Page 9 of Alfie: Part Two

I opened the front door, and of-fucking-course Alfie was early. Fuck my life.

He lifted his brows at me, and I had to avert my gaze altogether. He’d…dressed up. No vest this time, but he’d donned similar clothes to what he’d worn at the pub.

“Daddyyy!” Ellie wailed. “I’m so sad!”

Alfie stepped in, and I noticed Colby wasn’t here.

“Don’t even try, baby girl,” Alfie responded. “I heard what you called Daddy from outside. What’sa matter wit’chu? We don’t call people names in this family. Go back to your room.”

I drew an unsteady breath and let the relief wash over me. I hadn’t doubted him taking my side, but it felt so damn good to really feel that we could still be a united front.

Ellie grew even redder in her face, and she cried and screamed uncontrollably. “You’re both dumb!”

“Noelle!” I barked out.

“Oi!” Alfie got heated in an instant, and before I knew it, he was running up the stairs two at a time, and Ellie flinched and shrank in on herself. “What the fuck is this about? Why’re you acting like a spoiled brat?”

“I would t-take care of it!” Ellie sobbed.

Alfie glanced down at me, and I offered a pointed look.

“Jesus Christ, is this about another pet?” He turned back to Ellie, visibly ticked off. “You know why Daddy and I say no, Ellie? Because an animal needs owners who can take care of it properly. How you gonna do that when you go back to kindergarten and Daddy and I work?”

She sniveled and cried about how Lizzie R had a dog walker, and her older sisters were home too.

“This fuckin’ Lizzie R again.” Alfie pinched the bridge of his nose.

There was nothing wrong with Lizzie. Her parents, on the other hand. They gave her whatever she pointed at.

“Listen, Ellie.” Alfie squatted down in front of our girl. “We’re not getting a pet. You can cry all you want, but we will never hire someone to take care of a living thing because we don’t have time to do it ourselves. And we willsure as fucknever get a pet because you want it so badly that you’ll scream and call us bad names.” He pointed to her door. “Get back in there. When you’re ready to say sorry to Daddy and me, we’ll talk.”

She let out another rage-laden cry and stomped back into her room.

I blew out a heavy breath.

“Is this just a shitty day, or is it the start of a behavior we wanna nip in the bud?” Alfie asked as he trailed back down.

“I hope the former,” I replied. “She’s at that farm camp this week, so she’s gone bananas over a new animal every day.”

“Ah. So we’ll keep an eye on things.” He peered into the kitchen. “Hey, buddy. That looks incredible.”

Trip didn’t even look up. “Hi, Dad. Not now. Concentrating.”

We let out a chuckle, and we locked eyes to the muted sounds of Ellie crying upstairs.

“Where’s, uh…where’s Colby?” I asked.

“His brother called from Dublin. He’ll be in soon, I reckon.”

Got it.

Needing something to do, I nodded for the kitchen and said we could start the grill. In reality, I was going for the smokes I kept hidden in a pot on the terrace.

The trick for surviving tonight might be to keep myself occupied. Perhaps it’d been a bad idea to finish all the prep for the barbecue.

“Do you have another pub night planned later?” I asked as I opened the terrace door.

“No…?”

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