“Fuck me sideways, it smells good,” he groaned from the hallway.
“Daddy’s home!” Lily shouted. “Come watchBlueywith me!”
“Oh my God, why are you such a jackass?!” That was Hallie, and I could only assume it was directed at Dylan. They’d been at each other’s throats lately. “Dad! Dylan called me a loser!”
“You can add snitch to the list,” Dylan snapped.
“Whoa!” Ash interrupted and climbed a couple steps up the stairs. “Do I need to come up there? Apologize to your sister, Dylan.”
“She shut my laptop when I was in the middle of a game!” Dylan defended.
At that, Ash peered into the kitchen and locked eyes with me.
“They’ve been at it all day,” I said.
It didn’t faze me at this point.
“Apologize to each other, then,” Ash amended. “And quit callin’ each other names.” He removed his hoodie and dropped it next to the stairs before walking into the kitchen. “Are you making lasagna? Tell me you’re making lasagna.”
I smiled. “I made lasagna.”
“Fuck yeah.” He brushed a hand across my lower back on the way to the fridge. “My mouth is watering.”
That was what I wanted to hear.
Speaking of something smelling fantastic… “Did you buy a new cologne?” I asked.
“Yeah, I thought I’d try somethin’ new.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw and hauled out milk and water. “Something real quick before we’re ambushed.” He came closer and lowered his voice. “The guys at Mclean booked a cruise a while back for theend of March, and they have an extra spot. Walker called today and asked if I was interested.”
Oh. Wow. That was…something. He was making plans again. He’d be around kink and friends.
“I already checked, and it’s technically your week, but I wanted to make sure it was all right since we’re flexible,” he added. “If you don’t mind, I plan on telling the kids it’s a work thing.”
We’d both done that in the past for romantic getaways to spare ourselves a slew of “Can I come, Daddy?” and “Why do Daddies get to go on a vacation?!”
I swallowed around a bout of unease. “Yeah, no, of course. You should go. It’ll be good for you. If I need any help, I’ll call my folks.”
“Fuckin’ A.” He grinned and touched my arm briefly. “I appreciate it. I can’t tell you how much I need a break.”
I watched him carry the milk and water over to the table and knew instinctively just how much he needed a break, because I needed one too. A break frommyself.
How fucking pathetic could I be?
Here I was, pining after the man I’d inexplicably told I couldn’t be with.
“I take it you’re making a big return to Mclean?” I brought the lasagna over to the table and immediately cut a piece for Lily so it could cool down. I flattened it with her fork too and set the ketchup next to her plate. She did like a bit of lasagna to go with her ketchup.
“I don’t know about a big return,” Ash replied eventually. “I have some making up to do, though. I didn’t even know Pen and Ella broke up until a few weeks ago.”
“I heard about that.” I nodded. “A lot has changed.”
“And Ivy, she’s about to pop?”
I smiled. “Last time I talked to her, she’d just found out the baby is a big one. She walks around as if she’s ready to go into labor at any moment, but she has a few months to go.”
“Jesus. I did message August around the holidays, and he said he felt for her because he’d been a ten-pounder.”
I couldn’t even imagine.
