Page 3 of The Hot New Single Dad Next Door

“Everything is coming up Lottie!”

The entry bell chimes. Tish and I instinctively twirl around to greet them.

“Hello!” I say with a smile… that instantly drops.

Mark.

My ex.

He walks into the diner very much the same way he walked into my life as a teenager. In ripped jeans and an old leather jacket. With shoulder-length dirt-blond hair in desperate need of a wash. The difference now, of course, is the little four-year-old boy at his side.

“Mommy!” Liam says, yanking free of Mark’s hand and rushing at me.

I drop to my knee. “Hey!” I say, forcing a smile as I glare daggers at Mark. “What are you guys doing here? Getting lunch?”

“Nah, I’m dropping him off,” Mark says. “I gotta run.”

My smile disappears. “What?”

“Hey, Liam,” Tish says, bending down and offering her hand. “How about you come with me? I’ll get you some fries!”

“Yeah, honey,” I say, giving Tish a grateful look, “go with Auntie Tish while I talk to your dad, okay?”

They wander off toward the counter stools.

And I march right up to Mark. “What do you mean you gotta run?” I ask. “You’re supposed to have him all day. I’m working!”

“Yeah, well, work called me and I wasn’t doing anything, so I’m going in.”

“You are doing something. You’re parenting your child!” My chest tightens with rage. “Jeez, Mark!”

He scoffs as he slides his sunglasses on. “Whatever. It’s not a big deal. Just plop him at the bar, give him some crayons. He’ll be fine.”

“Crayons and fries aren’t a replacement for a parent, Mark.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Lot. I can’t babysit today.”

“You’re not a babysitter. You are a father. Act like it.”

He scoffs and drops Liam’s backpack on the floor. “Whatever. I’m out.”

“Are you available to take him tomorrow still?” I ask as he turns around. “I have that double shift.”

“Yeah,” he grunts over his shoulder.

“Mark— urgh!”

I shut my mouth.

Nothing I say will make a difference, anyway.

Mark walks out. I watch him through the windows, shaking my head as he mounts his motorcycle. I’ve told him a thousand times not to ride with Liam, but I doubt a thousand and one times will change a damn thing.

Oh, Mark. What happened to you?

He rides off down the street, turning north toward the highway. Not toward the warehouse in Littleville where he works, obviously. Toward the biker bar up the highway where he goes to get high and do... whatever the hell he does now.

Not my problem anymore.

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