Page 120 of Doughn't Let Me Go

And finally finding that happiness I’ve been missing will have all my work woes falling to the wayside.

I’m picking up everything he’s putting down.

I just hope Dory is too.

“How about we kick this little shindig up a bit?” Foster suggests.

“I can’t get too wild,” his wife tells him. “Baby and all that.”

“It’s fine. Dory is here and she’s not drinking.”

“Winston!” his fiancée hisses.

When he grins at me over his drink, it dawns on me exactly what he’s doing.

He’s trying to piss me off, trying to get me to stake my claim on Dory as something other than my daughter’s nanny.

Trying to make me all possessive.

And it’s fucking working.

A low growl rumbles from inside me, and Dory glances back down at me.

“It’s fine, Porter,” she mumbles. “You don’t have to defend me. I know what he’s doing.”

I nod once at her, letting her know I heard her, but I still lift my hand and flip Winston the bird.

He laughs. “Promise to make it rough?”

“Oh my god. Why did I agree to marry you?” Drew covers her face with her hand. “I’m sorry, Dory. Ignore him.”

“I already was,” Dory says sweetly, not taking any of Winston’s goading to heart.

“What did you have in mind to crank things up, Foster?” Sully says, drawing the attention away from the shit-stirrer of the group.

Foster produces a bottle from the cooler by his chair and shakes it, a grin stretching across his face. “Tequila.”

Everyone looks at me, and I groan.

“Come on,” Sully encourages, surprisingly enough. “You know you could use a shot or two after dealing with this jackass and his antics.” He pokes his thumb Winston’s way.

“Hey! I’m just the only one brave enough to speak up.”

“Yet you still beat around the bush,” Wren says, rolling her eyes at her brother. “Just let them be, Winston. It’s none of our business.”

“Especially not yours,” Drew points out, “considering how long we did the same song and dance.”

They continue to argue amongst themselves while Dory and I sit here quietly, pretending they aren’t talking about us like we aren’t here, acting like they aren’t practically knocking our heads together with their words and trying to get us to understand what’s right in front of us.

I’m well aware of what’s right in front of me.

I’m just waiting for her to catch up.

“Porter?” Sully says from beside me, holding the bottle out my way. “You in?”

“I think you could use it,” Dory says quietly.

I agree. I think I could use it too.

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