Initiative

  “What will you tell Kyle?”

  He shrugged. “Nothing. He’s got a bedtime. I’ll simply wait until after he goes to bed and I’ll leave. I’m usually gone first in the morning anyway. Even if he did notice, it wouldn’t be the first time I’d gone out on a date with someone while he’s here. Although that hasn’t happened for a while.”

  “Since you and Darryl became an item.”

  Grant smirked. “Exactly.” He glanced out the front windows. “Okay, they’re here. Now, please, relax. All right?”

  “Yes, Sir. I’ll try.”

  He smirked. “And try to remember not to call me ‘Sir’ around him.”

  “Oops. Sorry, Sir.”

  He let out a sigh.

  * * * *

  Darryl had swung back and forth through the full range of emotions while driving to pick up Kyle. Pass Susie off as just a friend? Pass her off as Grant’s new girlfriend?

  He didn’t know what the right answer was. All he knew was he had to figure out a way to make this work. He definitely didn’t want to do anything to put his relationship with his son in jeopardy, but dammit, didn’t he deserve a little happiness for a change?

  Besides, it was all he could do to stick to the promise he’d made himself that he’d never stoop to Chelsey’s level. He’d never, not once, bad-mouthed her in front of Kyle. Hell, he’d changed far more diapers than she had, and yet she wanted to go for full custody? She’d moved a guy into the house—their house—and he was living with her and helping pay expenses, but he had to pay her alimony? When she made more than him? And she’d filed for the divorce?

  Fortunately, not a lot of alimony, and it wouldn’t last much longer, but still, it grated on him.

  And, to add insult to injury, he had to pretend not to be in a relationship with the love of his life?

  He’d been a faithful husband. He’d taken care of their son, raised their son, taken care of their house. Yes, she made more money than he did teaching private lessons, but it had allowed him the freedom to volunteer at Kyle’s school, get him into sports and Scouting, all those kinds of things.

  If he’d known at the time he was looking for an Owner and not a spouse, he might have approached things a lot differently.

  Okay, sure, yes, he’d had fantasies about Grant in high school. He’d shoved them back, because hell, he’d had equally hot fantasies about Susie.

  Had he known back then that “bi” was a thing, he might have been a little slower to marry Chelsey when she batted her eyes at him.

  Kyle was ready to go when Darryl pulled into the driveway, not even getting the car shifted into park before his son dashed out the front door and to the car.

  He threw his stuff into the back seat and slid into the front. “Hey.”

  “Hey, kiddo. You all right?”

  Kyle wore a dark frown. “Same stuff, different day. What’s for dinner? I’m starved.”

  He backed out of the driveway. “Grant’s making pork chops.”

  “Oh, I love his pork chops.”

  Better sooner rather than later… “Um, we’re going to have another guest tonight, too.”

  Caution entered Kyle’s tone. “Who?”

  “Well, we went to our high school reunion this weekend. Remember our friend we’ve talked about? Susie? We used to hang out together all the time.”

  “Yeah. The gamer chick, right?”

  Close enough. “Yes, her. She’s joining us for dinner tonight.”

  “Cool. Is her husband coming?”

  “She’s widowed.”

  “Oh.” He stared out the window for a moment. “You know I don’t like Greg, right?”

  “I know. You’ve told me.”

  “I don’t like how he talks about you with Mom. They think I can’t hear them and I can. Like they think you’re a joke.” He looked at Darryl. “I know she cheated on you, Dad.”

  He had to struggle to keep his focus on the road. “I really don’t think this is something that we should ta—”

  “No, I want to talk about it.” Kyle turned toward him. “I get it. You’re trying to be nice. Mom’s not a nice person, okay? Not when it comes to you. The only reason she was being a bitch about the custody—”

  “Please don’t use that word about your mom.”

  “Okay, fine. The only reason she was being a witch about custody was because she wanted you to have to pay child support and didn’t want to have to pay you alimony or child support. I heard them talking with the lawyer. He’s a friend of Greg’s. That’s why she did it like that, because she’s cheap.”

  Darryl finally pulled over into a parking lot, because it was that or risk an accident. He wanted to give Kyle his full attention anyway.

  “What’s going on? Why are you bringing this up now?”

  “She used you, Dad. Okay? Tell your lawyer to nail her to the wall. She deserves it.”

  “What happened?”

  He sat back in his seat and stared at his hands for a moment. “Greg was on the phone talking to someone last week. He was out in the backyard and I could hear him. They’re just trying to figure out how to keep getting money out of you to pay for stuff so they don’t have to. Whoever he was talking to, he was bragging to them about that.”

  Yes, Darryl realized in retrospect how cold his ex-wife could be, and a gold-digger in some respects, but he never thought those ways extended to her child.

  “What are you asking me to do?” Kyle was almost thirteen, for crying out loud. He flashed back and forth from hating one of them or the other almost on a daily basis sometimes.

  Unfortunately, this spell was lasting way longer than others and didn’t seem to show signs of lifting anytime soon.

  “I know you don’t have a lot of money right now, but would Grant be okay with it if I moved in, too?”

  “Yes, he would. He’s already told you that. But you know your mother would fight you on it.”

  “My friend Kelly, at school, her parents got divorced and she decided she wanted to go live with her dad. She’s twelve. So am I. Her dad fought it and won because she told the judge exactly why she wanted to live with her dad.”

  He also suspected that Chelsey would fight tooth and nail simply so she could keep getting the alimony and child support. If Kyle lived with him full-time, not only would she lose that, she’d have to start paying Darryl.

  That would piss her off.

  “We’ll talk about it,” he said. “Not tonight. Let’s enjoy having company tonight, all right?”

  “Okay. Does she have a job?”

  “Who, Susie?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Yes, and that’s not really polite to ask.”

  “Is she your girlfriend?”

  “That’s not polite, either. The three of us used to be really close friends until we lost touch. We didn’t know she lived in the area. Her husband died two years ago, and please don’t ask her about that tonight, either, okay? It still upsets her.”

  “Oh. Sorry.”

  “But yes, she has a job. A good job. She owns a car dealership.”

  “She’s rich?”

  He shifted the car into gear. “Again, not a topic of discussion, Kyle.”

  Holy crap. Dinner should be interesting.

  * * * *

  Susie’s car was already parked in the driveway behind Grant’s when Darryl pulled in. When Kyle reached for the door handle, Darryl stopped him.

  “Please, be polite. You have manners. I know, because I taught them to you. She’s a very nice woman, and she’s a friend of ours. We’ve really missed her and we feel badly that we didn’t know she was widowed.”

  “Is she the same one you and Grant went to prom with? In that old picture you have?”

  “Yes, that’s her.”

  “Oh.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “You guys looked really happy in that picture. Like you were having fun.”

  “We were, and we did.”

  He pondered something else before speaking. “You didn?
??t start looking happy again like that until you and Mom got divorced and you were living at Grant’s. It’s like you got fun again. You know Mom never liked Grant, right?”

  “Yes, I know.” It’d been a major source of contention throughout their marriage.

  Only in retrospect did Grant finally figure it out first, pegging Chelsey as a very dominant person. She likely reacted badly to him because she could never manipulate Grant, and Grant frequently stood up to her on Darryl’s behalf.

  “I like Grant,” Kyle said. “I like being here. It’s not tense like it used to be at home when you guys were still married.”

  It took Darryl a second to untangle that statement, at first mistakenly thinking that Kyle meant him and Grant being…married.

  “I won’t discuss what went on between your mom and me,” Darryl said. “You’re my son, and you’re a kid, and—”

  “Yeah, yeah, Dad. I know.” He held up air quotes. “‘Respect.’ Which is stupid because she doesn’t give a darn about you.”

  “Well, it doesn’t matter. I know you love your mom.”

  “I just don’t like her,” he muttered.

  Darryl sat back. “This is more than overhearing a phone call. What is going on? Really?”

  Kyle hesitated again. “She screwed up her phone again last week and asked me to fix it for her. I saw where she’s been texting like four other guys besides Greg. Greg thinks he’s so smart, but she’s been cheating on him, too. Does she love me? Yeah, I guess so, but she had a funny way of showing it. And she’s not ‘working’ two nights a week doing west-coast sales calls. She’s going out with guys. Greg’s an idiot.”

  Darryl knew he had two options. Rat out his son and tell Chelsey to use someone else for tech support, or keep his mouth shut and let her screw herself?

  He knew what he “should” do, but then again…

  Fuck her.

  “If you really want to move in with me full-time, I’m going to have to talk to my attorney about it first and find out what we can do. Your mom will probably fight me on it.”

  “Not if I tell her I’ll tell Greg about her guys on the side.” He snorted. “I took screenshots and texted them to myself for proof.”

  How can the kid be so damn smart, and yet not be clued in about me and Grant?

  Or, maybe he was and he was keeping his mouth shut because he didn’t care and because he really didn’t want to live with Chelsey any longer.

  “School starts in a month. Let’s get through that, first. Meanwhile, I’ll talk to my lawyer and we’ll go from there. Okay?”

  And in that time Kyle might have decided Chelsey was fine and he was the antichrist. Five or six times, as a matter of fact.

  Although this time did sound far different than ever before.

  “Fine.” It didn’t sound like Kyle thought it was fine, but Darryl suspected his son wasn’t going to argue the point any longer.

  “Let’s get inside. I hope you like Susie. She’s going to start playing D and D with us again.”

  “I wish Mom would let me play.”

  “Me, too, kiddo.” It wasn’t that Chelsey didn’t want Kyle to play, she just wanted to interfere with Darryl having yet another activity to do with his son. She’d come up with the same roadblock about other activities as well. The gang had even offered to move gaming to another night so Kyle could start playing with them when Chelsey’s excuse had been that she couldn’t change her schedule.

  Then she’d had excuse after excuse, which Darryl knew meant that even if the gang changed the day every week—which wasn’t fair to them—Chelsey would still manage to find a way to fuck things up for Kyle.

  * * * *

  Grant had counseled Susie to hang back and let Kyle get in the door before doing the introductions, but Kyle apparently dropped all his stuff in the front hall and made a beeline for the kitchen.

  He immediately hugged Grant and then walked over to her.

  He was the spitting image of Darryl. Hell, she could be looking at a slightly younger version of the kid she’d gone to high school with.

  It took her breath away.

  He stuck out his hand. “Dad told me about you. I’m Kyle. Nice to meet you.”

  Darryl stood in the kitchen doorway with a nearly frantic look on his face that she didn’t have time to interpret. That, or Grant’s furrowed brow as he looked from Darryl to Kyle and back again.

  She shook with Kyle. “It’s very nice to meet you, too, Kyle. I’m Susie Costello. Your dad told me a lot about you this weekend.”

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Well, sure. I guess.”

  “Are you dating anyone?”

  “Whoa, Kyle!” Both men jumped in. “Buddy,” Darryl said, “that’s rude.”

  “It’s an honest question,” Kyle said. He looked at her. “My mom cheated on Dad, and now she’s cheating on her boyfriend. I’m tired of people lying about stuff.”

  She had no fucking clue what to say to that.

  Susie finally opted, despite Grant and Darryl’s protestations and apologies, to answer the question.

  She met Kyle’s brown gaze. “I’m widowed,” she said. “Honestly? Until I reconnected with your dad and Grant this past weekend, I didn’t have much in the way of friends or fun. Some of my old friends still play D and D with them, and I’m going to start playing again. Darryl and Grant know my situation, and I know theirs, and you’ll probably be seeing a lot of me around here because I’ve been really, really lonely. It was nice to get back together with them and not feel alone anymore. But I promise, I won’t lie to them, or to you.”

  The two men stood behind Kyle, their faces mirrors of shock that would have made her laugh if it wasn’t for Kyle standing right there.

  Kyle apparently needed a moment to digest that. “Sorry I’m being rude,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at Darryl. “I’m really upset at my mom. I just wish things would settle down.”

  “My parents fought all the time before they got divorced,” she admitted.

  “They did?”

  “Yeah. Ask these two guys. They heard them. A lot. They finally got divorced when I was in high school.”

  “I don’t understand why she’s got to lie.”

  “I don’t have the answer for you. I’m sorry. Sometimes, adults do stupid things. We’re not perfect.”

  Kyle finally nodded. “Okay.”

  With that, he headed out of the kitchen.

  She leaned against the counter. “What…the…actual…fuck?” she mouthed at the men.

  Grant and Darryl shrugged.

  It was some small measure of comfort that both men looked as confused as she felt by the encounter.

  Yet with that out of his system, Kyle acted like a charming, funny, smart kid for the rest of the evening. During dinner, he asked her questions about running a dealership, and about things the three of them used to do in high school.

  By the time dinner ended, Susie had mostly forgotten about the weird way it’d started. Kyle was pleased to find out that she enjoyed a lot of the same movies and TV shows he and the men did.

  “Go get your shower, kiddo,” Darryl said after Kyle had helped them clean up the kitchen and load the dishwasher.

  Once he was gone, and they’d heard the shower start a few minutes later, Susie leaned against the counter, wide-eyed. “Well?”

  Grant looked at Darryl. “What happened?”

  Darryl filled them in. When he finished, Grant swore. “That goddamned bitch,” he muttered.

  “I think once he gets out of the shower,” she said, “I should probably leave. If you think you should stay here tonight and not come to my place, I’m okay with that.”

  “No, it’s okay,” Darryl said. “He won’t be up in the morning until after Grant’s gone for work anyway.”

  Grant pulled them together for a group hug. “We’ll get through this together,” he said. “We’ll figure it out as we go.”

  “I hope he doesn’t come to hate me,??
? Susie said.

  “He won’t,” Darryl assured her. “He’s just upset right now.”

  In fact, later, Kyle seemed disappointed that she was leaving so early.

  “She’ll come over for dinner tomorrow night,” Darryl told him. “We’re going to help her roll up her new character for the game.”

  “Cool.” He tipped his head as he stared at her. “I’m sorry I was rude earlier. I like you. I think you’re nice.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “I like you, too. And it’s okay. I understand parents can make you feel crazy.” She nudged Darryl with her elbow. “These guys should remember that.”

  When she got home, she immediately started hunting through her closets until she found the box she was looking for. As she sat on the floor in the spare bedroom and opened it, she smiled when she found her dice bag right on top. A black canvas zipper pouch with a white Hello Kitty on it. Inside, her old polyhedral dice, several different sets in a wide variety of colors, as well as extra six-, eight-, and twenty-sided dice.

  “Hey, boys. We’re baaack.” She zipped the case closed and set it aside. The men had told her they were playing a newer version of D and D than she still had books and modules for, so she set those aside and kept digging.

  Then she found her high school yearbooks, and the pictures tucked inside.

  Including the one from prom.

  She smiled as she stared at the three kids smiling for the camera. Who knew twenty years later where they’d be? There was Grant and those intense blue eyes of his, and Darryl and his sweet smile, their arms slung around her and each other, chins resting on her shoulders.

  Perfection back then.

  She packed everything away except her dice and the pictures and slid the box back into the closet. The rest she took out to the kitchen, laying them on the counter. She’d need to get the pictures framed.

  Between college, her whirlwind romance with John, and then working like crazy, those memories had just gotten…lost. Misplaced.

  As she stood there, she realized she hadn’t gone through her usual routine. She had completely bypassed the front table and her cuffs and collar waiting there.