Page 8 of Driven Daddy

I helped my mother clean up in the kitchen.

“What’s on the agenda today?”

“I have to head to Every Line and make sure the supply for the signing came in. Need me to do anything in town?”

“If you could stop at the market, I’ll text you a list.”

“Sure. No problem. What’s the family dinner this time?”

“Since it’s finally cooling off, I figured I’d do a roast.”

My heart kicked. “With carrots and potatoes, and those little sweet onions?”

“Yes, Penn.”

“Yessss.” I laughed and kissed my mom then I put the last dish into the dishwasher. “I’m going to take a quick shower, so don’t start this right away.”

“You got it.” She brushed my overlong hair away from my face. “Maybe you should get a haircut in town.”

“I like it long.” I could put it in a ponytail when I was working.

She sighed. “You look like you should be in a band.”

“I always wanted to be in a band.”

“Only if it was a sad band. You and your Leonard Cohen phase.”

I laughed. “Hey, it made me learn guitar. Always gets the chicks.”

And not that I’d tell my mother, but portraits hadn’t been a bad thing in my younger days, either. Not just faces.

“The devil is always living in those brown eyes, Penn.”

“Not lately. I’m always working now that I started Duality Press.”

She grabbed my hand before I could slip out of the kitchen. “Is everything all right? I thought things were going well.”

I squeezed her hand. “Just growing pains.” At least I hoped it was growing pains. Running my own business with other artists was a lot different from doing my own graphic novels. There was much more at stake when it wasn’t just me.

And because my mother was a pro at seeing too much, I put a bit more effort in a smile. “Send me that list.”

She sighed. “I have most of what we need, but I forgot a few things.”

“You?”

She smacked my hand. “Yes, me. We’re actually having everyone except Trav come to this dinner, so I need more veggies.”

“Got it.”

I waved to the kids who were now happily watchingBlueyand headed upstairs. Knowing my mother, I made sure to get right in the shower or she’d start the dishwasher and steal my hot water.

Ten minutes later, I finished in the bathroom and padded down the hall to the bedroom I stayed in when I visited. Most of the time, I crashed at my brother Travis’s place when I made anextended stay in the Cove. He had a few bedrooms, and it was much quieter than the Masterson hub.

But Travis was still on a job and Carrington would want to come with me, and I wasn’t in the headspace to care for an almost teenager right at that moment.

So, the twin bed of the guest bedroom would have to do. Even if my feet hung off the bed. I wasn’t the tallest of the Masterson males, but I was still a bit over six feet tall.

I was pretty sure my mother had put a twin bed in so we weren’t too comfortable, thereby extending our stay. I couldn’t blame her.

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