He swats my hand away and stands.
“Eleven.”
I laugh.
“My bad.”
He grabs my phone off the patio table and tosses it into my lap.
“Call her.”
Then he heads into the house, and I sit there in shock.
When the hell did my son become my own personal wingman?
* * *
The bread is burning, smoke coming from the oven, by the time Grey opens the front door to let Greer in.
I hear her and Grey talking but have no idea what they’re saying as I try to wave the smoke away and hope that the alarms don’t go off.
“Don’t worry, Dad, Greer brought food too. We won’t starve.”
I cast a quick glare at my son before my eyes meet Greer’s, who is smiling. The frustration I’m having with dinner fades. Everything about her being here tonight is different, and I can already feel the peace she’s brought me in just the few seconds she’s been in this room.
“I’m gonna go finish my game,” Grey yells when he’s already halfway down the hall headed for the stairs.
“Do you want help?” Greer asks, setting the dish in her arms down.
“Any chance that’s a full meal?”
“Nope.”
She rubs my back with one hand while the other lifts the towel I’d placed over the bread to hide it.
“Charred, my favorite,” she teases.
I pinch her side and she yelps, but I kiss her before she can say something else snappy. The bread might be burned, but the spaghetti will be perfect. That’s a hard dish to mess up.
Greer rises to her toes to kiss me back, and I wrap my arms around her to hold her.
“Are you sure it’s okay that I’m here?” she asks quietly.
“Yes.” I nod toward the stairs. “You know as well as I do that he has his headphones on and can’t hear us.”
“I know, but I feel like this would be a bad impression for him.”
She’s not wrong.
“He just thinks I have a crush on you.”
“Ah,” she says with a smirk.
“I also think he had ulterior motives to invite you here.” I stir the sauce and lean into her. “He kissed a girl. My kid kissed a girl at this age. I don’t even think that was on my mind back then.”
Greer pats my shoulder.
“Don’t read too much into it. He kissed her and ran away.”
