Page 98 of Unspoken Rules

“Thank you for making me dinner,” he adds. “This is much better than the business meeting I had planned.”

“Glad you think so.” I glance toward the counter. “I should have made something for dessert.”

He groans a sound that has my dick twitching. “Dessert does sound good. We could go for ice cream?”

“Ice cream?” I raise a brow.

He shrugs, getting up to clear our dishes. “Why not?”

He rinses them, and I get up to open the dishwasher and put them in. I put the soap in and start it.

“Ice cream sounds great.”

“My treat,” he says.

I roll my eyes. “Fine.”

Once the table is wiped down, we head out. There’s an ice cream place down on Main Street that we go to. It’s on the corner by the park, so we get our order and find a bench to sit on by the walking path. There are tables by the ice cream place, but the view here is better. We’re across from a side street where the enormous fountain is, so we get a clear view of it.

There is a playground toward the back of the park and a baseball field even further back where all the little league teams play. But the front over here, by the street, is full of trees and benches that the town decorates for the holidays. During the Christmas season, they go all out with lights. And for Halloween, they do a spooky trail.

“I’m sorry about Chris,” Cole says out of nowhere.

“Don’t apologize for him. It isn’t your fault.”

“I can’t help but feel like it is my fault.”

“Why would you feel that way?”

He digs into his cup for a bite of ice cream before answering. Cole was boring and got plain vanilla with hot fudge. I wasn’t holding back and got my favorite of coffee ice cream with peanut butter, Oreo cookies, caramel sauce, and extra whipped cream.

“Because I’m his father. I raised him.”

“You raised him to be better than this. What he does isn’t because of what you did or didn’t do. You are a good father.”

I make sure to say are, so he understands that he still is a good father. He raised Chris as best he could, and in my opinion, he did a spectacular job.

“Honestly, I think Chris was tired of me comparing you to my father. I don’t know if he’s mad that I’m right or just mad about me whining about how terrible mine is.” Cole nods but doesn’t say anything. “I want to tell you why Chris is upset with you, but I don’t feel like it’s my place. You understand that, right?”

He sighs heavily, and says, “I do. And I respect you for being loyal to your friend.”

“I’m not sure loyal is the word I’d choose,” I mutter.

“Why’s that?”

I hold his stare. “Because of what I’ve done with you.”

His face falls, and he gives me a sad smile before going back to his ice cream. We sit in silence for a little while. I watch people pass, listen to the birds in the trees. It’s nice over here. If only the people in town weren’t such assholes, this place would be almost perfect.

“Where is your job?” Cole asks after a little while.

“Flashfire Ad Agency.”

“No, shit? I did some work there.”

“Really?” I ask, perking up a little.

“Yeah, they did a re-branding thing about two years ago. My crew did all the painting inside. Knocked some walls down. Built a few to make new offices. When do you start?”

---