Page 33 of Bonus Daddy
I walked away, shaking my head and trying to make sense of that interaction.
“How was the shrink?” Cal appeared in the doorway of my office before I could even sit down. “Does your dick work now?”
“My dick has always worked, thank you,” I replied, shucking my suit jacket. “And you told Madame E? What the hell?”
“She’d figure it out anyway, and she’s worried about you. She says since she fixed Sully and me, she would help you, but you’re so difficult. I think the words she used were ‘cosmically constipated.’ You may wanna call the penis doctor after all to deal with that.”
“It’s a urologist. You’re a grown man, for fuck’s sake. And I’ve got work to do.”
“Okay.” He rapped his knuckles on the doorframe and backed up a step. “Just wanted to let you know that Jess called Sloane.”
I froze, my jacket held out in front of me.
“She was called into work, so the girls will be here after school.”
I let out the breath I was holding. Jess was coming today. The news lightened this already weightless sensation in my chest.
“Looks like you get to see your girl today.”
Stomach twisting, I glowered at him. “She’s not my girl.”
“Yet,” Cal retorted. “She’s not your girlyet. Trust me, Brian, I know a thing about manifesting true love. You want pointers, I’m your man. In fact, grab a stack of Post-its. I can start now. It’s all about affirmations and positive thought loops.”
“Do you ever work?” I snarled.
“Don’t hate on my efficiency.” He bounced his basketball off the wall and caught it with one hand. “Now where’s Lo? I need a kiss.”
Chapter 12
Brian
All day my heart had been racing. Though I felt bad that Jess had been called in on her day off, I wasn’t angry that I might catch a glimpse of her. Maybe it was pathetic, but I looked forward to the few minutes we’d spend together on the days she picked up the girls.
A call from the courthouse came in not long after I’d returned, and we discovered that Amy hadn’t provided proof of service or the signed CLIS to the court. A deficiency notice was not how I wanted to start this day.
My heart sank, but without hesitation, I slipped into my suit jacket and headed out, hoping like hell Judge Gordon’s clerk would accept a late filing. Cal had offered to go over in his orange suit, and while he and that hideous thing had a 100-percent success rate, this was my case; it was my responsibility.
By the time I got home, it was almost seven, and I was a disheveled, cranky mess. It killed me to know I’d missed Jess. Especially after such a breakthrough of a day. But I’d spent over an hour at the courthouse, and then traffic had been terrible.
Music played upstairs as I stopped into my office to drop off files, the thump of the bass making the whole place vibrate. It was a bit loud for the boys’ video games, and Sloane had been cracking downon T. J.’s screen time lately. Maybe she’d pulled out the karaoke machine Sully’d brought home for her. She’d been obsessed with karaoke in college, and she had already introduced the boys to the art of singing along with songs while getting just about every word wrong.
At the top of the stairs, I opened the door and came face to face with a sight I hadn’t expected.
Pop music played from a Bluetooth speaker that had been set up in the middle of the ping-pong table. In the center of the living room, Jess was swaying and jumping and laughing with total abandon. Even in her work clothes after a long day, her joy was infectious. Kit was dancing beside her, her moves much more complicated. And Greta and T.J. were holding hands and spinning in circles.
Sloane and Sully were slow dancing in the kitchen, the baby strapped to Sully’s chest between them. With every revolution, he’d lean down and kiss the baby’s head. Lo and Cal were doing a robot-type dance, and though Murphy was sitting on the couch, being his usual reserved self, he was grinning at them.
“What’s going on?”
Jess came to an abrupt stop and gave me a warm, wide smile that instantly sent a wave of relief through me. “It’s dance party Wednesday,” she declared with a spin. “DJ Kit, we need a new song. And no more Lake Paige.”
With a roll of her eyes, Kit dragged herself over to the ping-pong table and picked up the tablet set on its edge.
“Can you play ‘The Gummy Bear Song’?” T.J. asked.
Kit smirked, and Greta giggled, and a moment later, the most obnoxious sounds I’d ever heard filled the apartment. Ridiculous lyrics blasted loud enough to damage eardrums, and I swear I could feel the walls vibrating with everyPopin the song.
Murphy finally stood and joined in, jumping alongside T. J., a two-child mosh pit in front of the couch, losing their ever-loving minds over this nonsense.
