Page 4 of The Anti-Bachelorette (The Anti-Bachelorette 1)

Tyler gets up and pats the desk a couple times. “All set. I look forward to our next meeting.“ He winks at me and walks out of the office. I slump back in my chair and take a minute to myself before I go meet my dad. Well, this is going to get interesting. Maybe I should try to work things out with Alaric or it is going to get real messy around this workplace.

???

I pull up to the restaurant I am meeting my dad at and get out of my car. I look at the diner we always meet at and smile. When my mom first dropped me off at my dad's, I didn’t handle it well. I wasn’t used to the new house and school, and I missed my mom. My dad would take me to this diner and get me chocolate chip pancakes. The waitress Doris would always give me an extra squirt of whipped cream on top. We’d go every Sunday for the longest time, and it became a part of my new family. We still meet for lunch here sometimes, and I always get at least one chocolate chip pancake just for old times sake.

I walk in and the bell dings. My dad looks up from his coffee that he is sipping on and waves me over to his table. He stands, and I go over and give him a hug. He kisses the top of my head and then pulls back and sits down. I slide into the booth across from him. Once we are sitting, he smiles again. “So how was your vacation? You look so tan. We missed you like crazy around here. I had George helping me with all the billing and it was a disaster.” I just laugh. George is the summer intern we have working for us.

“It was so fun. We have to go back sometime. You’d love the views there. It was amazing.”

He smiles at me and grabs my hand across the table. “I’ve missed you sweetie. Glad you are back.” I smile back at him, but before I can respond a waitress comes up and takes our order. After we give her our order, we hand her the menus, and I look back over to my dad. “So when were you going to tell me about Alaric?”

My dad frowns a little and folds his hands in his lap. “Ah, so you already ran into him huh? I was kind of hoping you would have been too busy to see him before we met for lunch today.”

I continue to look at him. “So?”

He blows out a breath. “He just got in town three weeks ago. I didn’t know he was coming back, but when I found out he was here permanently, I couldn’t have been happier. I obviously am glad to have my friend back, but we also needed help at the company. I couldn’t keep going back and forth between jobs. It was becoming too much. I offered him his old job back right away, and he took it.”

My dad gives me a concerned look. “I know you two haven’t always gotten along in the past, but you were both young back then. I am sure Alaric won’t cause any issues now. In fact, I am counting on you to show him the ropes of how everything works now.”

I raise my eyebrows at him. If our first couple encounters are an indication of anything, I don’t see us getting along any better now than we did back then, but I sure hope my dad is right. We are both adults now. I can handle working with someone even if they aren’t my favorite person in the world.

I lean my head to the side and look at my dad. “It would have been nice to have some notice.”

My dad laughs. “Sorry sweetie. If he gives you any trouble, just let me know.”

I roll my eyes. “What’s he doing back here anyway?”

My dad looks down to his lap and just shrugs. “Just some family issues. Nothing we should get into.”

I look at my dad surprised. “Is that going to be a problem? Are they going to start bothering him again? Is he staying with them?”

My dad shakes his head. “No, everything is fine. Alaric is staying at my house for now.”

My eyes widen at my dad. “He’s staying with you?”

My dad smiles. “Yeah, I have all those rooms just going to waste anyway. I told him he has to stay with me for a least a few months so he can save up for a nicer place. I don’t want him anywhere near his old place. Near his family.”

My mouth is still hanging open at my dad. It’s not like Alaric will be staying with me, but I am basically always over at my dad’s place. We pretty much always eat dinner together every night, and often we will watch TV afterward. How are we supposed to do that now? Invite Alaric to our family dinners? I don’t think so.

My dad and I talk while we eat lunch, and he gets me caught up on everything I missed while I was gone. The business is really booming right now with the way the economy has been going. My dad was right about needing more help. With all the new jobs my dad told me about, there is no way he would have been able to handle them all himself.

It took quite a while to go over everything, so I don’t get back to the job site until two. I walk into my office and see Alaric sitting in my chair with his feet up on my desk.

I groan. “Is there something I can help you with?” I say as I push his feet back onto the floor.

He leans back in my chair and puts his hands behind his head. “Do you always take two hour lunches? Seems a little selfish to be taking advantage of daddy like that?”

I just laugh and grab his hand and pull him up out of my chair. He doesn’t fight me. “Ha! Funny. I was actually meeting with my dad for lunch. We were discussing work. It was business talk, but speaking of taking advantage of daddy, I hear you are staying with him for free.” I tap my chin like I am thinking. “What was that you were saying about relying on daddy for money?” I cross my arms over my chest. “A job and a place to live, hm?”

He just rolls his eyes at me. “The guys are almost done with the foundation. We’re going to need the electricians out here next week. Just wanted to confirm you got to that today while you were getting caught up. Well, I mean in the small amount of time that you’ve been back that weren’t spent out at lunch or flirting with the men.”

I narrow my eyes at him. I don’t dignify him with a response and instead just hand him the schedule for next week that I put together first thing this morning, including the electrical contractors for next week. He scans down the document and then turns to leave without saying goodbye again.

He reaches for the door handle, but before he can open it I stop him. “Are you going to be around for dinners?”

He glances over his shoulder back at me and grins. “Are you cooking?”

I can’t help the small smile that comes onto my face. My cooking is the one thing me and Alaric have never fought about before. Doris from the diner offered weekend cooking classes, and when I was younger, I would often go to them. I looked up to Doris kind of as a mother figure since I didn’t have my own anymore. I picked up on cooking pretty quickly, and I have been cooking dinners for my dad for a long time now.

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