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But Thatch acted oblivious, flashing his signature, annoying as hell wink in my direction. “Me too, Whitney. Me motherfucking too.”
Jesus. Once I found a way to get my Win-Win, I sure as fuck needed to be on the lookout for new friends. Preferably ones who didn’t enjoy breaking and entering and anteing blow jobs on my love life.
“So…” Kline finally spoke—directly to me. Everyone listened. Well, everyone besides Thatch, who already had his phone pulled out of his pocket and was probably texting his wife to schedule his winning fellatio—and check on the baby.
Christ, I’d almost forgotten. Thatch had just had a baby. What in the fuck was he doing here?
“Wait a second,” I told Kline before turning to Thatch. “What are you doing here? You just had a baby!”
Thatch shrugged, but I could tell it was forced. That big fucker didn’t want to be here any more than I’d expected him to be. “She kicked me out. Accused me of hogging the baby and mothering her too much or some shit.” He looked to his watch. “She said I could come back a couple of hours from now.”
“Congratulations and shit,” Remy told Thatch, and I almost laughed. “But can we get back to the reason my ass is fucking numb?”
Thatch pretended to look sympathetic. “Hemorrhoids?”
Thankfully, most of us were highly trained in ignoring him.
“What are you going to do about it?” Kline asked me. “What are you going to do to clean up the mess?”
I took a deep breath and smiled. “I have a plan.”
Like it was premeditated, all six waiting faces smiled in unison.
Thatch rubbed his hands together and got that familiar prankster look in his eye.
I pointed directly at him. “Not that kind of plan.”
He smirked. “Doesn’t matter. Whatever it is. Count me in.”
And the rest of the group responded with nods and me toos.
It looked like Winnie Winslow had better prepare herself.
“Good. Now get the fuck out.”
Tonight, my little Lexi would be Betsy Ross in her school’s spring performance. We had been practicing her three tiny lines for what felt like the past month, and I honestly had no idea how this was going to go. A child like Lexi wasn’t exactly known for doing well in overwhelming social situations, but she had been determined to learn her part with nothing less than the motivation of a Broadway star. And I couldn’t deny she looked adorable in her colonial red, white, and blue dress and big, poufy white wig.
No matter what, I was and would be proud of her.
Proud of her for always trying her hardest. Proud of her for trying to overcome her tendencies toward social anxiety. And proud that she was my daughter.
I sat down in one of the metal chairs in the auditorium and thumbed through the program. My mother, brothers, and Nick weren’t able to make it, but I’d promised I’d send them a video of her performance.
Yes, I’d even promised Nick I’d send him a video. We were slowly trying to find a comfortable medium where he was more involved in his daughter’s life.
Lexi’s teacher got on stage and announced that the performance would start in ten minutes and instructed everyone to take their seats.
“Excuse me…excuse me…sorry…” A deep voice filled my ears, and I glanced up to find Thatch attempting to shuffle through the row, his enormous thighs and ass skimming the faces of each person he passed, and heading straight toward me. Literally, a bull in a china shop, his large frame knocked into everyone and everything despite how gingerly he attempted to move. Interestingly enough, the women he bumped didn’t look put out at all.
I tilted my head to the side in confusion. What was Thatch doing here?
I glanced around the room to see if anyone else was in attendance, but I found that none of the gang was anywhere in sight. He plopped down beside me with a giant, friendly grin, as if it was the most normal thing in the world to just randomly show up at my daughter’s school performance, by himself.
“Hey, Win.”
“Uh…hey?” I responded in confusion. “Not gonna lie, it’s a little bit of a surprise to see you here.”
He ignored my remark and got his phone out of his pocket, tapping his fingers across the screen. I sighed and returned my focus to the stage until I heard Thatch say, “Whitney? You there? Can you see me?”
My eyes darted back to the giant sitting beside me to find him FaceTiming with Wes.
“All good, T-bag. Mind switching the camera view to the stage? I’d much rather watch Lexi’s performance than stare at your ugly mug.”
Thatch chuckled and switched the screen view. “Yeah, of course, asshole. You’re welcome for this, by the way. It’s not like it inconvenienced me. I mean, I only had to reschedule naked dinner with Cass and cuddle time with Ace.”
Wes laughed. “Thanks, buddy. You’re the best. Consider this me cashing in on that IOU you mentioned.”
Thatch smirked in response.
Normally, I would’ve been curious about the details of said IOU, but I’d say it was obvious I was more curious about what in the hell was going on.
Thatch made a show of getting his big frame comfortable in the far too small chair for a man of his size, while he pointed his phone toward the stage and Wes watched from the screen. Had I entered an alternate universe? Was I being pranked? Had I inadvertently become a victim of that show Candid Camera, which I wasn’t one hundred percent certain was still on air, but that was beside the point.
I mean…What in the ever-loving fuck was going on?
“Excuse me?” I questioned, and Thatch glanced in my direction.
“You need to get up, honey?”
“No, I don’t need to get up,” I spat and pointed toward the phone. “What in the hell are you doing?”
He shrugged and looked at me like I was the crazy one. “I’m getting ready to watch Lexi’s school play.”
“With the phone. What are you doing with the phone? Why are you FaceTiming with Wes?”
“Because his flight was delayed, and he didn’t want to miss it,” he explained like I was the one missing the point, like I was the strange one in this scenario.
“Hi, Fred.” Wes’s voice filled my ears.
I leaned forward until my face was in front of the camera and Wes’s eyes were locked with mine. A soft smile crested his lips. “You look beautiful tonight, sweetheart.”
I was wearing goddamn yoga pants and an NYU T-shirt. I looked like shit.
“Cut the crap, Wes. What are you getting at here?”
My words didn’t affect him in the least, and to my irritation, that soft smile stayed glued to his face. “I’m not getting at anything. I didn’t want to miss Lexi’s school performance. How is she doing? Was she nervous when you dropped her off?”
My brow furrowed in frustration. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”
“You’re right.” He nodded. “We don’t want to miss a single second of the performance. How about I’ll call you when I get in tonight?”
“No,” I responded immediately. “No, no, no. Do not call me tonight.”
“Yeah, good thinking,” he agreed. “I’m sure Lex will be tuckered out by the time you get her home, and I’d feel like a bastard if I interrupted her much-needed sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“No,” I refuted. “Do not call me tomorrow, Wes.”
Thatch’s eyes met mine, and he flashed a rage-inducing wink in my direction.
“Stop. This.” I glared at him as I tried to yank the phone from his hands, but he had a serious Hulk-like grip on the damn thing. “Turn it off, Thatch.”
He just shrugged in response. “Sorry, Mini Winnie. No can do.”
I continued to glare at him for a good minute before I yanked my purse off the back of the chair and abruptly got out of my seat and moved to the row behind Thatch. I refused to be a part of that circus.
But nothing deterred him or Wes. Thatch continued on FaceTiming the performance, and Wes watched animatedly from his phone.
How’d I know this? Well, because I’m pathetic and I kept glancing to the side to see if he was still on the screen.
When Lexi stood on stage and said her three lines with perfect precision, even adding a few extra facts about Betsy Ross and the way the American flag was sewn together, I could hear Wes cheering louder than anyone in the audience.
I hated that my heart enjoyed it so much.
And when I glanced back to see his facial expression, my heart all but melted at the proud smile etched across his handsome face. Like a father. He looked like he was Lexi’s father, and he couldn’t have been more proud of his baby girl.
I mean, what was he trying to do to me?
Seriously? What was the point in all of this?
He was the one who had walked away, not me. He’d said he couldn’t do it anymore.
But now, his actions refuted those words. They didn’t show a man who simply couldn’t do it anymore. They showed a man who wanted to do it. A man who wanted to be a part of mine and my daughter’s life.
I honestly didn’t know what to make of it.
I had never been more mindfucked than I was in that moment. Ironically, this occurring in the middle of a grade-school auditorium, while a little boy sang “Yankee Doodle Dandy” at the top of his lungs in the most off-key singing I’d ever heard in my life, was about as contradictory as it got.
