Page 22 of Nailed (Dad Bod Contracting 3)
I sigh. How do I navigate this? I made a promise to myself when things first went to hell that I’d never talk bad about Paul to Nate, or discourage him from seeing him.
“Nate…”
“Who’s your date with?” Nate cuts in.
“You remember those times Miss Holly came over last month?”
He nods. “Yeah. They were dates, because you looked pretty and you were nervous.”
I laugh. “I wasn’t nervous!”
“Uh-huh! You were too! You were twirling your hair and asking me a million questions about how you look, and I’m nine, what do I know about how you’re supposed to look on a date?” He makes a “duh” face. “So yeah, you were nervous.”
“You’re too precocious for your own good.”
“For your good, you mean.” He wrinkles his brow. “Does precocious mean annoying?”
I laugh. “No, it means smarter than you should be for your age.” I put the car back into gear. “I’m going out with the same man I went out with those other times. His name is Ryder.”
“That’s a cool name. What’s he like?”
I smile. “He’s funny, and very nice.”
“Is he a slimy poophead like Derek?”
I groan a laugh. “No, he’s not. And I didn’t realize Derek was a slimy poophead until much too late.” I grin at Nate in the mirror. “Next time you think a guy is a slimy poophead, you tell me right away, okay? That’s your job—to tell me when a guy is no good if I don’t realize it soon enough.”
“Am I allowed to think Dad is a slimy poophead?”
I cough. “He’s your Dad, and he loves you. He just…he’s always had trouble showing that he loves people.”
“Is that why you guys divorced?”
I nod. “There were a lot of reasons, but yeah, that’s a big part of it.” I give him a stern look. “But he’s still your father, and he loves you, and you’ll be respectful to him, okay?”
Nate nods. “He’s just dumb and doesn’t know how to have fun with a kid. I mean, it’s laser tag! How do you not have fun with that? Seriously. He’s lame.” He perks up. “Would Ryder play laser tag with me, you think? Dad wouldn’t even talk to me if he didn’t have to.”
I think back, and realize that Nate is right, and that Derek was fairly adept at hiding the fact that he didn’t like kids, and that he was only dating me for my looks.
Shit.
I’m stupid.
“Well? Would he?” Nate asks.
I blink, realizing I never answered. “You know, I have a feeling he probably would.”
“Will I meet him?”
I pull into Paul’s driveway and put the car into park. “Maybe. I’m still deciding on Ryder. I want to make sure he isn’t a slimy poophead, before I bring him around you.”
Nate frowns. “Then how am I supposed to see if he is one before you?”
I laugh. “Good point! After this date, if it goes well, I’ll let you plan a day for us to go do fun stuff, and if Ryder is willing to hang out with you, and you like him, that’ll be a pretty good test for both of us, huh?”
“Paintball!” Nate shouts.
I arch an eyebrow. “We’ll have to see about that one.” I see Paul exit his building, and I unbuckle so I can give Nate a hug. I leave the car and meet Nate at the hood, kneeling down to give him a big hug. “Have fun, okay?”
He rolls his eyes at me. “I will,” he drawls in an annoyed monotone. “You’re gonna get me at four on Sunday, right?”
“Four? I usually pick you up at five thirty.”
“Yeah, but I have basketball practice at five, and we have a game against a really good team next week so we’ll need the practice.”
I glance at Paul, who is watching us with crossed arms. “Will that work okay, Paul?”
Paul shrugs. “I guess.”
A touch under six feet tall, Paul has dark hair with streaks of silver at the temples, attractive features, brown eyes that can shift from rage to joy in an instant. He used to be in decent shape, but hasn’t kept up with it in recent years, so there’s a bit more of a bulge around his waistline, and some sagging around the jaw that wasn’t there before. He’s a handsome man, but all I can see when I look at him is the mercurial moods, the narcissism, and the unpredictability.
“You’re sure?” I ask.
Paul rolls his eyes. “I said so, didn’t I?”
“You said you guess. Which isn’t the same thing. I just don’t want any mix-ups on Sunday.”
“Pick him up at four. It’s fine.” His eyes rake over me. “Plans for the weekend?”
I resist the urge to tug my top up to hide my cleavage from him. “Um…yeah.”
Nate looks up at me, and seems like he’s about to say something, so I kneel down and give him another hug. “Love you, bud. Be good.”
