Page 80 of Smitten with the Single Dad

Jagger wandered into the kitchen from where he’d been working on his computer in the living room. She met his deep-blue gaze, and worry that mirrored her own shimmered back at her. “He’s with the very best, buddy,” Jagger said. “Dr. Malone and Justine are going to help him any way they can.”

“How long has he been gone?” Jake asked, glancing at his Fitbit. “Feels like a long time. It’s already past dinner.”

“Oh no!” Vica exclaimed. “We need to get some of this pasta boiling so you kids can eat.” She went about filling up a pot to boil while Jagger stepped up to help move things along with the kids.

She had all three little boys and the big, bearded boy with glasses sitting at the table enjoying olive oil, spinach fettuccini with parmesan and fresh basil beforesix thirty, which was when the door opened, and Clint and Dom ushered Wyatt into the house.

Jake and Griffon abandoned their meals and went to see their father.

“Is his brain broken?” Griffon asked.

“It’s severe whiplash,” Clint said. “Along with a herniated disc in his upper back. We took him to see Wolfe Unger at his chiro clinic and he diagnosed the disc and whiplash.”

Wyatt smiled lazily at them from his spot on the couch.

Dom snickered. “Justine gave him some pretty strong pain meds too.”

Wyatt glanced up at Vica. “Well, hello there, sexy lady.”

She smiled down at him. “Hi.”

His eyes were all glassy and his smile adorable. “Vuoi stare con me per sempre?”

That made her eyes go wide.

“What’d he say?” Griffon asked.

“Uhh … she glanced at everyone around her.

How could she tell them that Wyatt just asked her to stay with him forever? Also, that had to be the drugs talking. He was as much on board with this being temporary as she was. Right?

“He’s not making much sense,” she finally said. “Something about pizza.”

“We have pasta,” Griffon offered. “Homemade, and it’s the best I’ve ever had.”

Wyatt just smiled as his eyes closed.

“He needs to rest. Wolfe did a lot of work on him, put him on the decompression table, then ice. Then, they hit him with some acupuncture too. A lot of it will just take time and rest, but we think it was the culmination of the pain and shock that finally made his body forfeit the fight and ask for help.” Dom ran his hand over the back of Silas’s head. “Did you have fun?”

Silas nodded. “Why are ninja farts so dangerous?”

Dom grinned down at his kid. “Why?”

“Because they’re silent but deadly!”

Chuckling, Dom ruffled his son’s head. “Who told you that one?”

“Vica. She also taught us how to say ‘fart’ in Italian.” He put the tip of his thumb to the tip of his other fingers like a true Italian, and even threw on a pretty convincing accent. “Scorregia”

That got Jagger, Clint, and Dom really laughing.

“Oh, you’re fitting right in with this bunch,” Clint said. “And whatever you made smells incredible.”

“There is lots leftover,” Vica said, hurrying into the kitchen. She filled up two bowls with the fettuccini and brought them over to Clint and Dom. “Here. Please.”

They thanked her.

“I’m going to stick around for a bit,” Jagger said, speaking mostly to Dom. “Are you heading home or back to the pub?”

---