Page 106 of Dad Next Door

“That’s what I heard.” Pops pecked a kiss against Dad’s cheek.

I swallowed the cookie, struggling a bit since I hadn’t chewed enough. “That’s it. No more pastry deliveries for you. I’m telling Liam to refuse you service if you try to circumvent me on this.”

Pops and Dad laughed, and a moment later, I joined them.

My parents loved to tease, and I had no doubt they’d welcome Tristan and Leo with open arms and do everything possible to make them feel welcome.

Jesse and Adam were the ones to worry about. They’d treat Tristan and Leo like family, which was exactly the problem. I loved my brothers, and hopefully Tristan could handle their brand of love and dish it right back.

21

TRISTAN

“Remind me again why selling everything I own and moving to a cabin by a lake isn’t a good idea?” I flopped down on the couch next to Quinn dramatically.

“Because you’d get bored after three days, and Leo would never get out of the water, so he’d be permanently pruney. Also, mosquitos.”

“Right. That.” I sighed.

“Rough day?”

I nodded.

Quinn patted his lap. “Come here and tell me all about it.”

Shifting in my seat, I lay down and put my head on his thigh.

“There you go.” He stroked his hand through my hair. “Better?”

“Yeah.” I nuzzled into his leg.

“Was Simon a dick during pickup?” he asked softly.

“Yes and no, I mean, he’s always a dick. But this isn’t just about him.”

He kept quiet and gently ran his nails through the short part of my hair, right behind my ear. Little shivers and tingles exploded on my scalp and deep in my body.

“That feels good,” I murmured, wanting to enjoy the attention for a few moments before I had to go back to thinking about my shitty day.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want.”

“No, I do. And I should.” I sighed. “I finally heard back from that clinic I interviewed with last week.”

“I’m guessing it wasn’t good news?” Quinn asked.

“Nope. They raved about my experience and made a huge deal about what an asset I’d be to the clinic.”

“That doesn’t sound terrible.”

“It wasn’t. Not until they told me my starting salary.”

“I thought you’d already gone over that in the interview?”

“We did. But apparently the number we discussed was the top end of the salary range, and they neglected to tell me that.”

“But it was already less than what you make now. Less than someone with half your experience would get.”

“Yup. So imagine my surprise when they said the actual number was fifty thousand less.”

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