Page 92 of Single Dad Dilemma
My brother’s laughter eased, and when his fiancée gave him a sharp look, he held up his hands. “Sorry. I just ... I never thought I’d see the day.”
“Are you going to be good now?” she asked.
“Yes,” he promised, then tipped her chin with his finger and gave her a soft kiss. “You can go back and catastrophize about the weather now.”
“It’s not catastrophizing,” she said hotly. “I just want to get our flight out before the snow hits, okay? Up to eighteen inches, they’re saying.”
“Only eighteen?” he teased. “It’s like it’s not even trying.”
Ruby rolled her eyes and went back into the family room. With a weary sigh, I sank down onto the couch and set the closed laptop next to me. My brother moved back to the desk, the creak of my chair the only sound I heard, since I wasn’t willing to make eye contact just yet.
“Go away,” I told him.
“Nah. This is too fun.”
I pried my eyes open and leveled him with a look. “I fail to see what’s fun about any of this.”
Griffin’s face went uncharacteristically serious. “You like her. The neighbor.”
“You going to give me relationship advice now?”
He shrugged, folding his hands over his stomach, stretching his legs out in front of him. “Why’d you feel like you needed to look that up? It’s not like you haven’t been married before.”
“I’m not sure my relationship with Rachel counts for much,” I answered honestly. That was the thing I hated saying out loud. “I never had to flirt with her, that’s for damn sure.”
Silence filled the room. My brother and I looked at each other for a moment.
“We ready to talk about her yet?” he finally asked.
I winced. So did he.
“No,” I answered.
“So what’s the deal with Lily, then? Why do you feel like you needthat,” he said, gesturing to the computer.
For a moment, I stared at it and tried to consolidate my thoughts into something simple, something that made sense, until I came to the conclusion that that might not be possible.
“You know what it feels like when you watch film and you break down every angle of it until you can pick it apart?”
He nodded.
I rolled my neck until it popped. “I can’t read her for the fucking life of me. Can’t figure her out. Sometimes I think she hates me. Sometimes she seems hell-bent on pushing all my buttons. She’s grouchier than me most of the time,” I said. Griffin’s eyes widened dramatically, like it was impossible to imagine. I rolled mine, and he cracked a small smile. “But she’s so good with the kids. There’s something about her. And I just want to know more.”
He rubbed his jaw and shrugged. “So ask her out. It’s not hard.”
“She’s leaving in a month, Griffin.” Even saying it made my stomach curl unpleasantly. “That’s what she does. She moves. She leaves. No home base. It’s not how she lives.”
“Fuck,” he muttered. “That complicates things.”
“I can’t ask her to give that up because I want to take her out on a date.”
Griffin got this look on his face. Something I couldn’t decipher. It was a little smug. A little affectionate. And it made me want to punch him in the face a little too.
“What?” I snapped.
“You have a crush,” he said knowingly.
“No, I don’t.”
