Page 133 of The Manny

The next few weeks were depressing. Thomas basically ignored my existence, and only interacted with me if he had to. He also spent his Sundays off with Crispin. Or at least, I assumed he was with Crispin. While I enjoyed spending time with Mia on those days, it was painful obsessing about what he and Crispin might be doing together. I knew Crispin would push for sex. Maybe they’d already had sex. Odds were they had, and the thought of them together made me sick.

Work was as stressful as my home life. Brody wasn’t his usual cheerful self. He was distracted and unusually grumpy. Scott told me he’d tried multiple times to reach out to Brody, hoping to meet up and talk, but the younger man wasn’t receptive. Trying to be considerate of Brody’s feelings, I told Scott not to come by the shop for the time being. Thankfully, Scott seemed to understand.

One evening, when I arrived home for dinner, Thomas met me at the door. His face was expressionless as he watched me hang up my jacket.

“Why the welcoming committee?” I asked, turning to face him.

“Mia is having a sleepover at Percy’s tonight.”

I frowned. “She is? Shouldn’t I have been consulted?”

“I tried calling you. You didn’t pick up.”

I tugged my phone from my pocket and saw a missed call from Thomas. “I didn’t hear it ring.”

“I assumed you were ignoring my call.”

“What? No.”

He shrugged. “Since I couldn’t get hold of you, and I didn’t see the harm, I said she could go. Aiden and Barb will keep close watch over her.”

“I should have been the one to say yes or no.” Mia going to the sleepover wasn’t really the issue. I’d have let her go. I just didn’t appreciate Thomas making the decision for me. Especially since he was still being so snotty to me.

His mouth thinned. “As I said, you were unavailable.”

“But… what would it have hurt for you to wait until I got home?”

“What does it hurt for her to have a sleepover tonight?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Thomas, I’m her legal guardian. Not you.”

“For goodness’ sake, Jack, it’s asleepover. I didn’t let her fly to Paris without asking you.”

I held his gaze, struggling with my irritation. Finally, I sighed and said, “I guess it’s too late now. The decision has been made for me.” I headed into the kitchen, where I grabbed a bottle of beer and then went out onto the patio. I was surprised when Thomas came outside too. I gave him a surly glance, before focusing on the yard. I sipped my beer, ignoring him for a bit, then I looked at him questioningly. “Did you want to ask me something?”

A muscle jerked in his cheek as he came closer. “Since Mia isn’t here, I’ll probably leave for the night.”

“Leave?”

“Yeah. There’s no reason to be here tonight.”

My stomach churned because instinctively I knew he was going to run to Crispin. I hated how much the thought of that bugged me. “Let me guess, you’re going to spend the night with Crispin?”

“What if I am?” He lifted his chin.

I curled my lip. “I talked to my friend today, he fucked Crispin two nights ago.”

Thomas’s face flinched, but he said, “We’re not exclusive.”

“I can’t believe he’s the best you can do.” I pulled my gaze from his, feeling agitated. “I thought you had more self-respect than that.”

“My sex life is none of your business.”

I didn’t respond. What could I say? He was right.

He moved around in front of me so that I had to look at him. “When you go to Brannigan’s with your pals, and you hook up with some guy, do you care if they sleep with other people?”

“If it’s a one-off, why would I care?” Apparently he didn’t realize I hadn’t slept with anyone since him. I sure as hell wasn’t going to enlighten him. “You’re actuallydatingCrispin.”

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