“Seriously, Theo. Fuck off.” I stomped back into the house and only emerged an hour later when Mike called to say they were outside.
He rolled up in a Rolls Royce Cullinan and Theo let out a low whistle as he followed me out. “Okay, that’s not a downgrade.”
The driver stepped out, handing me the keys while Mike strode up to shake my hand. “She’s fully loaded. The safest option we’ve got.”
I nodded. “Perfect. Thank you. I know this was short notice.”
“I guess it’s a good thing I always keep emergency family cars on the lot,” he joked, then shook my hand again. “Enjoy the trip, Zach. And let me know if you need anything. I’m just a phone call away.”
Once he and the driver had taken off to the waiting car that would be taking them back to his lot, Theo circled the Rolls Royce like he was inspecting a rare artifact. “You’re really becoming a dad. I can’t believe it.”
“I’m not.”
“You bought a family SUV.”
“I procured a vehicle that offers the space I need,” I argued lightly.
He smirked. “For yourfamily.”
“It’s just a road trip, Theo.”
“That’s how it starts,” he said sagely. “Hey, can I have the XKE now?”
“Absolutely not.”
He shrugged. “Okay, but fatherhood looks good on you.”
I flipped him off, but he just laughed as I turned back to the car and finally popped my suitcase in the trunk. Bear and his stuff came next. I was only ten minutes late by the time I pulledup outside Adeline’s building, which wasn’t bad considering I had needed to purchase a new vehicle.
I was suddenly having a crisis of confidence, thought, which had never happened to me before. Thanks to Theo’s comments, I was now smack bang in the middle of a storm of doubts. I had no idea how I’d became a man responsible for transporting two small children, two grown women, and all of their necessities for two weeks.
The Rolls Royce was awesome. That definitely wasn’t part of my sudden mental breakdown. It idled quietly at the curb, looking completely out of place in front of the worn apartment building. The issue was more amething than a car thing.
I strode up to Adeline’s building, straightening my jacket and hoping it might make me feel less like an imposter, but it didn’t work. The door opened before I’d even reached it and Amber popped her head out to look at the car.
“Do you have booster seats?” she asked instead of commenting on my fancy new ride. “I don’t see any.”
“Yeah, I, uh, I wasn’t sure the girls still needed them,” I said. “Do they?”
“Yes.” She stepped out of the building and peered at the backseat like she expected seats to spontaneously appear. “Well, do you have any?”
“No.”
She pursed her lips, clearly unimpressed as she shook her head and kept grilling me. “You can’t just put children in a car and hope for the best. I thought you would’ve included them in your planning.”
I opened my mouth but quickly snapped it shut again in favor of reconsidering my entire existence rather than respond. Finally, when she turned to me with both of her eyebrows arched like she expected an explanation, I shook my head.
“I’m not just hoping for the best and I did include them in my planning,” I said. “I’m just unprepared, I suppose.”
“You suppose?” She scoffed. “You showed up with a dog and without seats.”
“At least the car has space for them,” I countered. “That has to count for something.”
“The car doesn’t matter if they can’t safely be transported in it,” she retorted. “Seriously, Zach. What were you thinking? You want to drive them all the way from Chicago to Wisconsin without securing them properly?”
I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck, feeling the edges of an unfamiliar sensation creeping up on me. Overwhelm. The sheer amount of planning it took to cart two children around had completely evaded me until today.
“Everything is fine,” Adeline said from behind us. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be just fine.”
