Finn groaned, but Imogen typed out an instructional text to Sawyer—low key. Don’t spill the tea to Robbie, Finn will flip. We have to be sneaky.
When Finnleft that morning, Robbie had the distinct impression something wasn’t right—had, in fact, gone wrong—but he didn’t know what.
Maybe Finn was supremely embarrassed to have been caught by a teen? Or wasn’t ready to have anyone know about them?
Jesus, Robbie hoped Finn wasn’t worried Sawyer would tell anyone. No, that couldn’t be it. Surely he knew Sawyer would respect their privacy.
Speaking of… Sawyer fell into the room all teenaged Bambi grace.
“Pancake time?”
Robbie snorted and pulled out ingredients. Trust a fourteen-year-old to stay focused on the important things in life—food—despite having gone through a traumatic wake-up call.
Sawyer helped cook, probably more because he wanted to be close to Robbie than out of any real desire to be useful, and soon Robbie slid a stack of pancakes to him across the counter.
Once his stack was smothered in maple syrup and topped with berries, Sawyer demolished his first few bites. Then he took a breath and his eyes off his food long enough to see Robbie again.
“So—” His phone pinged. Sawyer looked at the text, scowled, and furiously typed back. Robbie bit his lip. He knew that frown. Imogen must be starting something. Though, given this morning… maybe she was being overprotective?
When Sawyer finally put down his phone, Robbie arched a brow and prompted, “So?”
A confused puppy stared back at him. “So?”
“Yeah. So. That’s what you said.”
“Oh. Right.” Sawyer looked panicked for a brief, confusing moment. “I, er, forget.”
“You forget.”
“Yes.” He nodded vigorously.
“Okay.” And now his kid was lying to him.
Follow-up questions would have to wait, though, since he had pancakes to plate and batter to pour. His own phone buzzed on the counter as he did so, and he figured he might as well take a page out of his kid’s book and see who was hailing.
A new text from Gail Graham. He frowned. They didn’t tend to text really, unless they needed to arrange pickups or drop-offs.
Robbie Zeiger. What are you doing with my stepson?
Robbie frowned. That sounded aggressive. Not knowing how to address that, he sidestepped,Competing on a reality tv show?
Robert. Do you think I don’t know his car when I see it.
Right. Of course. It should have occurred to him earlier that Gail must have brought Sawyer home and would’ve noticed the other vehicle in the driveway. Then again, Robbie wouldn’t have put it past his kid to have used the Uber app that Robbie had installed in case of emergency.
Ah.Guess that explains how Sawyer got home.
Not the point!
Look. You should really talk to Finn about this.
I did! Days ago! But when I worried about his impending broken heart, it didn’t occur to me that YOU were the unnamed new man!
What the fuck? Why was Gail worried Robbie would break Finn’s heart? He frowned and reread the text. It didn’tsound like typical nebulous worries about her child in a new relationship.
He started to text. Stopped. Deleted it. Restarted. He wondered if Gail was looking at her phone and being driven nuts by Robbie’s bubbling. He didn’t feel too bad about it considering the turmoil she was putting him through.
He finally settled on,I am so confused right now.
