Page 10 of Finding You

“I’m glad the flight was good. Your anxiety about flying any better?”

“No. But I got upgraded to business class, so it was at least a comfortable panic attack.” Dallas sat back and rolled his shoulders until they relaxed as Adele pulled away from the curb. His eyes scanned the crowds at each terminal pickup, but if Kylen was around, he was hidden.

His heart sank a little, but when he turned to look at his friend, he felt a thousand times better. He might have had a missed connection with a guy who would fit in great with their group, but at least he still had this.

“Well,” Adele said as he pulled into Dallas’s driveway, “tell your brother I’ll keep an eye out for cheap rentals. Renato’s brother-in-law is a Realtor, so he can probably help out. And he could use the commission.”

Renato’s brother-in-law had just moved after a breakup. It seemed to be going around, Dallas thought. It was bizarre the way people seemed to fall apart right around their age—or older since Auden was a good twenty years older than they were. But still.

It didn’t give him hope.

And it made him a little afraid for the people he loved who had just found each other. He didn’t really want to think of a world where Lane and Bowen were split up or Renato and Frey were dealing with a messy divorce. And they weren’t even married yet.

“Thanks,” he said quietly. He grabbed his things out of the trunk, then let Adele pull him into another hug. “Could you also maybe float the idea of Gage showing my nephew around?”

“High school, right?” Adele said.

Dallas nodded. “He’s a cool kid. Really into nerdy gamer shit. He’s going into his junior year, and he’s a little freaked-out because this will be his first time at a mainstream school.”

Adele frowned. “Uh. Was he, like, Montessori or something?”

Dallas realized how much his friends still didn’t really know about him, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “No. Um. He’s blind. From birth—it’s not like a new thing he’s figuring out. But my brother had him enrolled in the blind school, and he really wants to experience a mainstream thing before he goes to college.”

Adele didn’t get weird, bless his heart. He just nodded. “Got it. No worries, man. Gage will probably love having a new friend.”

“Don’t volunteer me for shit,” Gage said as he leaned out the car window, and then he paused. “But yeah. If your nephew’s into tabletop gaming, he’s cool by me. Give him my number if you want.”

Dallas felt settled all over again. “Thanks again.”

Adele gave his cheek a rough pat, then walked off as Dallas put his key into the lock and stepped inside. His house smelled like it always did—a little more stale, having been gone a week, but it was fine. It was his own, anyway.

There wasn’t enough evidence of his daughter though. Her chair and a few toys in the corner, and a swing, but that was it. His chest ached. He wanted more. He knew full-time was off the table, but he hadn’t signed up to be a weekend dad.

Katie was punishing him for demanding a paternity test, but she couldn’t get away with it forever. At some point, something would have to give. He wasn’t going to be relegated to the sidelines with his own child.

Fuck that.

Dropping his keys on the counter, Dallas immediately walked into his bathroom and started the shower. It steamed after just a few moments, and then he was undressed and under a hot, calming spray. He soaped off the airport smell, but as he ran the cloth over his fingers, he had a sudden, almost visceral memory of what it felt like when Kylen had held his hand.

His cock twitched.

That was…weird, considering he rarely got hard, even when he was in a relationship. His low sex drive was the main reason Katie said she stepped out on him. But it had been a while. Like, over a year. It probably had nothing to do with Kylen.

The half chub he still sported when he walked out of the shower meant nothing. At all.

Audra giggled and kicked her feet as he spooned squash past her gummy smile. She clapped as she swallowed it down, showing off her two teeth on the bottom and the two lumps on the top that were about to become four.

She was growing too fast. Time was passing—months felt like a minute. He was missing too much. And now the school year had started, so he had even less time. Katie was becoming a little more lax about his weekends and was letting him keep her until Monday morning. It meant dragging his ass out of bed early to get her fed, changed, and dropped off, but it was worth it.

“Daddy’s going to miss you,” he cooed at her, wiping her face clean.

She giggled. “Dadadada!”

His heart twisted in his chest. Katie was pissed about that too, even though all the books said that babies said “dada” first. It was just easier, she told him. It meant nothing. But the way Audra smiled at him, he didn’t believe it.

Kissing her forehead, he lifted her from her chair and set her on his hip as he grabbed her bag and headed for the car. She didn’t put up any fuss as he got her into her seat.

The drive to Katie’s house was shorter than he preferred but longer than he needed to get to work. He had almost no time, so he handed Audra off to her mom, kissed her forehead, then hurried to his car.

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