Page 33 of Smitten with the Single Dad

Vica tapped her chin with her slender index finger. “Surprise me, Mr. Jake. I trust you.”

Well, the woman may as well have told Jake he was being cast as the next James Bond film, the way the kid lit up like a fucking Christmas tree. His blue-hazel eyes glittered as he returned to the fridge and nearly doubled Wyatt’s electric bill with how long he’d held it open for as he deliberated what flavor to choose for the guest.

“This century, please,” Wyatt said, which prompted his son to finally make a decision.

Jake snapped to it, emerging with a grapefruit-flavored can. He set it at the other end of the table where Vica would sit.

Everyone took a seat, and although Vica wasn’t overly chatty, it was the first time since he brought her home last night that an enormous cloud didn’t appear to be hanging over her head.

He liked seeing her interacting with his boys. And the kids seemed to adore her. It was weird seeing someone sitting in Sheila’s seat at the table, but he didn’t hate it. Clint had moved on; so had Bennett. And it wasn’t like they all hadn’t taken their time to grieve their spouses. The women died over five years ago in a freak car accident that claimed all four of them. Griffon had just turned one, and Jake was three. Wyatt didn’t really have a chance to grieve properly because he needed to be there for his sons. But in his own way, he made peace with Sheila’s passing.

It hadn’t been easy. She’d been his best friend.

But they’d also had the conversation that if something happened to either of them, they wouldn’t want the other person to be alone. He would want her to find love again, and she would want the same for him. He’d only slept with one person since Sheila’s death. It was a one-night stand about eighteen monthsago. He went over to Seattle for the day to go visit their father in his care home and ended up getting stuck on the mainland overnight because of heavy winds. That was one of the downsides to living on an island served by ferries. You were at the mercy of the weather. If the winds were too bad, the ferries would cancel sailings for safety, leaving people stranded on one side or the other and forced to seek shelter for the night.

Of course, he grabbed a hotel and made the most of it, meeting a pretty woman in the hotel bar and inviting her up to his room. He didn’t regret it, but he also knew after that night that he wasn’t ready to start anything with anybody. His focus was on his business and his children.

But that was over a year ago.

Was he ready now?

“What’s your favorite food, Vica?” Griffon asked, squirting way too much ketchup on his hotdog. “Mine’s hotdogs.”

Vica smiled as she speared a grilled piece of asparagus with her fork. “Hmmm … I mean, this is going to sound cliché, but there really is not anything better—in my opinion—than a perfectly, wood-fired oven cooked, Margherita pizza.”

Wyatt hummed in response. “We have a wood-fired oven at the pub for pizzas. I absolutely agree.”

Her smile winded him.

“Will you make us a pizza one day?” Griffon asked.

“I don’t know how much longer Vica will be here, buddy,” Wyatt said.

“I promise I will before I leave,” she said, her eyes sad.

Still holding his hotdog in one hand, Griffon lifted up his sparkling water with his other hand. “To pizza and Vica.”

They all raised their beverages and clinked them around the table, smiling.

“To pizza and Vica,” Wyatt said, his gaze meeting Vica’s across the table. “Welcome to the McEvoy family. It’s pure chaos.”

Her smile was sweet, but still a little sad. However, her eyes held a twinkle that gave him hope and stirred something in his belly. “This is the kind of chaos I love,” she said. “I am here for it.”

CHAPTER SIX

Despite the mayhem that waited for her on the other side of the gate, inside the gate, and inside the house with Wyatt and his sons, Vica was at peace.

Or at least, the closest thing to peace she’d felt in a long time.

Watching him with his little boys brought her so much joy, she smiled through the pain in her lip. Because the joy far outweighed, it outshone the discomfort.

For a small part of her life, that was what her family had been like.

Her mother, father, brother, and her.

They were big, loud, and happy too.

Her father would roughhouse with Vica and Lorenzo the way Wyatt did with Griffon. He would tease and joke with them, but it was all so shrouded in love that she never had to question whether he was serious. He was teaching them life lessons, but in a fun, memorable, and kind way.

---