Page 56 of Nailed (Dad Bod Contracting 3)
“Nate—” I splutter.
Ryder holds up his hand to me. “I can answer, Laurel.”
I have to literally bite my tongue, but I let Ryder answer for himself—and I hang on every word.
“Maybe someday,” Ryder says. “Right now, your mom and I are sort of just figuring things out, but I do care a lot about your mom, and there may come a day when she and I start thinking about that. I’ll make you one other promise, Nate: if and when that day comes, you and I will sit down and talk about it, man to man.”
My heart is slamming so hard in my chest I worry it’s going to crack my ribs open. This is too much, too soon. Talking about falling for each other, talking about the future, talking about being open and real and invested…that’s one thing. But this? The way Ryder is talking to Nate? This makes it way, way, way too real.
Here comes that anxiety attack I promised Ryder.
I tell myself to keep it together. Breathe. Stay calm.
“So, what are we gonna do?” Nate asks.
Ryder stands up. “I was thinking laser tag.”
Nate seems stuck between excitement and suspicion. “Are you going to actually play?”
Ryder grins, pointing a finger-gun at Nate. “A better question to ask is do you think you can beat me.”
Nate’s grin is so broad and brilliant I wonder if it hurts his cheeks, and he’s letting his excitement show, little by little. “Beat you? I bet I can score ten times as many points as you!”
“Is that a bet?” Ryder asks.
Nate frowns. “I don’t know what a bet actually is.”
“It’s kind of like a dare, but with money or something.” He takes out his wallet and hands a ten-dollar bill to Nate. “We’re putting this ten-dollar bill up for the bet—if you beat me in laser tag, you keep the ten bucks. If I win, I keep it.”
Nate rolls his eyes. “That’s dumb. What am I gonna do with ten dollars? Any time I get any money, I have to give it to Mom for safekeeping, and then I never see it again.”
“Okay, well…” Ryder pauses to think. “Okay, how about this—”
“How about you don’t teach my son to gamble,” I say, trying hard to keep a stern expression on my face.
“Knowing how and when to take a bet is an important skill to learn on the road to becoming a man, Laurel.”
“Well then, at least teach him right.” I take a ten out of my purse and hand it to Nate. “A real bet works a little differently than what Ryder is telling you. If you’re betting ten bucks that you can beat him, it means if you win, you keep your ten dollars and you take his, but if you lose, he keeps your ten bucks and his.”
Ryder snorts. “I was trying to keep it simple.”
“It is simple. But if he comes back talking about poker, we’re gonna have issues.”
“What’s poker?” Nate asks.
I sigh. “A dumb card game.”
Ryder arches an eyebrow at me. “Is this a bad time to mention that the guys and I have poker night at my house once a month, and that it’s this Friday?”
I laugh. “Of course you do. So you have standing nights at Billy Bar, poker night once a month…any other Dad Bod traditions I should know about?”
“Poker night is every Friday, we just rotate between James’s, Jesse’s, Franco’s, and my house.” He taps his chin, thinking. “Um…we usually go to Cedar Point every summer.”
I boggle. “Four grown men go to Cedar Point together every summer?”
He frowns at me in disbelief. “Hell—I mean, heck yeah! You’re never too old for roller coasters. Plus, watching James try to cram his giant butt into those things is hysterical.”
I shake my head. “You guys are ridiculous.”
Ryder glances at my car. “Do I need one of those seat things for him?”
I grab Nate’s booster from the back of my car and hand it to him, and Ryder examines it curiously. “What’s it for, anyway?”
“So when the seatbelt buckles across him, the strap lays against his chest instead of his neck. It’s safer.”
Ryder nods. “Ah, makes sense.”
I frown at his truck. “That thing does have seatbelts, right?”
He nods, handing the booster to Nate. “Oh yeah. It didn’t originally, because it was made before the federal seatbelt requirement in 1968, but since I’m using it as a daily driver, I installed them as part of the restoration.”
I have a million things I want to say, but I just sigh. “Please be careful.”
He smiles at me, takes me by the shoulders. “Deep breath, babe. I’ve got this.”
I smile back, a little teary. “I know. Whether I’ve got it is the real question.”
He leans in and kisses me, a quick peck. “You’ve got it.” He taps me on the nose. “Call up your girls. Go have a glass of wine and relax.”
