Page 80 of Wanting a Family Man

“Do you want to come up to the house and hang out with Storm with me?” Trystan asked when he helped her disembark. He handed her the crutches. “I can get the company truck so you don’t have to walk.”

“I’ll lie down on theStorm Ridge, if you don’t mind.” She had to figure out what she was going to do. She had opened a bank account in Bella Coola so her paycheck could be deposited, but that single payday wouldn’t get her very far.

Trystan walked her to theStorm Ridge, then had to help her up onto the deck.

She couldn’t stay here beyond tonight, she realized. Not if she couldn’t get on and off the damned boat by herself. It felt like a last straw. It really did.

“Cloe,” he said as she bumped and thumped her way toward her cabin.

She paused and looked back at him. “Please not right now, Trystan. I don’t have anything left.”

He nodded once, but his mouth was stern and flat. “If you need anything—”

“I don’t. I’m fine.” She was such a liar. “Good night.”

*

Trystan had towalk all the way to Sophie’s to get Storm.

He knocked and entered without waiting because there was so much noise within, they wouldn’t have heard him anyway. Kids’ music was playing.

Glenda was at the sink, but everyone else was on the floor. Storm was shaking a baby tambourine and babbling in her high-pitched, repetitive “Ba-ba-ba.” She tipped to crawl across the playing cards spread on the rug.

“It’sstillnot your turn,” Biyen said and dissolved into giggles that had him falling over.

This was clearly a running joke because Sophie and Logan were on the floor with them, holding cards and laughing at Biyen’s helpless merriment.

“Oh, you’re here. Good.” Glenda was chuckling where she stood drying a dish. “I made plates for you.” She set the clean pot aside and looked past him. “Where’s Cloe?”

“On the boat. I came to get Storm.”

“We’re teaching her to play High Low Chicago. She’s on a hot streak.” Logan was sitting with his back against the sofa. He nudged his foot against Biyen’s leg. “This is the last time we use Cheerios as betting chips, though, isn’t it?”

“She ate the pot,” Biyen said with another fit of giggles.

“Take a load off,” Sophie invited, rising to wave at the table. “It sounds like you’ve had a big day. I’ll walk the plate to Cloe.”

“She went to bed.” Hungry, he realized, and his shitty mood grew shittier. “I just came to get Storm.”

“She’s finally in a good mood. Stick around. I’ll deal you in to our next hand,” Logan said.

“Respect the fucking shift, man,” Trystan snapped.

The room went so silent with shock, the only sound was the stupid music sing-songing about something inane.

Storm settled onto her diapered butt and her tiny mouth quivered as though she wasn’t sure if she ought to be upset or not.

“That’s five dollars in the swear jar,” Biyen said. “Prices have gone up now that Mom has a honeymoon to pay for.”

“Here.” Sophie shoved the covered plate into Trystan’s middle. “It’s my experience that children are grumpy when they’re tired and hungry. Take it to your room. I’ll bring Storm up when she’s ready for bed.”

He really wanted to tell her what she could do with this plate, but hewastired and hungry and behaving like a child. He took the plate and walked out.

The food was delicious, of course. No one made ribs and mashed potatoes like Glenda. It tasted like his childhood, specifically the part where a belly full of good food helped allay the conflict that also tasted like his childhood. The one that said he was making a wrong choice because he wasn’t able to be in two places. He wanted to be at Sophie’s, laughing it up and playing with the kids. He also wanted to be on the boat with Cloe, trying to smooth things over with her.

He couldn’t be in both, so he didn’t go to either. He ate, then he worked out with the handful of free weights that had been in the basement as long as he could remember.

All the while, he brooded over the fact that Cloe’s injury was his fault. He shouldn’t have slept with her.He knew that.But he had. Then he’d found the worst possible time to talk that out and did it in the worst possible way.

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