The Single Dad - A Standalone Romance (A Single Dad Firefighter Romance)
Page 17
“You don’t think he’ll like the boy you like?” I asked, wondering which boy it was.
“I’m pretty sure he’ll hate him,” she sighed. “He hates everyone I like.”
“I don’t think he hates everyone,” I said sympathetically. “I think he’s just protective of his daughter.”
“Try overprotective,” she sighed again. We were interrupted by an impatient blast from Blake’s horn. Nina looked out the kitchen window and said, “We’d better go. Dad’s getting impatient.”
“What took you girls so long?” Blake asked, as we climbed into the truck.
“Girl talk and my jerk of a cat,” I said, as I leaned across the front seat and kissed his cheek and whispered, “Let it go for now.”
Blake nodded as he cranked the radio, and we all sang at the top of lungs the whole drive. At his parents’ house, Ellie had a feast awaiting us, and when I walked into the kitchen to ask if I could help, she wrapped me in a big hug.
“It’s been far too long since we’ve seen you, dear,” Ellie said with a warm smile. “Now, if you’ll put those dishes on the table, we’ll be ready to eat!”
We all gathered around the table and ate until we were ready to burst. Ellie and Alan had taken a trip to Costa Rica the week before and were full of tales of the rich, lush landscape, delicious food, and friendly villagers. As Nina cleared the table with help from her father, Alan pulled out the dominoes and began prepping the playing area.
“Aw, Dad, no!” Blake groaned, as he re-entered the dining room to grab a few more dishes. “Do we have to do this every time?”
“What?” Alan said, shooting his son a look. “Emily is good at the game, and I think she’d probably enjoy a game or two. Am I right, Emily?”
“I, well…I…” I stammered, looking back and forth between Blake and his father, unsure of how to answer.
“Fine!” Blake laughed, throwing his hands in the air. “Just steal my girl and play until the cows come home, Dad.”
“I believe I will,” Alan grinned.
Once the dishes were taken care of, Blake and Nina rejoined us at the table, bringing the cake and coffee that Ellie had prepared. Alan split us into teams, and he and I proceeded to make quick work of Blake and Nina’s team. We won several rounds before Nina pointed out that she had to be up early the next morning because Remy was coming to pick her up.
As we prepared to leave, Alan disappeared into his work room and emerged holding something behind his back.
“Emily, I’ve got something for you that I think you’ll appreciate,” he said with a grin, as he handed me a long, narrow box. It was surprisingly heavy, and I gave Alan a confused look as I sat down and unwrapped the present.
“Oh, Alan, this is lovely!” I said, as I looked at the lid of the box, which had a picture of a set of beautiful ebony domino tiles on it. “Thank you so much!”
“Now open the box,” he said, as he exchanged a knowing grin with Ellie. “There’s more inside.”
“Oh no, you shouldn’t have,” I said, as I lifted the lid and found a plain white envelope inside. I picked it up, opened it and gasped. “You really shouldn’t have!”
“What is it, Emily?” Nina asked, as she stepped up beside me and peeked around my arm then exclaimed, “Whoa, Gramps! That’s so cool!”
“Will someone tell me what’s going on, please?” Blake said, as he peeked over my shoulder.
“Your dad gave me the rest of his Celtics season tickets,” I said, holding them up so Blake could see them and grinning as I added, “If you’re nice to me, maybe I’ll take you to a game or two.”
“Geez, Dad,” Blake said, as he looked at his father. “I had no idea Emily was your favorite!”
“She’s a nice girl, and I knew she’d appreciate the tickets,” Alan said, as he grabbed his son and hugged him tightly. “Unlike my ungrateful sons who don’t know a basketball from a hole in the ground.”
“Now listen here, old man,” Blake laughed, as he returned the hug. “Don’t try and show me up!”
Alan laughed as he stepped back and let Ellie hug Blake. I moved toward Alan and hugged him tightly.
“Thank you so much,” I said, in a voice choked with emotion. “It’s really very kind of you.”
“Be good to him,” Alan said quietly. “He’s fallen pretty hard for you.”
I stepped back and nodded even though I didn’t quite understand what Alan was saying. I wasn’t sure he knew what had happened between Blake and me, and I definitely didn’t want to try and explain my parents to him and Ellie. They’d never approve of me dating Blake if they knew how my family had behaved toward him.
On the way home, I turned to Blake and said, “You know, Valentine’s Day is Tuesday.”
“Uh-huh,” he nodded, without taking his eyes off the road. “What’s your point?”
“Dad!” Nina yelled from the backseat. “Don’t be a total douche!”
“Hey, watch your language, young lady,” Blake warned.
“Douche is not a bad word, Dad,” Nina sighed, as she fell back against the seat.
“It’s really not,” I whispered loud enough for Nina to hear. “It’s just teenage slang.”
“Well, I don’t like it,” Blake said.
“Okay, well, how about you accompany me to the Celtics game on Tuesday, and we’ll discuss flexible semiotics on the drive into Boston,” I said dryly. Nina giggled loudly in the back seat.
“I don’t know who this semiotics team is, but I’d be happy to watch the game with you,” Blake replied with a grin.
“Dad! Don’t be so clueless!” Nina groaned. “You’re embarrassing me!”
“Then we’re even, kiddo,” he grinned, as he looked at her in the rearview mirror. “You’ve embarrassed me more times than I can count.”
“Sure, like when I was two!” she protested.
“Oh no, you’ve done a bang-up job over the past year, my beautiful daughter,” he laughed. Nina dissolved into a fit of laughter, and I found myself trying to hide a grin as I listened to the two of them detail the instances of embarrassment with mock outrage.
“So, will you go to the game with me?” I said, breaking in before Nina could begin another tale of her father’s cluelessness. “Will you be my Valentine’s Day date?”
“I’d love to,” Blake said, as he pulled up into my driveway and parked the truck. He walked me to my door, where we exchanged a very chaste kiss before he whispered, “I’ll ditch the kid, and after the game, we can indulge in some adult activities.”
“We shall see, Mr. Gaston,” I said with a flirty grin. “We shall see.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Blake
Sunday morning, I woke Nina up early so she could get ready for Remy to pick her up. She said Remy was planning to take her to her church and then to Boston for lunch and shopping. Nina rolled her eyes at having to go to church until I reminded her that when she stayed with her grandparents, they, too, took her to church.
Nina bounced around the house, grabbing things that she would need for the week at her mother’s house, and seemed genuinely excited to be seeing Remy return after her two-week trip. I made a quick breakfast, and we sat down to eat while we waited for Remy to arrive.
“Do you think Mom’ll take me to Newbury Street, Dad?” she asked, as she scooped up a forkful of eggs and stuffed them in her mouth.
“I don’t know, do you think she will?” I parroted back, earning a dramatic eye roll and an exasperated sigh.
“I love to look at the designer shops, but there’s an H&M store there that has a jacket I want,” she said, as she spread jam on a second piece of toast. “Do you think Mom’ll buy it for me?”
“Nina, I have no idea what your mother will or won’t do,” I said, trying not to get drawn into a mom versus dad discussion before Remy arrived. “I’ll bet if you’re on your best behavior she’ll be far more likely to reward you.”
“Fine, I’ll be good,” she sighed and then continued, “I m
issed her. I wonder if she had a good trip. She’ll be really happy to hear about my A on the History exam, won’t she?”
“Over the moon,” I said, nodding in agreement. Nina quickly finished her breakfast and carried her dishes to the sink. I called over my shoulder, “Hey, don’t forget your winter boots. They’re in the front hall closet, Punkin.”
“Oh yeah, I’ll get ‘em,” she said, running into the front room and digging through the closet before yelling, “Got ‘em!”
Nina had gone back to her room to double check her packing when my phone rang. It was Remy.
“Hey, Remy, she’s almost ready,” I said, as I carried my plate to the sink and started the water so I could do the dishes.
“Yeah, about that,” Remy said uncomfortably. “Something’s come up at work, and I’m going to have head out of town again this week. Do you mind keeping Nina while I iron this out?”
“She was looking forward to seeing you today,” I said in a flat voice.
“Blake, don’t start with me this morning,” Remy warned. “I’ve had a rough week, and I don’t need another person on my case right now.”
“It’s not me that you should be worried about,” I said dryly. “Your daughter misses you, and she was looking forward to spending the day with you.”
“What am I supposed to do, Blake?” Remy snapped. “I can’t just drop everything and leave this job half done so that I can spend the day shopping! I’m trying to earn a living here!”
“Hey, I’m not judging you for whatever it is that you’re doing, Remy,” I said defensively. “I’m just saying that your daughter has been bouncing around the house all morning excited about spending time with you, and this is going to disappoint her.”
“She’ll live,” Remy said coolly.
“You’re such a cold bitch sometimes; you know that?” I shot back angrily. During our entire marriage, Remy had always been interested in one thing above all else: Remy. I had hoped that she might place Nina a little bit above herself, but this just proved that a leopard never changed its spots.
“I may be cold, but I’m the one who will be putting our daughter through college, so you should probably be a little nicer to me about the choices I have to make when it comes to building her college fund,” Remy hissed. “I don’t have the luxury of an enormous pension. I stayed at home with our daughter for the first 10 years of her life, remember?”
“Don’t blame me for the choices you made, Remy,” I warned.
“We made them, Blake. We agreed that I’d stay home and raise our children,” she said angrily.
“Children. Plural. We had one child, and you decided we shouldn’t have any more, remember?” I shot back.
“Do not blame me for the fact that I didn’t want to have any more children, Blake Gaston!” Remy raged. “You swore you wouldn’t ever use that as ammunition!”
“You’re right; I was wrong. I’m sorry,” I sighed. “Remy, she’s just going to be really disappointed. She wanted to see you.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Remy said, in a voice that wavered on the edge of tears. I knew she was trying as hard as she could to do what she needed to do, and I kicked myself for making it more difficult.
“Do you want to talk to her or am I the one who has to break the news?” I asked.
“Can you tell her?” she asked. “I’m on my way to a meeting with a client, and if I talk to her right now, I’m going to end up ruining my makeup.”
“Jesus, Remy…” I said, trailing off before I launched into a lecture on how keeping up appearances wasn’t nearly as important as reassuring her daughter that she loved her and was sorry for disappointing her.
“Don’t start, Blake,” Remy warned.
“Fine, I’ll handle it,” I said. “When are you coming back?”
“Friday at the latest, but I’m really hoping that I can wrap this up and be back by Wednesday,” she said, as I heard her flick the turn signal in the car. “Yikes, I’m here. I have to go! I’ll call Nina tonight and explain! Thanks, Blake!”
She disconnected, and I stood staring at the screen of my phone for a full minute as I tried to get my thoughts together. I tucked the phone in my pocket, shut off the water, and headed toward Nina’s room. I stood outside her door and took a deep breath before I tapped on it.
“Punkin, Mom just called,” I said, as I pushed the door open. Nina was sitting on the edge of her bed furiously tapping on her phone. She looked up at me like a deer caught in the headlights and quickly dimmed the screen.
“What?” she said, tucking the phone under her leg.
“Mom just called and said she’s going to have to head out of town again, so she can’t make it today,” I said, bracing myself for the dramatic reaction I was about to have to deal with.
“Are you kidding me?” Nina asked quietly. “Did she really say that?”
“Yeah, she said she’s really sorry, and that she’ll call you tonight after she’s done with her meetings and explain,” I said, watching the emotions rapidly cross Nina’s face. I wasn’t quite sure where they would stop, but I wanted to be close in case she needed me. I added, “She was really sad that she couldn’t make it home today. She was looking forward to your day together.”
“Yeah, sure,” Nina said, flopping back on her bed and staring up at the ceiling. “Whatever.”
“Nina, Mom loves you,” I said. “She’s doing the best she can.”
“I know,” Nina said in a flat voice. “Whatever.”
“C’mon, get up,” I said, trying to think of a way to pull her out of the dark place she was headed. “We’ll go to Newbury Street and get you that jacket you wanted. How about that?”
“It’s okay, Dad,” she said, without looking at me. “It wasn’t that important. Can I be alone for a little while?”
“Sure,” I said backing out of the room. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me, okay?”
“Uh-huh,” she said, still staring up at the ceiling.
I cursed Remy under my breath the entire time I was washing breakfast dishes and wondered how I could pull Nina out of the funk before she did something destructive. When Remy and I first separated, Nina had taken it hard and had wound up fighting with a couple of girls at school. We’d taken her to a counselor who’d helped her deal with the emotions she was feeling about the divorce, and after a short time, Nina stopped fighting, but old habits die hard, and whenever she felt bad, Nina would revert to destructive behavior as a coping mechanism. This time I wanted to stop it before it started.
An hour later, Nina still hadn’t emerged from her bedroom, and I was starting to worry. I stood next to the door listening for sounds of anything unusual before I knocked.
“Punkin, how about if I call Emily and ask her to come for dinner?” I called through the closed door. “We could order pizza and watch a movie.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Nina replied. I waited to see if she would say anything else, and when she didn’t, I wrestled with whether to open the door and talk to her or to leave her to process things on her own. I felt damned if I did and damned if I didn’t.
Instead, I called Emily and explained the situation. I asked her to pick up a couple of movies she thought Nina would like, and told her I’d order pizza to be delivered around 6.
“Are you sure she wants me around tonight, Blake?” Emily asked. “I mean, I’m not trying to take the place of her mother or something. I’d hate for her to think that.”
“She said it was fine,” I said, wondering if Nina would see it the same way. “If she gets upset, we’ll deal with it. I’m not going to put my life on hold just because Remy can’t manage hers.”
“Way to go, Captain Empathy,” Emily chuckled. The sound of her laughter made me smile despite the fact that I was worried about my daughter. She agreed to get the movies and said she’d see us at 6.
“Nina, Emily’s bringing movies and I’ll have the pizza delivered at 6, okay?” I called through the bedroom door.
“Sorry,” I said, as I let go of the knob and walked back down the hall. I felt like I should have insisted on talking, but the part of me that identified with her need to sulk in private wanted to respect her wishes. I sighed heavily as I rubbed my eyes, wondering how many other parents were suffering through this same thing.
When Emily showed up, I told her what had been going on, and she shrugged it off.
“She’s a teenager. They’re moody,” she said, as she dropped the movies on the entry table and took off her coat. “Let her tell you when she’s ready to talk. If you force it, she’ll pull back more. Believe me, I know.”
“All right, I’ll trust your expert opinion,” I said, smiling as I reached out and pulled her to me. She wrapped her arms around my neck as I leaned down and kissed her. I could feel the blood rushing away from my brain almost immediately, so I pulled back.
“What’s wrong?” Emily asked, with a worried look on her face.
“Trying to keep it PG,” I said with a wry grin. “You don’t make it easy.”
“Ah ha,” she laughed. “Well, it’s not my job to make anything easy. Hadn’t you noticed?”
I leaned back and let out a loud laugh as she sidestepped me and headed for the kitchen calling, “Where’s the food? I’m starving!”
“It’s on its way,” I said, as I checked my phone and saw that the delivery driver was a couple of minutes away. “Nina! Emily’s here, and the pizza will be here in five!”
“Okay!” Nina called from behind her bedroom door. She emerged just as I was accepting the boxes from the driver. I handed her one and followed her to the kitchen where Emily had set out plates and sodas. Nina smiled, “Hey, Emily. Glad you could come over for dinner.”
“Hey, Nina, I’m glad you asked me to,” she smiled back. “I got a couple of movies I thought you might like. Not so sure your dad will like them, though.”
“Eh, he’ll watch anything,” Nina shrugged, as she helped herself to several slices of pizza and grabbed a soda.