I shift my attention to Meredith. “I asked you to set the table, not to give up a fundamental right.”
Meredith shifts her weight onto one leg like she’s settling in for a debate. “Why did you ask me instead of Cade?”
“Because you’re the one standing in front of the cutlery drawer.”
“That is the worst reason of life, Dad.”
“It’s not. Now, can we hurry this up and get the table set?” I say, my impatience flaring.
Meredith has other ideas. She doesn’t move. “Are you aware of just how often you ask me to do jobs around the house that have been historically performed by women in the domestic space?”
Christ.
“I’m aware that our breakfast is going cold the longer we stand here and argue over this,” I say. When she continues to stare at me like she’s got a fuckload more of this to hit me with, I jerk my chin at her and say, “Go and sit at the table. I’ll set the damn thing.”
She sighs. “No, I’ll do it. But you missed the entire point.”
Lily brushes past me on her way to the fridge, her fingers curling around my wrist briefly, squeezing me before letting me go.
I catch Cade’s smirk as his sister gathers cutlery from the drawer.
Jabbing my finger at him, I say, “Help her please.”
He lifts his hands in a defensive manner before moving towards the drawer, still fucking grinning at me. “Far be it from me to support the systemic inequality that exists in this house.”
Meredith gives her brother a filthy glare and the two of them begin one of their heated discussions that will likely last throughout breakfast.
“Travis!” I bellow. “Get your ass out here.”
Lily’s hand ghosts across my back as she moves past me. “I’ll go get him.”
I watch her leave the kitchen, my eyes glued to her ass. She’s got the tight jeans on today that never fail to get me hard. Hell, who am I fucking kidding? Lily gets me hard, full stop. She doesn’t need jeans to do that.
“Dad,” Meredith says, her voice raised and filled with impatience like she’s been trying to get my attention. “Did you hear what I said?”
I look at her. “No. What did you say?”
She gives me another roll of her eyes as she finishes laying the cutlery out on the table. Years of those fucking eye rolls from all our kids have made me almost immune to them. It’s certainly armed me with the ability to ignore them most of the time, saving all of us from World War III. “Jewel’s coming to Sydney next weekend. Can she stay here?”
“No.”
Meredith frowns. “Ookaay, that wasn’t weird at all. She always stays here.”
She’s right. J and Madison’s daughter almost always stays here when she’s in Sydney for one of her sporting competitions. Our daughters have been close since they were toddlers. “Your mother and I are planning a weekend away.”
“So, what’s that got to do with Jewel staying here?”
“You’re not staying here without your mother and me.” At the look on her face that says she’s got a solid argument already brewing over that, I say, “End of story.”
Meredith looks at Cade as he sits at the table. “Cade will be here. We can stay with him.”
I shake my head. “No.”
Meredith sits next to Cade. “Why not?”
“Because I said so.”
“Again, the worst reason of life for anything,” she says. “Give me a strong reason.”
