Page 182 of The Bluffing Game

“Why on God’s green earth am I going to the park with this man and his son?” I whisper to myself.

He is everything I’m not looking for, yet I haven’t been so excited about anything in a really long time. I really need to get a life.

Chapter 14

DALTON

“Daddy, can we get McDonald’s when we leave the park, please?” Toby looks up at me with the most angelic expression.

I shake my head. “I told you, tonight, we’re going to have fish⁠—”

“I don’t want fish.” He immediately pouts and looks like he’s about to cry. “I don’t like fish.”

“What if I told you that you could have French fries with it?”

“I want a hamburger and fries, not fish and fries.” He cries.

“Toby, I can take you home right now, and you won’t get to go on the swings.”

“But I just want McDonald’s. You said I could have McDonald’s.”

“I never said you could have McDonald’s.”

“You said—” He stops, his little lower lip quivering, and then he points his finger. “It’s Ms. Sage.”

I look up, and I see Sage headed toward us, a teddy bear in one hand and a water bottle in her other hand. This was why she’d said she’d meet us at the park instead. I smile at her as she makes her way over. She’s changed into a pink-and-white floral dress, and she looks gorgeous. She has a wide smile on her face as she waves at us.

“Hi, Toby,” she says and hands him the teddy bear. “This is for you. I hope you like it.”

“It’s for me?” he says, offering her the biggest grin I’ve seen in a while.

“Yes. Do you like it?”

“I do. I know what I’m going to call him.”

“Ooh, what?”

“Can you guess?”

“I don’t know. Are you going to call him Bear?”

“No. Why would I call a teddy bear Bear?” He giggles and looks up at me. “Look, Daddy, she got me a teddy bear.”

“It’s very nice.” I give the bear a squeeze. “You really didn’t have to do that,” I tell her, but I’m thankful for her generosity.

“I wanted to give him a little present,” she says, shrugging.

“But you didn’t have to spend your money.”

“I know. It’s fine,” she says. “It wasn’t that much.”

“His name is Cheeseburger,” Toby says, holding the teddy bear up like the bear is Simba from The Lion King. “Because he loves McDonald’s as much as me.”

I try not to roll my eyes or laugh at his emotional manipulation. I certainly don’t want to encourage him.

“Well, that’s a cute name. Cheeseburger. Unique,” Sage says, not knowing the deeper meaning of the name.

“I called him Cheeseburger because I want Daddy to take me to McDonald’s after he swings me on the swings so I can get a hamburger and French fries and a strawberry milkshake. I’m going to get a Happy Meal, right, Daddy?”