My hope is to swing by and take Brooklyn to a late breakfast or early lunch.
This is the distraction I need from Ryder as I wonder about the relationship between James and Alison. He seems like an everyday sort of guy. And since I already know Al is the devil incarnate, I’m left to guess if this gets serious, she’d most likely marry again. The extravagant amount of alimony I pay would end, and she may have to work for a living if that were the case. Maybe James is rich, and the problem won’t be mine anymore. But fuck, Alison’s happiness is directly linked to Brooklyn’s, so in turn, it does make it my concern. I’ll never rid myself of the snake.
But as I’ve thought of Alison, even as unpleasant as she is, it helps me forget about Ry for at least five minutes. Here I go again, thinking of the one person besides my daughter who brings me joy in this world.
I’m three sets into my weight training when the door to the locker room opens, and Brooks and Dunn are silenced. I’m about to string this someone up by his balls when the familiar face of the man who invades my thoughts pops his head over the weight bench.
“I should have known it was you, pretty boy. You grew up outside of Nashville, yet you still listen to garbage.”
His chuckle begins deep in his chest, but as it escapes, my gym shorts are doing nothing for how he turns me on.
“Garbage? Really? Dogs, tractors, and whiskey. That’s what you choose to listen to, big country.”
He helps me rack the free bench weights as I sit up about to show him who is big. But I move the opposite direction so he doesn’t see how his words have caused a certain part of me to grow.
“I thought I’d be the only one here,” he continues, moving to the treadmill. “And honestly, I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me after you hightailed it out of my house like a tiger was after you.”
I’m not ready to admit what I want, not here and certainly not at the training facility. “I was just tired. It had hit me quick.”
He steps off his treadmill as though he’ll challenge me, but then he turns back around, popping in his AirPods and setting his phone to something. He’s going to block out the world while he trains. It’s a good idea, and I make it back to the sound system to adjust the volume. I begin singing along to old-school country songs by the Nitty Gritty Dirt band, all the while our eyes meet every once in a while.
He smiles at me, and at times, when I twist my head to his, I swear he’s checking out my ass. Does Ry still have feelings for me? Could it be this simple? Could I really justify possibly losing Brooklyn over falling deep for Ry? With all these questions swirling around in my mind, I know the answers. And am I using Brooklyn as a crutch? In this day and age, I can’t see Alison able to remove my paternal rights because of my sexuality. But then again, Alison is the devil’s bitch, so there’s that.
I’m laughing quietly to myself over all the different derogatory names I hold for my ex-wife when out of the corner of my eye, I sense his eyes on me. Swinging my sight to him, he’s giving me a goofy-ass grin. “What has you laughing by yourself over there?” Ry asks.
He’s back to talking to me. I deserve his silent treatment because I was a pussy bitch last night. “You’ll think it’s silly,” I reply.
“I highly doubt that, big country. Hit me, I need a laugh, too.”
“I was just thinking of the many ways I can call Alison Satan.”
He doubles over. “Oh, with my help, I’m sure we can come up with a couple of thousand.”
The air is light between us again, and it’s where I want it to stay.
It’s one p.m. by the time I’ve showered and changed. Hearing back from Alison, she’s in some need of alone time and has granted me access to Brooklyn. “Hey, Ry?” I call for him loud enough that he can hear me in the showers.
He’d specifically waited for me to shower first before he had. Even with the private stalls, he thought it wise to wait. He comes out, wrapped in a towel, just enough for him to hear me.
“Yeah?”
“I’m taking Brooklyn out for a late lunch. Care to join us?”
He scrubs his hand over his face. I didn’t think it would be a hard sell, not after all the tension was alleviated earlier. “I don’t want to cause problems between Al and you.”
I forgot I’d told him about Al’s reaction to him. “I don’t give a fuck about Alison. She brought a man over unannounced. Plus, I’m not sleeping with you, so I’m technically not going against our rules.”
I didn’t think there’s much I can say to Ry to cause him to flush, but he does with my sentence and instantly hides the lower part of his body, farther around the corner.
“I guess if you say so. I’m game to hang out with your sassy princess today.”
“Ah, sassy princess, it’s certainly a name befitting of her,” I reply.
“Yeah, text me the address, and I’ll meet you there.”
And it’s then I know exactly what I want to do with my best friend and daughter this afternoon.
When we pull up to my house, Brooklyn is all squeals when she notices Ry leaning up against his flashy Lamborghini. It goes with all his fucking loud paisley suits.
“Mista Ryda here, Pops.”
Part of me wants to tell her not to share this with her mother, but I’ll never foster this sort of deception into my child. I’m positive it’ll come naturally without me showing her it’s okay to lie.
“I know, I thought we’d go swimming today and order some pizza? How would you like that?”
“I like Mista Ryda. He nice to you. I like peepa nice to you.”
Is this a little hint that she witnesses how her mother treats me? I won’t touch this because, at the end of the day, Alison is her mother.
“Yeah, I like it when people are nice to me, too.” I hop out of the truck just in time for Ry to have opened the back door. Brooklyn jumps at him, and he catches her in his large arms. “You better catch my balls like that, too, pretty boy.”
It doesn’t dawn on me what I’ve said until he begins choking. “Pops, Ryda choke, you gotta hit him on his back.”
He waves me off from slugging him on the back with a small chuckle. “I’m fine. Just something your daddy said was funny, that’s all.”
I give him a little side shrug, pleading with my brain to say something else, anything. “She’s sure taken with you, Ry. After just two days, she may like you almost as much as me.”
“What can I say? I’m lovable.”
He sure as fuck is. This is a fact, but I can’t verbally agree with him. Not yet.
Ry is still at my home when I return from dropping Brooklyn off at her mother’s just in time for bed. I’d asked him to hang out a little bit longer, but I wasn’t sure why I wanted him near me. Oh, yeah, I realize how he unnerves me, but I’m a better man when I’m with him.
He’s lying on the couch with a book in his hands, reading. I’ve known this man a long fucking time, and sure, I’ve missed six years of his life, but I’ve never seen him read for fun.
“Have you taken up a new hobby, pretty boy?”
He holds the book in my line of sight, and as I approach, I realize what he’s got his hands on. I thought I’d put it behind lock and key for the sake of Brooklyn. And at my horror, I realize I’d shelved it, one night, up high on my built-in bookshelves and had a picture of my brother with his daughters in front of it to hide the spine of the book.