Page 88 of Challenged by the Single Dad

His jealousy and protectiveness regarding her working for Hawke at the hostel shouldn’t have turned her on, but it did. Nobody had ever gotten jealous over her, or possessive like that. It made her feel desired, wanted, and that just made her all the more attracted to him.

Who was she kidding? Everything he did turned her on. Even when he made that sexy, grumpy face or growled in frustration under his breath. But what really got her engine revving was when he got frustrated—or aroused—and tore his man bun out of the elastic, and his long hair fell forward, framing his angular jaw.

That made her purr like a kitten.

The other big factor in all of it though, was Silas.

Was she ready to be with someone who had a kid? Could she handle that? Even though Elliot had been gone four years, the scars across her heart were still so deep that she wasn’t sure she could ever be around another child—another little boy—without being overly protective, but also guarded. Her heart was afraid to love another child again.

All she could see when she looked at Silas’s face, was Elliott.

So as badly as a lot of her body parts wanted her to throw caution to the wind and pursue things with Dom, because anything that felt that good couldn’t be wrong, another big part of her—the fractured and scarred part of her heart, kept telling her no.

She went through the motions of the all the yoga postures, but her heart wasn’t in it. Her mind was so busy, her thoughts were so loud, that she couldn’t focus on her breath or quiet her thoughts for anything. Luckily, the class went by quickly, and she was saying, “Namaste,” with the rest of them in no time.

“Booch and Bagels?” Jordana asked, tucking her purple yoga mat under her freckled arm.

“Obviously,” Brooke said. Vica nodded too.

Chloe checked her watch. Did she have time to run into the center of town and grab a kombucha and bagel with the girls?

It was nine o’clock now, and she told Hawke she’d be there by ten. Yeah, she had time.

Besides, she needed to prioritize these new friendships and make an effort.

“Meet you there,” she said.

They didn’t have to wait too long for their booch or bagels, and by nine thirty, they were all sitting at one of the wooden picnic benches in the center of the vendor pavilion at the base of the stairs to the grocery store. The rain had finally ebbed, and now the island was coated in a light layer of mist and fog. Every now and then, the baritone bellow of the foghorn at Moray Point would interrupt their conversations. But it was a comfort, not an intrusion. Most of all, they were just happy that the wind had finally taken a break and wasn’t tearing the limbs off the trees like they were made of soggy paper.

Jordana found them a covered picnic table and they all slid onto the benches.

“I heard from Clint about what happened with Silas yesterday,” Brooke said, sipping her watermelon and mint kombucha. “Have you guys heard anything else?”

Vica shook her head. “No. Dom spoke with the mom at the Halloween party, but she was very dismissive. Said that Dom was raising a ‘sissy’.”

“She saidwhat?” Chloe exclaimed.

Vica simply nodded, but then wrinkled her nose. “What is a ‘sissy’?”

“A wimp,” Brooke replied with venom not directed at Vica. “She’s basically saying Dom is raising a wimpy, weak, overly sensitive kid.” She shook her head. “She’s basically raising her daughter to believe that boys—men—should be emotionless robots and not feel. This is exactly what we’re trying to getawayfrom. Men need to feel. Men need to cry. Boys need to be able to express themselves safely and without just resorting to violence, anger, and aggression.”

“We tell the boys all the time that it’s okay to cry,” Vica said. “I secretly love it when Griffon—or Jake—come to me for a comforting hug and they feel safe and comfortable enough with me to cry. It is an honor.”

“Wait, so something else has happened to Silas since Carnation sat on his chest and threatened to rub dirt in his face if he didn’t kiss her?” Jordana asked. “Because that was like almost a month ago that happened, right? When Dom went and yelled at Principal Pickford and got kicked off school property.”

Chloe’s mouth hung open in utter shock.

The other women nodded like they’d heard all of this. But it was all fresh news to Chloe. Then again, she was doing her very best to avoid Dom. So far, she had succeeded. She only saw him for about ten minutes in passing when they traded off at the bar.

“What happened yesterday?” Chloe asked, a sick sense of déjà vu bubbled hot and restless in her veins.

Vica’s brown eyes turned sad. “Carnation started to tease Silas about his mom being dead. Said it was good his mom was dead because she wouldn’t want a wimp or sissy like him for a son anyway. Then she pinched him on the arm. You should see the bruise.” She frowned. “My heart breaks for him. And for Dom.”

Jordana shook her head. “I know Georgia and Penelope have said that Carnation is a bully on the playground. When they see her, they run in the other direction.”

“And nobody is stopping this kid?” Chloe asked, biting into her cream cheese slathered sun-dried tomato and asiago bagel, otherwise she was going to chip a tooth she was clenching her jaw so tight.

Jordana cleared her throat, lifted her brows, and shifted her gaze. “The mother is right there,” she said out the side of her mouth.

---