Page 186 of Mr. Infuriating

I’d certainly never said anything about his dad wanting to see him. Partly because Jake probably had no idea who Troy even was, but in the event he did, I didn’t have a lot of faith my ex would follow through with seeing him.

Especially since Troy had yet to reach out to schedule a time to come over.

It was probably just as well.

I didn’t want Troy floating in and out of Jake’s life.

But if he really was serious, I was all for the two having a relationship. Maybe we’d even get to a point where we’d share custody.

Yeah, talk about putting the cart before the horse.

The guy hasn’t even called back. Slow your roll, Gretchen.

I think I just wanted Jake to have a father-figure in his life. He hadn’t stopped asking about Gabe, so I knew it was important.

The doorbell rang, and Jake streaked toward the door squealing, “Bandit’s here!”

I wasn’t sure how he knew, or if it was just wishful thinking on his part.

Except it wasn’t Gabe and his kids standing on my porch when I opened the door.

I adjusted Jake on my hip and stammered, “Wh—what are you doing here, Troy?”

He stepped inside without being invited.

“I wanted to see you, Gretch.” With his arms extended, he made his eyes wide and his voice go up an octave when he said, “Hey, Jakester! Come here and say hi to your dad!”

Jake buried his face in my shoulder, refusing to look at Troy, and the man dropped his arms to his sides with a scowl.

I tried to keep my tone even when I said, “This isn’t a good time. I’ve got a tutoring client who’ll be here any minute.”

“Well, let me take Jake while you work.”

“No, Troy. I told you to call and schedule something. You can’t just show up unannounced and expect to take Jake. It doesn’t work that way.”

His lips were set in a firm line when he bit out, “Fine.”

I opened the door wider and reiterated. “Call me and we’ll set up a time to get together. Maybe we could meet up at the park or something.”

“How about we take Jake to Mickey’s Friday night?”

I glanced at my watch. Gabe and the kids were going to be here any minute. I knew if I told Troy no, he’d argue and wouldn’t leave, so I found myself saying, “Fine.”

His face broke into a wide grin.

“I’ll pick you up at five-thirty. Maybe after we finish at Mickey’s, we can drop Jake off at your parents’ so we have some alone time to… talk.” He waggled his brows at me with a salacious grin.

Yeah, that was never going to happen.

“My parents are out of town.”

I think he recognized he was pushing his luck, because he mumbled, “Oh, okay,” as he stepped out the door. He added, “I’ll see you Friday,” and without a word to Jake, he headed toward his car.

Chapter Seventy-Nine

Gabe

My daughter’s voice had a hint of awe in it as we approached Gretchen’s drive.

---