Page 26 of Stuck with Mr. Grump

I smile. “Stay out of trouble, Sean.”

I watch as Sterling leads his son away. Which is when my sister shows up again at my side.

“Thought you said you weren’t going to talk to him,” she says, nudging my shoulder.

When I look at her, there’s a suggestive smile on her face.

“What?” I exclaim. “The man lost his son and I brought him back to him. No need to read into anything.”

“I’m not,” Anika lies, but I can still see that glint in her eyes.

“You guys are driving me crazy,” I mutter.

And I swear all these looks and comments are starting to get to me because now I’m having a hard time thinking of Sterling Harrington as the enemy.

Fuck.

CHAPTER 8

Sterling

“Hey bud,” I say, walking into Sean’s room.

He’s on the floor in front of his bed, playing with two race cars. He looks up with a frown.

“Dad, it’s play time,” he complains.

I chuckle, heading over to ruffle his hair before settling down on his bed. Sean’s a kid that values routines. Not strictly, but he does have a particular time he eats his meals and plays. But when it comes to his reading time and sleeping, the cards are off the table.

“I just wanted to talk to you about yesterday,” I start. “You disappearing on me like that. You can’t do that, Sean. It’s dangerous. What if something had happened to you?”

He fell asleep on the car ride back home and I had to leave early this morning for work so I couldn’t talk to him about his disappearing act yesterday. He scared the shit out of me. I literally took my eyes off him for a minute and then he was gone. It would be more worrying if this was a regular occurrence, but that’s the first time he’s done something like that.

He’s usually very well behaved.

“Sorry, Daddy,” he says, biting his bottom lip. “It won’t happen again.”

I smile. “But are you sure nothing happened? You can talk to me, Sean. I’m always on your side,” I say gently.

He avoids my gaze at that, looking down at the toy cars on the floor. Which confirms my suspicions that something did happen yesterday.

My tone grows more serious. “Sean,” I prod firmly. “You know you can talk to your old man.”

He looks up at me with a sad smile. “You’re not an old man, Daddy. You’re like twenty.”

I laugh. “Not quite. Now tell me what’s wrong.”

“There was a little boy there, where we watched the play. He came with his mommy and daddy. His mommy was so pretty like mine and she kissed him here like my mommy does,” he explains, pointing at his cheek.

My heart grows tighter. I stare at him for several seconds, without a clue what to say to him.

“I’m sorry you had to see that, bud,” I finally say, my tone a little shaky. “But you know your mommy’s on a trip. She’ll come see you soon, I promise.”

He nods slowly. “I know, Daddy. I just miss her.”

Fucking hell.

“I know, bud. You’ll see her soon,” I promise.

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