Page 32 of The Single Dad Dilemma

“Absolutely not,” Ridge says. “It’s my mistake. I’ll sleep over there. You and Lou can take the bed.”

“Um, of the three of us, you’re the last one who will fit into either of those chairs in any way that works to comfortable sleep.”

“She’s right,” Lou says, backing me up.

“See, I’m right.” I look at him smugly, wiggling my head back and forth.

“But I’m also right when I say if you push those two chairs together for me, I will fit in them perfectly,” Lou says. “And you guys definitely won’t.”

She crosses back over to one of the chairs in question and plops down in it. Just seeing her sit in one of them, it’s obvious to me she’s right. I cannot say the same for myself. I was prepared to have two very terrible nights of sleep, and I was willing to do that because Ridge actually has to show up to the convention and be in a good headspace for everyone here to see him and the other guys.

I haven’t met them yet, but he told me about them on the drive down. Based on what he said, they seem like really good guys. Ridge strikes me as the kind of man who isn’t going to associate with shitty people.

“We could share the bed?” Ridge says, looking directly at me.

I swallow thickly as my face begins to burn around the edges. It’s not like he’s asking me tosleepwith him. But I mean, he is asking me to sleep with him.

“Yeah,” I say. “I’m fine with it if you are? It’s a big bed. It’s not like we’ll even touch.”

Ridge shrugs and nods, clearly unbothered by sharing a bed with me. I guess that’s a good thing. It’s also further proof that he doesn’t view me as someone he would pursue. That’s a weird way to phrase that. Let me try again. He doesn’t view me as a viable candidate for mating. Yeah, that’s worse. I definitely made it sound worse.

We spend the next few minutes unpacking our bags, putting our toiletries into the bathroom, and getting familiar with the television and room service options and how to control the air-conditioning. After that, we go downstairs to meet the guys for lunch in the restaurant on the first floor of the hotel.

The Porch Bar & Grille boasts a semi-fancy menu. At least that’s how I’d classify it. We arrive before the others and areseated almost immediately. We ask for waters for the table, and Ridge tells her we will wait to order drinks when everyone arrives.

Opening the menu, there’s one thing that’s immediately clear to me. These prices were not crafted with the poor college student in mind.

“Get whatever you want,” he says, like he’s reading my mind. “It’s all expensed back to the shop.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” I say. “The owners of the shop seem like really good guys.”

“They are,” he says, propping his elbows on the edge of the table and rubbing his hands together. “Bird’s Eye is like one big family of misfits. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Hawk and the rest of them in Louisville, and I’m grateful Hawk trusted Avery to run this second location.”

“Seems like you run it based on what you say some days.”

“He’s definitely much more hands off since his wife became pregnant, but he can’t stay away and will definitely come back.”

“So what’s it mean for you when he does?”

Ridge shrugs again, his face twisting up in what looks like a bit of anxiety when it comes to the topic.

“I’ll just be back in my chair, tattooing like always,” he says.

“What’s your favorite kind of tattoo to do?”

He thinks on it for a long moment, and I can tell he’s taking my question seriously. He’s very cute when he’s thinking hard about something.Nope. Too many of those thoughts and I’ll be trying to figure out how to take myself to Pleasuretown in stealth mode.

“Honestly, it’s the ones that mean something. It’s all fine if you want something random, and it’s all fine just to want them for aesthetic reasons. But the ones who come in and are already close to tears for something I haven’t done yet really makes me want to work hard for them.”

“I love that.” I’m smiling at him in that easy way, which I know is what happens when I really mean it. And I think he can feel it, because he smiles too.

“There you guys are,” a voice says from behind me.

A look of recognition crosses Ridge’s face as he looks over my shoulder. I spin halfway around in my chair, eager to meet the other guys from the shop.

And like most times in my life, I will never be prepared for just how beautiful all these men are. Likewowza. If I walked into their shop and found myself surrounded by the four of them, they could probably collectively convince me to tattoo anything they wanted on my body.

And just like I did the day I met Ridge in the interview, I will take a very special moment to appreciate and objectify them to rid it from my system. Although, that hasn’t exactly worked with Ridge, but whatever.Hashtag Y-O-L-O.

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