“Okay, yeah. I get that.” He crosses the room until he’s in front of me, his expression turning serious. “Is it weird? For you, I mean?”
I think on that for a moment. “Is it bad if it feels natural? I was nervous, but something about Dee makes me feel at ease. It’s like I already know her, which doesn’t make sense at all. It just feels right.”
“Good,” he says with a firm nod. “Be yourself. She’ll either like you or run for miles. And hey, if this works out, you might end up on one of her videos.”
I reach out and cup his shoulder. “I can tell you right now that it will never happen, whatever the outcome. But it certainly helps that you’re being so okay with all of this.”
Jake rolls his eyes. “Dad. Mom passed away, and that sucks—it’ll always suck—but she didn’t want us to put our lives on hold and not be happy. Of all people, you know that.”
That I do. “Love ya, kid.”
“Love you too. Now go. You never leave a lady waiting. Don’t you know that?”
“Your grandmothers have taught you well.”
Jake’s lips curl into a smirk. “That one came from Pop actually. He said he wooed Nana Nora from the first day he met her.”
I laugh and shake my head. “Yep. That’s definitely my dad. You staying home?”
“Well, since I’m not sitting my license for a few more weeks, I figure I’ll hang out here and catch up on homework.”
“Be good then. I left money on the counter for you to order in.”
“Nice. Now hurry before you really are late.”
I hold my hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. I’m going.”
“Remember to woo, Dad. And open doors for her. Chicks love that,” he calls out as I walk along the hall.
I snort. “Says the single kid.”
“I choose to be single. I’m waiting for a showstopper, like Uncle Marco.”
“Bye, Jake.”
“Woo, Dad. And don’t scare her off.”
Good to know my kid has confidence in me. But as far as supporting me in this new stage in my life—dating—he’s a cheerleader, life coach, and wingman all wrapped in one. I thought he fluked it with giving advice to Marco when he first met Renee, but now he’s moved his good intentions on to me. He’ll probably make sure all of us guys are hooked up and settled down before he starts college. Heaven help us all!
Thirty minutes later, I pull my SUV into a parking space outside a renovated two-story home. It’s not so different from my own house. Mine is still a work in progress though. It’s the same house Lily and I bought when she was pregnant with Jake. Jake and I made a deal after we lost Lils that we’d finish it by the time he left for college.
Not that I’d ever sell it. There’s too much history and far too many memories. I often think about how good it would be for Jake to raise his own family in the house one day.
Now it’s time to potentially make new memories. With that in the forefront of my mind, I lock the car and walk up the path to the porch. I’m about to knock when the door swings open and a man looking strikingly similar to Harvey appears.
“Hey, you must be Rhodes. I’m Flynn,” he says, holding out his hand.
I shake it and smile, relieved he’s not making this weirder than it has to be. It makes sense he’d be here since Dee said he had a standing date with Harvey on Sundays. “Yep. That’s me.”
Silence stretches between us. We both stand there, looking at each other.
“Oh, shit, sorry. Do you wanna come in? Dee’s in the bedroom finishing getting ready.”
I laugh and rub the back of my neck, stepping inside behind my date’s ex-husband. “It’s okay. We both know this is kind of awkward, right?”
Flynn snorts. “Honestly, yeah, it’s the first time I’ve had to deal with meeting the guy dating Dee, but that’s to be expected when we share a house, right?”
I open my mouth to reply but freeze at his revelation. Thank fuck I cover quickly. “Right. I guess that makes sense with Harvey and all.”
Flynn’s gaze narrows slightly before widening. “Oh fuck. You didn’t know, did you?” He scrubs his mouth. “Damn. I dumped her in it. Look, sorry, but it is just a living arrangement. It works for us, it works for Harvey, and I’ve got a girlfriend that I’m kinda crazy about. So please don’t feel threatened or go all alpha dog on me,” he says, his lips twitching.
How can I hate this guy now? “Thanks for explaining it. I’m surprised, but I’m sure Dee meant to tell me.”
“To be fair, Harvs and I should’ve left by now. You’ve kinda been blindsided, but it was completely unintentional.”
“You know, you’re making it hard for me not to like you?” I say, making him laugh.
“Good. Because you’re the first guy Dee has gone out on a date with in two years, so I’m glad you’re not a dick either.”
Footsteps grab my attention, and when I look up I meet Dee’s slow-growing smile as she walks down the staircase toward us, her eyes going from soft and warm to wide and worried when her gaze shifts to a grinning Flynn leaning against the wall. “Oh fuck.”
“That’s what I said,’ Flynn said.
“Um . . . I mean . . .” Dee’s gaze switches between me and her ex, before fixing on me as she reaches the entryway, all color drained from her face. “Okay. Flynn, this is Rhodes. Rhodes, this is Flynn.”
My lips twitch. “We’ve met.”
“Oh, yeah, right. Shit. Okay. Um . . . it’s kind of a big deal to say ‘by the way, I live with my ex-husband and we co-parent our son together.’ It’s not exactly pre-first-date conversation.”
She’s not wrong.
“True.” I drag my eyes over her face then down her body and back up again, my lips curving into a hopefully reassuring smile, because right now Dee looks like she wants to run back into her room and lock the door. Reaching out, I lace my fingers with hers and give her a gentle squeeze. “It helps that Flynn doesn’t think I’m a dick either.”
Dee’s narrowed gaze jerks Flynn’s way. “What did you say? Flynn Michael Duncan, I swear—”
I chuckle and shake my head. “As far as meeting ex-husbands on a first date goes, this is a first for me, but he was gentle, I swear.”
She scrunches her nose and meets my gaze. “You’re . . . okay with this?”
“Well, he’s not a dick either, so once I got past the shock, it was all good.”
“Yeah.”
“You look gorgeous, by the way.”
Dee steps back, not letting go of my hand as she looks me up and down slowly in the same way I did to her. She shrugs. “You’ll do.” A smile tugging at her perfect, pink-painted lips. There’s this pull to Dee that I didn’t expect, and in person, it’s so much more powerful than when I was mesmerized by her eyes and her infectious smile in her videos.
Flynn clears his throat, and as if in slow motion, both Dee and I slowly swing our heads his way as Harvey comes running down the hallway toward us. “Hey, Rhodes. Hey, Mom. Hey . . . Dad?” the boy says, his eyes switching between the three of us. “Is Jake here too?”