“Different?” I looked up at him. “Different how?”
“Well, the last two that I had together—”
“Wait!” I held my hand up to stop him. “You had two? At once?”
He shrugged again casually, as if this was an okay thing. “I hired the one and discovered she couldn’t do her job, so hired another one to help her.”
My jaw fell open and I stared at him.
“I was desperate,” he said defensively.
“Two at once!” I gasped.
“It wasn’t as good as I thought it would be . . .” He turned and smiled at me. It was playful and sexy.
I smiled back and then my body started to lean, all on its own. I had no control over it. My arm slid across the center console and rubbed against his elbow. Silence. A sweet, soft silence that seemed warm and familiar.
“She’s really sweet, Emmy,” I said as we approached our destination.
“She is,” he said. “She’s been through a lot.”
“She has. It’s going to be hard for her.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of, and I don’t really know how to make it better.”
“You can’t make it better,” I said sympathetically. “All you can do is be there for her when she needs you.”
“I’m trying. But I don’t think I’m getting it right.”
“She’s a teenage girl, Ryan. Most of the things you do are going to be wrong.”
“Really?” He looked over at me.
“Yes. Trust me. I know. I was a teenage girl once. We’re complicated things, you know.”
“So I’m learning,” he said.
“You’re doing a great job with her,” I said to him.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I thought I was, but this year things have changed, she seems angry or—”
“She’s going through puberty. She’s supposed to be angry. She just needs some space and time and she’ll find herself.”
He nodded. “Thanks for that. Raising a teenage girl as a single guy wasn’t exactly part of my plan, and it’s not like it comes with a rule book. I keep thinking that I’m going to mess her up in some way.”
“It’s a parent’s job to mess their kids up in some way,” I said. “It builds character.”
“And how did your parents mess you up?” he asked.
“Mmmm,” I thought about this for a while. “Well, my dad did disappear on my mom and me when I was younger. I’m sure that’s affected me in some ways, it’s probably the reason I date such losers and idiots.”
He laughed. “Losers and idiots?”
“Totally. Put me in a room full of guys and I have this uncanny ability to pick out the one that is totally wrong for me. Rule of thumb, if I’m attracted to someone, it means they’re probably bad for me.”
“Oh. Really?” His voice had taken on a strange tone.
“Yup,” I replied.
