Page 33 of Challenged by the Single Dad

“Sure,” his easy-going kid replied. “Are you going to be home again tonight?”

“That’s the plan.”

Silas bounced on his seat at the kitchen table. “Can we watch a movie tonight? Maybe Spiderman?” He glanced out the sliding patio doors into their backyard. “Can I use your phone to check the forecast?”

Dom snorted. Silas loved Spiderman—and the weather. He’d seen all the movies many times, but never grew tired of them. His favorite was the one with Toby Maguire and Doctor Octopus. “I think we could probably arrange that.”

“Yesssssss,” Silas said, doing a fist pump while using his thumbprint to open up Dom’s phone and go to the weather app. For as long as Dom could remember, Silas had been obsessed with the weather. Mostly knowing what it was going to do that day and for the week. He liked to be prepared. So whether that was bringing his boots, rain jacket, umbrella, gloves, or his rain pants, the kid just preferred to be in the know. “It looks like no rain for the week. Though, potentially some light showers on Thursday.” His brows wrinkled. “I’ll pack my boots to school just in case. But it doesn’t look like we’ll have to deal with rain on Halloween.”

Dom smirked. “Sounds good. Are you still planning to be Spiderman for Halloween?”

Silas was busy practicing shooting pretend webs from his wrists by pressing his ring and middle fingers into his palms and makingpshoo-pshoosounds. “Yes. Of course I am.” His kid gave him a perplexed look. Like any other option or suggestion was out of the question, and how dare Dom even waste words on asking him if he’d changed his mind.

Dom snorted a laugh and poured himself some coffee while filling two bowls with Rice Krispies. He brought the oat milk over to the table for both of them, along with their bowls. Then he went back for his coffee and a container of washed blueberries.

“My mug?” Silas reminded him just as he was about to sit down.

Dom stood back up. “Right. Sorry.” He went back to the kitchen and brought down Silas’s Spiderman mug, then he poured the absolute smallest amount of coffee into it—like two tablespoons—and brought it over to the table. Silas then poured the oat milk into his mug, then over his cereal. Dom poured the milk over his cereal as well.

“Cheers,” Silas said, lifting his mug.

Smiling, Dom tapped his mug against his son’s. They took sips at the same time and went, “Ah,” at the same time.

“Nothing like coffee in the morning to wake you up,” Silas said wiping the back of his hand across his mouth before digging into his cereal.

Dom rolled his eyes and smiled, ruffling his son’s unruly dark-blond hair. “Eat your breakfast, you little nut.”

She hadn’t given him enough of a reason to fire her. So he didn’t.

But he also made sure that their overlap was as minimal as possible. Chloe arrived for her four o’clock shifts at three forty-five, and Dom made sure he was out of there by four thirty. It wasn’t always easy, but he did his best.

Being around her made him feel things he wasn’t at all prepared to feel, and the fact that she was an employee just made those feelings all the more inappropriate.

He was her boss.

He was a widower.

He had a son.

He was an emotional wreck.

There was a litany of reasons stacked against him and the possibility of any relationship, let alone one with Chloe Voss, no matter how impossible it was to get her out of his head.

The customers loved her though. So did the staff.

The whole island was abuzz, chattering about her Caesars and some of the other interesting cocktails she was bringing into the mix.

He still wasn’t willing to add Caesars to their cocktail menu, or their specials board. If someone came in and asked for one, he couldn’t stop her from making it though.

Fortunately, nobody had come in yet and asked him to make them one. It was like everybody knew only Chloe made them, and that she only worked at night.

Dom still worked the night shift Sunday and Monday. So he handed the day shift over to Renée those days and made those Chloe’s days off. Renée said she didn’t want any days off, but that wasn’t how things worked. So her usual days off were Tuesday and Wednesday.

They still needed to hire another bartender though. But he was reluctant.

He didn’t want to hire Chloe, and now his brothers were pressuring him to hire another one?

Fuck that.

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