Page 78 of Bossy Baby

Mac ignored Jayme and took the bag from Hayley. “What took so long?”

“Nothing,” Hayley replied quickly. He’d talked to Mac later about what to do with his brother.

“Let’s eat,” Mac said. “You can get away with half a pain pill for now.”

“Ah, Daddy,” Hayley whined.

“Half as long as you’re still feeling okay later. We don’t want a repeat of yesterday.”

Hayley blushed. He couldn’t believe that he’d thrown a temper tantrum. But the pain had been bad. And Mac had been wonderful. “I don’t know, Daddy. I really enjoyed my story time.”

“If you’re a good boy, you might get another tonight.”

“Yay!” Hayley cried. “Come on, Jayme. We have to eat all our food.”

“Why? It’s not like I get a story. What kind of story was it? Was it hot?”

“It was sweet.”

“But was there lots of sex? Hot monkey sex?”

“Monkey sex?” Lance asked, as they reached the counter. “What exactly is monkey sex?”

“You know.” Jayme started jumping around while making monkey sounds.

“That is disturbing,” Lance commented.

Hayley thought it was funny. He jumped off the stool, but Mac caught him around the waist.

“No monkeying around for you.”

“Oh my God!” Hayley threw his arms around Mac’s neck. “That was perfect.”

“Everything is a lie. It’s all a lie,” Lance said sadly.

Hayley turned to him. “What?”

“Everything that I thought I knew about Mac. It’s all worthless now. He’s nothing more than a…a…big dork.”

“You just used the word dork,” Mac pointed out.

“It’s contagious,” Lance declared.

Hayley laughed. This was fun. He liked having lunch with his Daddy, his brother, and his new friend. Even if Lance had told him they wouldn’t be friends. Because Lance didn’t have friends. That just made Hayley want to be friends with Lance even more.

“You need to eat,” Mac reminded Hayley.

“Sorry.” Hayley settled back on his stool. He had four now. His brother had brought some down from the apartment. Something about the floor being lava. Hayley didn’t ask too many questions. How Jayme had never broken a bone was beyond Hayley’s comprehension.

He received a kiss on the top of his head before Mac laid out his food in front of him.

Just as he took his first bite, the bell rang, announcing the door opening.

“Stay,” Mac told him.

“Woof woof,” Jayme replied.

“Weird,” Lance muttered.

---