Tenley pulls out one of my expensive juices from Pressed Juicery and cracks the lid before I can protest. Then she shrugs at me and closes the door with her hip. “Not sure. But that’s his number on your fridge.”
She points to the phone number scrawled across the wipe board where I leave notes for the house cleaner. I stare at it like I’m trying to make it catch fire.
“Weird. You have this look on your face I don’t recognize…” Tenley notes and pauses to gulp back some of my expensive beet, spinach, carrot, and apple blend before narrowing her eyes on my face. “Is that… jealousy? Yeah. It is. Like how you looked at me when Dyllie Bear happily let me snuggle him earlier. You worried about who is going to snuggle Mallory, Tater Tot?”
“His name is Dylan, not Dyllie Bear,” I growl. “And she’s myfriend. I don’t want her dating one of your douchey film friends.”
“He isn’t douchy.”
“You have terrible taste in men.”
“You have great taste in women,” Tenley mutters back. “You just don’t know it yet.”
“What?”
She ignores me and walks out onto the back patio. I follow. Mallory is on the floor, crossed-legged, playing with Dylan and smiling so brightly at him that it makes my heart feel warm and gooey in my chest. I love her for loving him.
"Mal, why don't you go grab a shower?" Tenley suggests and sits down next to her on the patio tiles. "I know you didn't have a chance to grab one before we left for the lab. I can watch him."
“I can watch him too!” I sound like a jealous boyfriend.
Mallory glances up at me and then at Tenley. “That would be epic, thanks.”
“And grab one of the fancy juices. They’re delicious.” I kick Tenley lightly in the back as Mallory heads upstairs.
I drop down on the couch and tip right over as I watch Tenley and Dylan play on the floor in front of me. I’m exhausted. My muscles ache from the road trip games. I’m also growing more and more hungry by the minute. But all I want to do is watch Tenley and my son. They seem so… comfortable and easy with each other, nothing like how he is with me. I study them like I’ll be able to unearth some kind of secret code.
“He feels your hesitation,” Tenley announces like she’s reading my mind. Because I swear she’s a freaking witch. “He knows you’re freaked out by him.”
“I’m… not anymore. I mean, I just… what the fuck do I know about being a dad?” I rake my hands into my hair and stare at the palm fronds hanging over my privacy fence.
“The same thing every first-time father knows,” Tenley laughs. “Absolutely sweet fuck all.”
“But at least other dads got a chance to prep. They saw it coming.”
“Mostly. Probably. Yeah.” She shoots me a small grin. “I know this throws a wrench in your carefully mapped out life plan, Tate, and you’ve never done anything by accident, but well, you just need to get over it.”
She’s not wrong, but I somehow still hate that she’s right.
Tenley stares at me for a long moment and then she grabs my hands in hers and squeezes them. “You’ve got this. All of this. You just have to be honest with yourself, take it one day at a time, and not just accept help but ask for it.”
“I’ve got Mallory for help. For now.”
"You two need to talk," Tenley replies letting go of my hands and standing up. "Mallory cares about that little boy more than anything. If he needs her, she'll be there. And she'll also be there foryouif you let her. If you can just stop protecting your fucking heart like it's Fort Knox."
“Excuse me?”
“You’re a lone wolf, Tate,” Tenley announces her hands on her hips and her eyes fierce. “The Garrisons are a pack but you’ve always been the lone wolf. You never really let anyone in. Even your friends, which is why now that you need help you don’t think there’s anyone you’re close enough with to ask for it. Because you don’t ever let anyone really, truly,in. So let her in. As a friend if nothing else.”
I try to think of an argument to throw back at Tenley but I don’t have one. She’s right. I am a lone wolf and I’ve always loved how I could handle anything on my own. But this situation is impossible to handle alone. I need help. I need Mallory.
“Well, can you help me convince her to stay and help me?” I ask and that gets me one of Tenley’s trademarked sarcastic laughs.
“Oh hell no.” She pats my shoulder. “But what I will do is take Dylan for a stroll to the beach so you two can have the conversation uninterrupted.”
She plucks Dylan off his playmat and walks into the house and I follow. “I don’t know if you should be alone with him, in public.”
"I'm not going to do anything that would risk my nephew," Tenley replies, and the casual way she says nephew causes a lump to instantly appear in my throat. I really love hearing her say that. She walks to the bottom of the stairs. “Mal! I’m gonna take Dyllie Bear for a stroll.”
