Page 26 of One Bride for Three Single Dads

“Well, we are going out of the country…”

Her eyebrows go up. She’s thinking it through. She’s figuring it out, and it is fun to watch her put the pieces together. I wonder what she really thinks.

Turned on? That’s what I would hope.

“This is your idea? Look for a date on Tinder who might want to go to Ireland for a year?”

“Probably more like six months,” I explain.

“And we will all be there? Like one big happy family? All the kids… and me?”

“Well, somebody has to take care of the kids, right?”

She squints at her phone again, letting her weight fall to one hip. When she puts her hand on her waist on that side, the hem of her nightgown slides just up far enough that I can see the very bottom edge of her panties. They are silvery gray. Full of her pussy. Right there.

“How do I do this? I swipe? Is that the word?”

“Excuse me?”

She holds the phone out toward me again. Boone’s stupid face looks at me, his eyes squinting against the bright sunlight in a picture we took during a lake vacation.

“This. I want this,” she snaps.

“You want…”

“This! I want to say yes to this. Match it or whatever. I swipe it? Slide it?”

“Jolene, you don’t want to do this,” I caution her.

“Oh, don’t I?” she challenges me, so saucy I can barely resist her. “I was just about to do it yesterday, wasn’t I? Why don’t I want it?”

I swallow, hard. How do I explain this? I have a list of things I want to do to whomever answers that ad. A whole list.

“Yesterday that was just you and Ambrose,” I say, hoping she’s going to figure it out. “This is more like, you know… like apackage. Like a package deal.”

Her eyebrows rise defiantly. “A package of what?”

I don’t answer right away. She glances back down at the post and scans through it again, reading the words. I know I put it in there. I know I said it: the three of us.

Finally she looks up at me again, her expression defiant, expectant, and too cute for words.

“I want this, Harrison,” she repeats.

“Jolene,” I warn her.

“Jesus Christ, Harrison, I want this! This! What else do I have to say?”

Chapter 10

JOLENE

Harrison looks, what, how can I describe it? Embarrassed? Shy?

Actually, it is a relief to get him to be serious for a moment. He is always making jokes, mostly to avoid taking responsibility for anything. Even taking responsibility for his end of a conversation.

It’s infuriating.

But right now, he’s off-balance. The only thing he can do is answer me with the truth.

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