Page 46 of Grumpy Ex's Secret Baby

I was done keeping them away from each other.

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“So,” Tyson said as he cracked the top off our beers. “How was work other than the surgery? Do anything fun after you got home?”

I sat down on the couch with a plate of wings. “While Trinity was napping, I went through some of the bookkeeping and got that cleaned up for the month. Other than that, it was a pretty boring day.”

“Sounds like a horrible time,” Tyson said as he set the beers on the table before grabbing a wing off my plate.

“Oh yeah? What did you do all day?”

“A lot of the same. I tried to balance Roy’s books, but there seemed to be money missing. I think it’s just an error in how some transactions were recorded, but I’m having some of Crestwood’s accountants look over it and line the numbers up.”

“I still can’t believe you and Clarke named the business after the street you grew up on.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Tyson asked. “It’s where we got our start. It only made sense for us to name the company after the place where it all began.”

“That’s fair,” I said as I picked the meat off another chicken wing. “I didn’t think you were the sentimental type.”

Tyson shrugged. “Depends on the situation. It only felt right.”

“So, how’s everything going with Roy, other than the books not fully balancing?”

“He’s a pain in my ass, just like he’s always been. But we should be ready to relaunch in the next two months, and then six months after that, we should be ready for expansion. It’s looking like we’re going to be able to turn a profit within the first year, especially if we expand quickly.”

“What happens after you relaunch?”

“I start looking for a bigger place in town. Somewhere with a good backyard. Probably buy a swing set and build a treehouse.”

I stared at him for a moment as I reached for my beer. That wasn’t the answer that I had been expecting. I knew he was settling down and stepping away from a busy career, but I didn’t think he would be looking for a bigger place here.

“You plan on living here for a long time, then?” I asked.

“I’m going to be with you and Trinity for the rest of our lives,” Tyson said as if it should have been obvious. “My home is wherever the both of you are, and I don’t care if you like that. It’s happening. I want to be as close to our daughter as possible.”

I took another drink of my beer. “Nobody is asking you to go anywhere. I want you to be there for the biggest moments in her life. I want her to know that it’s possible for a person to love her unconditionally. She needs to have a safe person to run to when she’s older and feels like I don’t understand her.”

“I’m sorry you didn’t have that growing up,” Tyson said as he reached out to put a hand on my knee.

I smiled at him. “Of course I had that. I had you to run to when things were hard at home. You were my safe space.”

Even during those rare times my father and I had been fighting, Tyson was the one person I could count on to be there when things got tough. He was there when I felt like I had nobody else to turn to.

Tyson had always been there.

He smiled and squeezed my leg gently before snatching another wing off my plate. We fell into a comfortable silence as we ate and drank. Every few minutes, he would mention something that had happened at his work over the last couple of years, or I would tell him a story about one of the animals that visited the clinic.

It was easy to picture a life together where we were sitting on the couch, talking to each other as Trinity played with her toys. I could see our lives intertwining as we spent nights sitting together. Days spent laughing and having fun.

As we enjoyed our evening together, I started to realize just how wrong I had been about him.

18

TYSON

Forthelasttwoweeks, I had spent nearly every other evening with Haley and Trinity. When Haley said that she was done holding me back from our daughter’s life, she meant it.

While Trinity still didn’t know that I was her father, seeing her happy and playing was good enough for now. Those evenings we got to spend together were what showed me her little personality starting to come through. She had her mother’s wild temper, but she had her intelligence and compassion as well.

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