them. They weren’t even gone and I already did.
“Will you get bored?” Maggie asked.
“Are you kidding? I can’t wait to be bored.”
Griffin and I shared a look, and he wisely decided not to call me on my bullshit. I didn’t know how to be bored any more than he did. I’d be working within fifteen minutes of them leaving the house. At home, due to the storm, but working nonetheless.
The kids gave me one last hug and piled into the car with Ruby. Griffin paused, holding out his hand, which I grasped in my own.
“Maybe, uh, maybe next time you can come with them,” he said casually, belying the brief flash of intensity in his eyes.
“You’d want me to?”
He shrugged, tucking his hands into his pockets. “I guess.” Then he stopped and looked up, his eyes clear and direct. “Yeah. I’d want you to come next time.”
My chest clenched. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
I managed a small smile. “Text me when you land.”
He snorted. “Like you won’t be tracking our flight.”
I laughed easily. “You’re right. I will.”
“Unless you’re busy,” he said with a meaningful look next door.
“Aren’t you leaving yet?”
