Page 119 of Mr. Infuriating

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Gabe

“And why are we going to Mrs. Wainwright’s again?” Brayden asked as he took a bite of the omelet I’d made him.

He, Brittany, and I were having breakfast in the nook overlooking the backyard—the treehouse on full display in the distance.

“So she can tutor you while I work on her cabinets,” I replied as I buttered my toast. “And she just got divorced, so technically, I think she’s Ms. Kelly now but isn’t changing her name at school until next year.”

“Does that mean you two are dating?”

I was glad I wasn’t in the middle of drinking my coffee because I would have spit it out before I offered a lame denial.

“No! She’s just a client. We reached a bartering agreement—I’ll install her cabinets in exchange for her helping you get your English grade up.”

“How did you know my grade is bad?”

I hadn’t exactly. Only suspected it based on some of the papers I’d seen in his backpack, but he just confirmed it.

Britt chimed in, “Mom said since you don’t have the password to the parent portal, you’d never know.”

And that was going to change, effective immediately.

I was a little peeved that Becky decided to keep that from me but decided to ask her about it first before I jumped her shit.

See? I’m growing.

Frankly, I was surprised she hadn’t jumped mine and tried to make it my fault.

“Well, it’d be hard to hide it from me when he becomes ineligible to play lacrosse, now wouldn’t it? Hopefully Ms. Kelly will help make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“And I really get to babysit her son?” my eleven-year-old asked with excitement in her brown eyes.

I wouldn’t call it babysitting, per se, since both Gretchen and I were going to be in the house. More like keeping him occupied. But my daughter liked the idea of being responsible for Jake, so I wasn’t going to rain on her parade.

“You really get to babysit, honey.”

“Do I get paid?”

Brayden looked over at me with raised eyebrows.

Shit.I hadn’t thought about that.

“That depends. How much do you want?”

“I’m just teasing, Dad. You buy me stuff all the time.”

I decided I’d still slip her a few bucks when Brayden wasn’t around.

“Think of it as an investment in your academic future. You never know, you might have Ms. Kelly for your English teacher someday. It’d be advantageous to be on her good side.”

“You’ll have her if you’re lucky,” Brayden piped in. “Will says she’s really nice.”

“Let’s hope she’s as good a tutor as she is nice.”

“But you’re not dating her?” my son asked again.

“Nope. She’s just a client.”

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