Page 13 of A Little Puck Luck

“Why does it matter?”

Natalie closed her eyes and pinched her nose.

It was clear she was annoyed with me. But what else was new?

“At least one of you will catch feelings, and it almost never ends well. Didn’t you ever think she might be hung up on you?”

Okay, I seriously didn’t think of that aspect of things.

The person who was still hung up on the other one would be me. Wellwas. Maybestill. Things felt so damn complicated now that Eric had been added to the picture. If she had never lied about the miscarriage and kept my kid away from me, I would be hung up on her, but I was still so damn pissed with her.

I shrugged and refused to look at her. “If she were hung up on me, she would have told me the truth years ago. Hell, she would have stayed on the phone when I called her about walking Walter.”

From what I had heard, Annie was close to Natalie. So I should listen to her opinion on this matter, but it was hard to get out of my feelings, and I had a difficult time believing Annie felt anything for me.

“Well, be prepared for some weirdness.”

Who was she kidding? I wasn’t exactly expecting smooth sailing. It was not like I was given a manual on how to raise a kid, let alone one who was already in grade school.

I was being a good guy and letting her live with me, but I was still pissed at her. There was no way it would be easy peasey.

“I am. I’m not exactly a poster child to be Mister Dad. But I’m doing everything I should for my kid.”

Natalie busted out laughing at that statement. It was a bit of an understatement by me, but I didn’t care.

She pointed at me. “Well, do everyone a favor, and don’t bring your extracurriculars home. Kids get attached, and with the way you go through women, Eric is going to be confused.”

While I might not be fully ready to be a dad, I knew to keep my sexual habits away from Eric. Besides, it would be disrespectful to Annie, too. But I wasn’t going to be celibate. I would just have my fun while on the road.

Using my fingers to do a salute, I replied, “Aye, aye.”

Chapter 9

Annette

Waitingatthehospitaldoors for Terry to pick me up was weird.

It was real. We were moving in together despite only speaking a couple of times in the last few days.

Playing with my thumbs, all I could think about was how this was going to be so fucking awkward. I probably should have asked to move into another shelter or at least with Natalie or Spencer. Moving in with a complete fucking stranger was so freaking dumb of me.

But he was Eric’s dad, and he wasn’t exactly a stranger. We grew up together, and I would have married him if we didn’t get pregnant.

He wanted to be in Eric’s life, and I couldn’t deprive him of time with Eric anymore. I just hoped he would forgive me so we could co-parent together.

He pulled up to the curb, got out and opened the passenger door. I pushed myself up from the wheelchair and sat in the open seat. The pain in my ribs was practically unbearable. I didn’t know what was worse, standing up or sitting back down. It seemed like any movement was painful.

As I sat down, Terry looked at me. “We need to go over some ground rules.”

I took a deep breath, but that was a mistake.

“I’ll do whatever you want and pay whatever you want, but I don’t have much money. I’m trying to save up for a new place, but it’s going to take some time.”

Terry put his hand on my thigh. The weight and warmth of his hand had that weird calming effect. “Annie, slow down. We’ve known each other for far too long for you to go into nervous babble.”

His mentioning that trait made me go dead quiet.

It was something that used to get me into so much trouble with my ex. Fearing a punch in the arm or stomach, I instantly shut up and averted my eyes. Not that I was even looking Terry in the eyes since direct eye contact always got me in trouble with Luke.

---