Page 307 of Knot What I Expected

“Dad!”

My heart still skips a beat when he calls me that, but I’m trying not to show it. Gabby cried the first time he did it.

Hell, I did too.

Fuck you, real men cry when it counts.

I glance over my shoulder.

Matteo is sitting at the kitchen table in his pajamas, hair sticking up in six different directions, watching me with the kind of judgment only a six-year-old can deliver.

“What?”

“That one doesn't look like a dinosaur.”

I look down at the pancake.

“It has four legs.”

“It has five legs.”

I count.

Fuck.

He’s right.

“So it’s a mutant dinosaur.”

“There aren't mutant dinosaurs.”

“You don't know that.”

“I read books.”

“So do I.”

“About dinosaurs?”

“No.”

He sighs.

Actually fucking sighs.

Monster chuffs inside me.

Pup.

Yeah.

Our pup.

That still gets me every damn time.

“Why don't you go get dressed for school and let me worry about breakfast?”

“Mommy said I have to eat first.”