Page 11 of The Single Dad's Guide to Recreation

Her tone is so fake, I know she knows his name, but I also know she’s not going to let this go, so I just give her what she wants. “Josh. His name is Josh.”

“Riiight. You think he’s cute.”

“Well, he is. Objectively.” Feeling my cheeks heat, I do my best to shrug it off. “He’s also married, Leia.”

“Really? I didn’t get that vibe from him.”

“Anyway, I’m not interested.” A ping on my phone gives me an excuse to change topics. “That reminds me, I need to get one of your kids to help me with this thing.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“You don’t know how lucky you are that you married and divorced Travis before apps. Peter and I shared all of them—TV streaming, music, you name it. And now, I can’t get his stupid preferences to stop screwing up my algorithms. I never liked heavy metal, but now?” I shudder. “I can’t stand it. Every time it shows up in my feed, I can’t press the thumbs down fast enough.”

“Why do you want my kids’ help?”

“Don’t teenagers know everything about this stuff?”

Leia freezes, spork midair. “I sure hope not. Travis and I share all our accounts for that very reason. So we can try and stay ahead of them.”

“Good luck with that.” I snort. “Oh, hey, that reminds me. I’ve had some parents in the toddler group ask about babysitting. Do you think the twins would be interested?”

“Probably not. Whenever I ask them about it, they say they’re too busy.” Leia throws a chip at me. “And don’t think you’re going to get away with changing the subject that easy.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” I take a big bite of taco like I couldn’t care less about the first guy in I don’t know how long to make me feel all fluttery inside.

Before I can shove another bite in, she reaches across to grab my wrist. “I want my best friend to be happy, that’s all.”

“Did you not hear what I said? First off, Josh is married, so it doesn’t matter if I find him attractive.”

“Are you sure?” She frowns. “I feel like he was checking you out the other day.”

“He’s wearing a wedding ring.”

She stares off to the left like she’s trying to picture it. “I didn’t notice. And what’s the second thing?”

“Even if he were available, I’ve got too much going on right now. And too much baggage,” I add before shoving another bite in my mouth.

She slaps her hands on the table. “Just because Peter skipped out on you does not mean every man is going to do the same.”

Even though I brought up his name first, I can’t let her go further down this road. What really happened between Peter and me will never see the light of day. “Says the woman who hasn’t been on a date in… how long has it been?”

“Trying to keep track of two teenagers while running this place—” She gestures vaguely at the building surrounding us. “I’m way too busy to date.”

“Pot calling the kettle bla-ack,” I intone.

“Who’s dating who?” a deep voice asks from behind me.

I snort and Leia rolls her eyes. “We have no gossip for you, Travis.”

Leia’s ex and the center’s athletic director sits sideways on the picnic bench and leans over the remains of our lunch. “Oooh, is this from Tito’s?”

When he reaches for it, Leia grabs the paper tray and holds it out of reach. “Tacos for tea.”

You’d never think that a lifelong jock would be as into town gossip as he is sports ball rules, but Travis is the first to know anything in this town. He claims it’s for the welfare of all the kids he’s in charge of. I think it’s because he was a yenta in another life.

He rubs his hands together with glee, but I tune out as soon as I realize that he’s talking about their teenagers’ friends. Travis and Leia do a remarkable job of co-parenting post-divorce, but I don’t need to hear about teen love lives. Not when mine is nonexistent.

“Oh, and the person from Trede who was with Eli the other day?” Travis says after eating the last bite of Leia’s chicken taco.

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