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Titus perked up at the mention of his favorite meal of the day, his gaze bounced between me and Ferguson half a dozen times before his shoulders fell. “No.”
“See?” I turned to Ferguson’s look of relief and smiled. “Go wash the cheese off your face so we can go.” Just as expected, Titus scrambled off his chair, taking great care not to run through the restaurant on his way to the bathroom. “Is your curiosity satisfied?”
“No, it’s not, sadly.” Ferguson looked so devastated that I might have felt sorry for him, if not for Titus. “I was hoping to get to know him a little more, to form some type of bond.”
“Kids are tough customers. He might come around, but it doesn’t look like today is that day.”
“No it’s not, but I have to tell you, Persy, that you have done a wonderful job with Titus. He’s strong willed and smart, two things a boy needs before he becomes a man. I’m sorry for walking away, truly I am, and it has nothing to do with how things are with me and Sabrina.”
“Thank you for saying that. I’m sorry Titus isn’t as open as I thought he might be.”
Ferguson shrugged. “I sprang it on him, but I’d like to stay in touch if that’s all right. Not in an intrusive way, maybe a few cards throughout the year to keep the lines of communication open so that if he ever changes his mind, he’ll know where I am.”
“Wow, I think you’ve matured in the few days you’ve been in Jackson’s Ridge.” It was nice to see the growth and I appreciated that he wasn’t just walking away from Titus. Some day in the future my stubborn boy might want to know the man Ferguson was becoming finally. “I hope you and Sabrina can fix things, if that’s what you guys want. Just remember, those kids see you as their dad, DNA be damned.”
He smiled. “That’s what I’ve been thinking about. Titus has Ryan. It seems you do too.” His teasing tone was accompanied by a smile.
“I did, but I’m not sure that I still do.” One day passed and then another after the hottest kiss of my life inside Ryan’s office and he still had yet to call or text, or even send a message by carrier pigeon. But I was hopeful. “It’s complicated.”
“Not because of me, I hope?”
It would be easy to blame Ferguson, but it wasn’t completely his fault. Things with me and Ryan were too new for a complication like an ex. “Yes and no.”
We would fix it because I loved Ryan, and though he hadn’t said it outright, I knew he loved me too. In just a few minutes, Ferguson would be nothing but a memory once again and Ryan and I would get back on track.
I’d make sure of it. He could ignore me now, but Ryan couldn’t ignore me forever.
I wouldn’t let him.
Ryan
With a beer in one hand and a remote in the other, I focused all of my attention on the action movie playing on the TV, because if I let my mind wander, even for a second, I would think about Persephone and Titus, out to dinner with Ferguson. Her ex and his father, who could compete with that?
Who’s asking you to compete?
“Ah, dammit!” Maybe I should have put on the news, something to hold my attention more than a movie I’d seen a dozen times over the years. I needed something else, hell, anything else to focus on.
I smiled when a knock sounded at the door. Maybe Cal or Antonio wanted to grab a drink over a few rounds of pool. Maybe Persephone had come to deliver the bad news in person.
I pushed off the sofa with a grunt, tossing the remote on the sofa while keeping hold of my beer, I went to the door. Not Cal or Antonio. Not Persephone.
“Titus, hey. Come in.” I took a step back and smiled as he lifted his leg carefully up and over the threshold, clutching a familiar looking bag. “What’s up?”
“We went to dinner. With Ferguson, that’s my father’s name.” He sighed as if it was the worst news in the world.
“I thought you wanted to meet your father?” I had my own problems with the guy, but if Titus wanted to get to know him, he should.
“I did. Then I didn’t.” His bony shoulders slumped in defeated confusion.
If Ferguson did one thing to hurt Titus, I’d hunt him down and make him regret it. “Was he mean?”
“No, he was nice.”
“Then what’s the problem?” I couldn’t deny that a small part of me was thrilled, which only made me feel like an asshole.
“I don’t know. I wanted to be nice. I wanted to like him. But I didn’t.” He leaned against the sofa, head down, eyes focused safely on the ground.
