“Ooh, look at that car!”
I’d rather smash its tail lights.
“Dad! You missed Gretchen’s house!” Britt cried as I drove on by.
“What?” I feigned looking around in confusion. “I did?”
Yet, I kept on driving.
“Yeah. It was back there where the cool car was parked.”
“Huh. The car must have confused me; all these houses look alike.”
I mean, theykindofhad at first, but after visiting a few times the differences were obvious. Still, it was the best I could come up with on the fly.
I don’t know why I’d kept going when I saw the red car in her driveway, because I wanted to know who the fuck the owner was and why he—or she—seemed to be at Gretchen’s house all the time.
Then it hit me,maybe Laura got a new car.
Oh my god. That was it! Laura got a new car!
Jesus, I was being a little bitch over nothing. And worse, Derrick had been right.
At the end of the street, I turned right to circle around the block. This time when we pulled up, the Jag was gone.
“I wonder whose car that was,” Brayden asked as I put the truck in park where the Jag had been three minutes ago.
“Probably her friend, Laura’s.”
The kids didn’t wait for me as I got my toolbox from the truck bed and continued up the walk to her house.
They were already inside, with Jake draped around Britt’s middle, when I entered. But the second the little guy saw me, he squealed, “Bandit!” and went limp so Brittany had no choice but to put him down. Once on his feet, he ran toward me with his arms wide, and I set my toolbox down and scooped him up in one fell swoop.
He wrapped his little hands around my neck as he chastised, “Where been?”
“I’ve been working, buddy! How’ve you been?”
He jabbered animatedly, of which I understood about two words, but I thought my response of, “Oh my! Really?” was appropriate, because he nodded and continued.
My reply of, “Wow!” seemed to satisfy him.
I noticed Brayden unpacking his backpack at her dining room table and Britt declared, “It wasn’t her friend’s car. It was Jake’s dad’s.”
When the little man heard “Jake’s dad,” he tightened his hold on my neck and put his head on my shoulder. I gave him a squeeze in return even as I felt my blood pressure spike.
What the fuck had that asshole been doing here? He gave up his right to spend time with Gretchen and Jake.
I looked over at Gretchen with raised eyebrows.
“Oh yeah?”
Her shoulders lifted. “He wants to spend time with Jake.”
What a bunch of bullshit.
I had to consciously will my face not to convey what I was thinking.
Instead, I replied. “Huh. I hope that works out.”
