Page 163 of Mr. Infuriating

As the game drew to a close, I turned to Gabe and said, “Do you want me to bring Brittany home with me tomorrow?”

He furrowed his brow and frowned.

“Hmm.”

His response took me by surprise, and I hemmed, “I—I was just trying to save you a trip, but if you don’t want me to, I won’t be offended.”

“Why would you make a special trip, Dad? Ms. Kelly is going to the same place.”

He nodded, as if convincing himself.

“You’re right—it doesn’t make sense for me to make a special trip when you’re already there. Thank you.”

“You or Becky will just need to call the office tomorrow and give permission for me to drive her.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Gretchen

The last bell of the day rang, and Brittany appeared in my doorway as I shut down my computer.

“Hey, kiddo! How was your day?”

“Hi, Ms. Kelly! It was good. I got an A on my math test.”

“That’s awesome! That calls for a celebration! We should do something special this weekend!”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know? Is there something you’d like to do?”

“Maybe we could go bowling?”

“Oh, I haven’t been bowling in ages! That sounds fun. We’ll talk to your dad about it when we get home and see what he says.”

“If you suggest it,” she replied confidently, “He’ll go for it.”

“Oh, honey. You give me too much credit.”

“I don’t think so. He’s letting me ride home with you, and he never lets us ride with anyone but him or Mom. You know, after Bodhi’s accident and all, he’s paranoid and doesn’t trust anyone to drive us.”

That explained his hesitation yesterday when I’d offered.

“Wow. I had no idea.”

“But he obviously trusts you. You and Jake are special to him. To me, too.”

I ruffled her hair.

“You, Brayden, and your dad are special to me, too.”

It was crazy how attached I’d already become to them—especially Britt since she’d gone out of her way to spend timewith us. But Brayden, too, having gotten to know him during our one-on-one tutoring.

I finished packing up and slung my satchel and purse over my shoulder.

“Come on, let’s go get Jake. He’s going to lose his mind when he sees you.”

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