Page 19 of Bonus Daddy
They’d recently received the files I’d consented to having sent over from Higgins, Smith and Dodge, and because, as Brian explained, sending emails back and forth could get costly, since he billed by the hour, I came in equipped with a list of questions, hoping this would be the most efficient way to move forward.
“You can send the girls upstairs,” Brian said. “The boys are playing and Sloane is with the baby.”
Apprehension blossomed in my chest. “I couldn’t…”
“Nah,” he said with a dismissive wave. “Girls, follow me. You hungry?”
My daughters lit up, as if I hadn’t fed them a snack on the way over, and were all smiles as they packed up their homework and followed him up the back stairs. I shuffled behind them, suspicious. They weren’t usually this compliant. Though I could see how the promise of snacks and an escape from law office boredom could be tempting.
Lo had warned me of their unconventional living arrangement, but I wasn’t quite prepared for what we found on the second floor.
The living space was large, with a ping-pong table set up in the middle, and there were plantseverywhere.
Two small boys sat on top of the ping-pong table, heads down and intent on their Lego creations. Sloane, I assumed—since she’d been rushed to the hospital before our first meeting at Higgins, Smith and Dodge and we hadn’t actually met—was dressed in loungewear, with a newborn curled up on her chest.
“T.J., Murphy,” Brian said. “How’s the X-wing fighter coming along?”
The boys looked up in unison. The one with slightly lighter hair bounced in place andheld up a half-built plane, wearing a toothless grin. “So awesome. Can you help us with the last part?”
“After my meeting, bud.” Brian’s face softened in a way that reminded me of the guy I’d known so well twenty years ago. “Theseare my friends Kit and Greta. They’re gonna hang here and play for a while, okay?”
Greta had already approached the table, thoughtfully studying the Lego set the boys were working on. Kit was at my side, silently taking in the scene.
“Do you need to start your homework?” I asked gently.
With a nod, she slid her backpack off her shoulders.
Sloane stood from an oversized chair and approached. “It’s nice to meet you, Jess. I’m so glad you’re working with Brian. Sorry I missed the meeting. This happened.”
I peered down at the tiny baby dressed in shades of pink. “She is beautiful. Congratulations.”
Sloane ducked, inspecting the infant, and broke into the most joyous of smiles. “Thank you.”
As I checked on both girls, that apprehension returned. “Are you sure it’s okay if I leave them?”
“Of course. Didn’t you know? We’re running an unofficial daycare up here.” She laughed lightly. “After school, the boys hang out with Tia and me.”
“We interviewed a couple of nannies,” Brian said, sliding his hands into his pockets.
“Yeah, but none were good enough for Cal’s standards. That man is the definition of a helicopter parent.” Sloane’s eyes twinkled with affection.
I huffed a laugh. “I get it, but now that it’s just the three of us, it’s nearly impossible to get by without hiring a sitter here and there. Though my girls can be prickly about new people, so I only use it as a last resort.”
“They seem fine here.” Brian arched his brows, looking around the room.
Greta had climbed up onto the ping-pong table alongside the boys and was fully engaged in building. Kit had made her way to the kitchen island and was already working on her math homework.
Swallowing thickly, I took in the scene. The slightly shabby butclean space, my kids hanging out in a strange location, with kids they’d never met, like it was no big deal, and my attorney-slash-ex-boyfriend tilting his head, silently signaling that I should follow him back down the stairs.
Had I fallen through some kind of wormhole?
By the time we were sitting across from one another in Brian’s office, me holding a cup of herbal tea he insisted on making for me, I was mildly recovered. It was a shock to my system, how easy that transition had been. Nothing in my life had gone according to plan in years, and apparently, I’d forgotten what it felt like.
I was used to endless fuck-ups, bad luck, and constantly triaging the problems that popped up so we could move on to the basics.
My normal consisted of showing up at work with dirty hair because the hot water heater had died. And it often included forgetting the cookies I’d promised for the bake sale and calming Kit as she had a meltdown because she couldn’t find her favorite scrunchie.
Brian settled with his forearms on his desk, a crease between his brows. “Is the tea okay?”
