Page 23 of Big Bad Single Wolf Dad

All five kids stick their tongues out and make expressions of varying levels of disgust.

“You’re only half vampire, your human half needs vitamins,” I tell Mia and Ethan.

“Werewolves need more than meat. You need fiber to stay healthy, too,” Greg tells his kids.

“So eat your vegetables,” we both say at once.

We look at each other again and smile at our shared plight.

Noah, Ethan, and Lily make noises of disgust as they force the dreaded lettuce and tomato into their mouths. Mia eats hers without much fuss. Ollie happily digs in, seemingly unaware he should dislike fresh vegetables just yet. I give him maybe one more year before that little rebellion sets in.

I take a bite of my burger and revel in how juicy and flavorful it is. I’ll have to ask Greg’s personal chef what his secret is. I can never seem to cook burgers this perfectly! The kids seem to agree, as they devour their own quickly.

Halfway through mine, I glance at Greg and find his plate is completely clean. I raise my eyebrows in surprise. He notices my expression and shrugs with a sheepish grin.

“Werewolf appetite,” he says again.

I laugh into my drink, quickly putting it back down so I don’t snort water up my nose. It did seem like he was very carefully holding back during our first dinner date. So I suppose we're comfortable enough around each other that we can be more like ourselves.

The thought of that is very comforting.

“Mia, are you okay?” Greg asks suddenly. I jerk my gaze over to my daughter, unaware something was wrong.

She looks a little pale. Or at least, more pale than usual. Mia slowly shakes her head.

“I don’t like it,” she whispers. This is a surprise to me, as I’ve never known Mia to dislike burgers before.

“What don’t you like? I can have my chef make you something else,” Greg says patiently. His consideration for her is incredibly sweet. I wasn’t expecting him to come around to my kids so easily.

Mia makes a face of disgust as she inspects her food. “I don’t know…it’s sour.”

I take another bite of my burger to try and diagnose what she’s tasting when it hits me.

“Pickles!” I cry.

“Oh, you don’t like pickles?” Greg asks.

Mia shrugs her shoulders sheepishly. “I don’t know.”

“I’ve never made burgers with pickles before. My ex hated them. She’s probably never tried them before.” My cheeks go red at the realization that I just brought up Hunter, but Greg doesn’t seem to notice or care. He stands and grabs Mia’s plate.

“I’ll have the chef make you a new burger, with no pickles.” There’s no malice or frustration in his voice. Just a very matter-of-fact problem-solving. This is the sort of calm, secure presence I’ve been needing for my family. But Mia still looks embarrassed.

“Hey, it’s okay. I hate onions. See?” Lily opens the remainder of her own burger to show a lack of onions on hers. The two seven-year-olds immediately start to chat about what foods are gross and which are great. They quickly come to a very concrete conclusion.

“Peaches are the best,” Lily says.

“And olives suck,” Mia replies with a nod.

“Hey, language!” I cry. Mia knows better than to be so crude at the dinner table.

“But I’m a vampire!” Mia whines back.

Ethan laughs. “Yeah Mom, we’re vampires. We suck!”

The entire table of children erupts into laughter. All I can do is sigh and shake my head. We’ll have to have yet another conversation about dinner table manners when we get home.

Greg returns with a fresh plate of food in hand.

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