Page 18 of Baby By my Best Friend's Daddy

“I’m not,” Elias said. “But Bernadette is waiting for me at home, and there will be hell to pay if I get in after midnight.”

I snorted. “A fifty-year-old man with a curfew?”

“Hey, you’re not married. You give up certain things when you take a wife.”

I rolled my eyes, and Elias waved at me and Archie, the last older guys at the bar. The rest of the people still here were the young kids, drinking and having fun. Aaron, Noah, Brad, and a few others I didn’t mix with all that often.

I glanced at Archie when he stood up.

“I’m not even going to ask,” I said.

“Good,” Archie said. He put a handful of bills on the bar for the bartender as a tip, nodded his goodnight at me, and left.

I sighed and sat down on the barstool.

Brad came up to me to say his goodbyes, too.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked.

“I’m tired, Dad,” Brad said.

“Come on, stay. Drink with me.”

Brad laughed. “You’re the only parent in the world upset that I’m doing the responsible thing and going home before I’ve had too much. Other parents would be proud, you know.”

I snorted. “It’s not like I’m not proud. I just want to have fun. Damn it, it’s Saturday night! Since when is everyone so damn old they can’t have fun anymore?”

Brad laughed and shook his head. “Goodnight, Dad. I’ll see you on Monday.”

I sighed and nodded. “Bright and fucking early.”

Brad left, still grinning. I turned to the bartender and lifted my hand for another drink. I wasn’t even drunk, just tipsy. It was one of those nights where the alcohol didn’t do anything. It was a fuck up because I wanted the alcohol to do something tonight. I wanted to get blackout drunk and forget about everything in my life for once.

It wasn’t that my life was all that bad. I just didn’t have anyone to share it with. Brad lived his own life, the company had grown enough to stand on its own two feet… I was becoming obsolete.

Aaron and Noah came to the bar.

“Don’t tell me you guys are leaving too,” I said.

“Yeah, but not to go home,” Aaron said.

“We have the night off. We’re going to find somewhere else to drink—when everyone leaves, there’s nothing fun about this place.”

“Where are you going?”

“We haven’t decided yet,” Noah said and glanced at Aaron, who nodded almost imperceptibly. “Do you want to join us?”

And sound like a charity case?

“Hell, yeah,” I said.

I didn’t give a shit what it made me look like. I was down for any company I could get right now. The only thing worse than going home alone was sitting here, drinking alone.

We paid our tabs and left the Cavaliers HQ. These days, the club wasn’t what it used to be. The older guys—my peers, I should say—were still stuck on their traditions, their values, and carrying forth the legacy, but the younger guys didn’t seem all that interested. Noah and Aaron had families, and they were here less and less often.

I understood. There’d been a time when I hadn’t wanted to be here all the time either. That was, until Catherine and I’d gotten a divorce. I’d come right back after that. I wished I had somewhere else to be, though.

Someone else to be with.

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