Page 44 of Surprise Baby for Daddy's Best Friend

She stood up and slammed her hands on the table, "You piece of shit! This is why I left you, and your annoying daughter. All you do is take for yourself and never think about how it might affect other people around you."

"Whatever, Sarah. Just run off to cry into your dozens of fur coats like you’ve always done." I stood up and walked away from the table, "You can enjoy the meal by yourself. I don't want to be associated with you anymore."

I stormed away to the sound of her stuttering. I smiled to myself as I made my way to the counter to pay for whatever we had ordered, and then some. The waiter who had to deal with her after this deserved the extra tips.

The apartment was quiet when I got home. The only light was a small lamp next to my bed for reading. I switched into a pair of pajamas and lay in bed. A headache was quickly starting to form in the front of my head, at the thought of what happened today. I tried to make amends with Sarah as they recommended, and instead, I had failed miserably because I couldn't keep my mouth shut.

All I had to do was keep my cool. Eventually, her barks would turn into muffled groans about anything and everything and I could tune it out. I had done it for years during our marriage, and now I couldn't do it any longer. Just the thought of trying again made my skin crawl.

"I really suck at this whole being a good person," I sighed and closed my eyes. In my mind, Kim was sitting in bed next to me. I reached out for her hand and stopped as I realized she wasn't actually there, "I don't think I could even be a good person for you."

The image of Kim dissipated into the darkness as I fell into a deep sleep filled with nightmares.

15

KIM

Itwirled my fork around the spaghetti and then dropped the ball of noodles again on the plate haphazardly.

"Are you alright, Kim?" my dad asked, pulling me out of my strange pasta trance.

"Hm? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine," I muttered.

"Kim... You've been quiet since we came back from Hawaii. You're not fine." He took a bite of his fettuccini and pointed the fork at me. "You might have grown up and left the house, but I still know when you're sad. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you found a puppy on the side of the road you wanted to bring home, and then found out it already had an owner."

I rolled my eyes and chucked, "I was ten, dad. Every cartoon back then made it sound like you could just adopt an animal from the dumpster and call it a day."

"And the raccoon?"

I shrugged, "It looked like a fat cat."

"I just want to make sure you're not getting into any trouble or need some help is all. You're still my baby girl."

"Yeah, I know dad. Thanks." I took a bite of a mini meatball, "So, you said you've been busy lately?"

He nodded and pulled out his phone, "Jared moved, and we've been seeing each other more often."

The piece of noodle I was working on caught in the back of my throat. I coughed and pounded on my chest to try and clear it, "What?" My voice was hoarse.

My dad turned the phone around to show a photo of him and Jared at a bowling alley with a bunch of old men trying and failing at taking a group selfie. Jared stood out amongst all of them with his smoldering eyes, and upscale tailored clothing. He even had a fingerless glove built for professional bowlers.

"He’s apparently still trying to deal with being back out here instead of bouncing around the place, so he made some new friends." He tucked the phone back into his pocket, "Apparently they're some guys from his local VFW. They like to call him the big man over there."

The heat rushed to my cheeks at the thought of others calling him big. Though my reasons for knowing that were far different from theirs. "Well, I'm glad you have him back in your life."

"About that."

I put the fork down. Usually when someone said that it wasn't good news. While I wasn't sure how I felt about my dad hanging out with the guy I really liked, I wasn't going to wish them ill will on their friendship. Dad needed the friendship in his life.

"What happened?"

He shook his head, "Don't worry about it. Jared was just asking about you. Seemed like he wanted to spend some time with Mandi and you, but when I pushed it, he backed out. Nothing happened between the two of you, did it?"

I shook my head, and clicked my tongue, "No, nothing happened. I mean, we talked a lot since he never got to meet me before he moved off to do his thing, but I spent a lot of time with Mandi too."

He grunted and took a sip of his soda, "Hmmm."

"You don't believe me, dad?"

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