Page 99 of Love…It's Complicated

“We didn’t think you were home, but Daddy saw your car outside and said you had to be here. Where’s Will?”

I run my hand through his hair and over his face. “How do you know Will is here?”

“His truck’s outside.” Hunter runs into the living room, presumably to see Will.

I glance upstairs nervously. I don’t want my children seeing a naked man in my bed. My nerves are quickly elevated when I turn back to the front door threshold and am visually slammed by a very disturbed, very annoyed-looking Tyler Landish.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he says with complete disdain that has me tilting my head at him and squinting my eyes. “Just rolling out of bed, I see.”

“You brought the kids home four hours early. I was asleep upstairs. Why are you here? Is everything okay?” I take Hunter’s backpack and Mr. Snuggles from him.

“If there’s a man upstairs in your bed, I do not want my children in this house.”

Tyler walks inside with a shopping bag in his hand, but I place my hand on his chest to keep him from stepping farther.

“You are not allowed to snoop in this home, just as I’m not allowed in yours.”I should know. I have the phantom cuff marks on my wrists to prove it.

The upstairs door to my bedroom opens, and I close my eyes, silently hoping he will stay up there, but from the heavy footsteps walking down, I know Will is, in fact, coming downstairs. Tyler looks from me and up to the staircase with a mouth that’s pinched, and his hands are clenched.

Will comes down to the foyer and takes a step directly behind me. I do a quick glance to see he’s in his jeans, tee, socks, shoes, and all. Even his hair is perfectly combed. He places his protective hands on my arms and secures me with a gentle rub of his thumbs.

“Everything okay here?” Will asks gruffly.

“Yes,” I say to Will, but I’m looking at Tyler. “Tyler and the kids came home early to …” I stumble, confused. “Why are you here?”

“Why are you sleeping in?” Tyler folds his arms across his barrel chest.

“I took a nap because I worked until three in the morning, not that it’s any of your business.” I say, annoyed, because it isn’t any of his business, and yet, in a weird way, it kind of is.

“The kids wanted to surprise you.”

“They succeeded. I’m thrilled they’re home. You can leave now.”

“Actually, they asked me to stay. Izzy remembered this morning that she has a history presentation tomorrow, and she needed a special kind of poster board. We traveled all the way to Castleton to get it.” Tyler holds up a brown bag with the thick poster board inside. “She said she has plenty of art supplies.”

“She also has about ten art kits at your house,” I deadpan.

“I wasn’t driving another forty-five minutes from Castleton, all the way back to Greenwood Village, and then back here for drop-off. We figured we’d do the project here to save time,” he says and just stands here, staring at me and looking over at Will, as if wondering when he’s leaving.

I glower back at him because I refuse to ask Will to leave.

“I’ll be in the kitchen. Do you want to order in? The kids and I haven’t eaten since breakfast.” Tyler smirks and brushes past us and walks toward the kitchen.

Hunter and Izzy squeal, and their happiness to have their father here both eats at my heart and feeds it.

Will steps around me, his hand still tenderly holding on to my arm. “Melissa, can I have a word with you outside?”

With a nod, I grab a jacket to follow Will outside onto the front porch and close the door.

He shoves his hands forcefully into his coat pockets. I lean forward and zipper his coat because he’s looking at me as if staying warm out here in the cold is not a clear concern for him. When I’m done zipping the teeth of the zipper up his chest, I look at him and smile, and then it falls because he is not smiling … at all.

“What the hell is Tyler doing?”

“He brought my children home. Did you forget he is indeed the father of Hunter and Isabella?”

“He’s here, playing house.” His jowl is protruding out of his skin. “I would tell him to go to hell, but it’s not my place yet, and I’m waiting for you to look at him and tell him to go the fuck home.”

“Tyler is a pompous asshole, but thishanging out at our houseappears to be a new thing the kids want to do with him. I’m not thrilled about it, and I have to get Tyler to make it stop. He’s like a stray cat that you feed once, and it’s back on your doorstep.”

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