Page 57 of Out Of A Fix

“I promise you, it’s for the best,” I husked.

“You don’t like being here,” he stated.

“That ain’t it,” I replied flatly. “Your kids are great, and they’re frickin’ hilarious, but I don’t want to do them any harm. Or you either.”

“Me?” He was squeezing my bicep, though I doubted he realized what he was doing.

“Yeah. I don’t wanna interfere with what you’re doing with the kids, and I don’t want to cramp your love life.”

“My what?”

I grinned at him. “The kids told me you have a lot of women vying for your attention, and you’ve been home what, a few hours, and the place is flooded with visitors and food. I don’t want to get in the way of anything that could happen organically.”

“Won’t that be the same with someone else?”

“No, because the kids won’t be talking to a new person; they will engage with whoever you bring over. But if I’m here, they’re gonna keep away and stick with me.”

He shook his head. “The last thing I want is another relationship.”

“You say that now, but things change,” I assured him. “And you know the statistics.”

“I—what?”

“Statistics tell us that men remarry quicker than women after divorce. Now, your ex doesn’t count because—are they married?”

“I have no fuckin’ clue.”

“Okay, so in a very short time, you’ll probably get remarried, your future wife may have kids too and you’ll have a blended family, or she’ll be younger and you’ll have children together. None of which is going to happen with me here.”

“How long were you originally planning to stay?”

“Currently, the contract goes through the end of the year.”

“Well, clearly, I won’t be remarried before New Year’s,” he said drolly.

I chuckled and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Don’t sound like you’re going to face a firing squad or something. I had a friend get married recently, and he looks pretty fuckin’ happy. Give it another go.”

“Really? This is your advice after how my first one ended?” He sounded horrified.

“But there were many good years before the end,” I reminded him. “There had to be. You have great kids and that doesn’t happen without trust and love.”

“The kids were the only good thing. Caitlyn and I…we were roommates, not husband and wife,” he said sadly. “I wasn’t surprised about her and Conti. I knew as soon as it started, even though she came home every night and got in bed with me.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, because I was.

“It hurt. The lying, the cheating. I even followed her once to make sure I wasn’t crazy, but when they say the wife or husband always knows…it’s true. Something in the air changes. Her voice was different, how she walked and smiled. I mean, he definitely made her happy, which I couldn’t anymore, but what really messed with me was her not wanting the kids.”

I wasn’t sure I heard him right.

“I can see it all over your face,” he murmured. “You’re just as torn up as I was. You’re hurting for them. I was the same.”

“She didn’t want them, or she didn’t want to uproot their lives?”

“The first one,” he replied softly. “It was kind of you to fill their heads with her thinking about them and their futures and even about me being alone. But the truth is, she wanted a new start. She was leaving with Conti anyway. She told me when she finally confessed to the affair that she was having his baby. He had a new job in San Francisco, that’s where he’s from, and he was taking Caitlyn there to live. She explained he didn’t want our kids with them—as though I would have let that happen—but she was sure, after he became a father, that he’d change his mind. She hoped I might let the kids visit.”

I couldn’t stop staring at him.

“Your eyes,” he choked out, and his were suddenly gleaming with unshed tears. “You haven’t even been with my kids for two full weeks, and you’re more worried about them than she was at the end.”