Page 24 of Man Advantage

Still, I worried, because that was the kind of dad I was.

“Is that okay?” I asked. “Do you guys feel okay being with someone else while I’m gone?”

“Yeah,” they both said.

“Okay. But you know you can text me or call me any time. I leave my phone with one of the trainers when I’m on the ice in case there’s an emergency, so you can always reach me.”

“We know,” Zach said in thatGod, Dad, we get itvoice kids did so well.

“I’m just making sure. And Dad is always around, too, if you need something.”

“We know.”

“Cam is there for you too,” I assured them. “He’s there just like a babysitter, except he lives with us. Does that make sense?”

“Yes.” They sounded borderline annoyed now.Come on, Dad, we’re not stupid. They weren’t stupid, but I always erred on the side of overkill when it came to making sure they felt safe. Hopefully if a situation arose where they needed an adult, they could fall back on this conversation (and others) and know that they could rely on Bryan, Cam, or me. They could probably even rely on Chats, but if I was out of town, so was he, so… he didn’t need to be part of the conversation.

Out of the blue, Zach asked, “Is Cam your boyfriend?”

“What?” I laughed, which came out a little high. “No! No, he’s a friend.”

“Oh. When are you getting a boyfriend?”

“I…” I glanced in the rearview, where two curious faces gazed back. Facing the road again, I said, “I mean, I just haven’t—I haven’t met anyone yet.”

“But you’ve met Cam,” Zane insisted. “He lives with us now like Tim does.”

I pretended not to notice the flare of jealousy in my chest. I was not jealous of anyone living with or dating Bryan—Chats couldhavehim—but yeah, there was still a part of me that bristled at their relationship. Maybe because Chats keptthrowing it in my face. Or maybe because I still wasn’t convinced the relationship had commencedafterour separation.

Whatever. None of that was anything the kids needed to know about.

“We’re just friends,” I told the boys. “Cam lives with us because it makes it easier for him to do his job. But we’re not boyfriends.”

God, I wish we were.

Wait, what?

Dude. Stop it.

“Do you think Dad’s going to marry Tim?” Zach’s question didn’t offer any hints one way or the other if he had any hopes about Bryan and Chats being in it for the long haul.

“Um.” I tapped my thumbs on the wheel. “I really don’t know. That’s probably something to ask them.”

“They won’t say.” Zane sounded affronted.

I hesitated, then cautiously asked, “Do youwantthem to get married?” I wasn’t fishing for gossip or dirt; I genuinely wanted to know where they landed with this, and if there were any red flags I should know about.

“I don’t know,” Zane said. “I guess?”

“Tim’s nice,” Zach supplied.

“That’s good,” I said with a nod. It was, too. Both of my boys were like me in the sense that they tended to wear their emotions on their sleeves. If there was something going on with Chats—if they were uncomfortable with him, or if he’d said or done something they didn’t like, or even if he was just too strict in his stepdad role—there would be tells. Their body language, their tone, their answers; even if they weren’t telling me outright what the issue was, they would absolutely send up signals that something was wrong.

Chats had been in their lives since shortly after Bryan and I separated, and there hadn’t been any negative signals from theboys. Nothing to indicate that Chats was a problem or that Bryan had told them to keep a secret from me. I subtly checked in like this every now and then, just to ease my own worries, but… so far, so good.

Maybe their dad and I had divorced bitterly, and maybe his new boyfriend and I couldn’t get along, but as near as I could tell, they were both being good to the boys. That was enough for me.

After a while, Zach asked, “Is Cam nice?”

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