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Jameson tilted his head, not knowing what that meant.
“He sometimes plays a spy and blows things up,” I said, knowing exactly how Jameson would react.
He grinned a goofy grin. “That’s freaking awesome. I wish I could blow stuff up.”
I wasn’t sure if this bit of news should concern me.
Drake’s raised brow said he might be a tad concerned as well. Once again, Jameson had rendered him mute.
I couldn’t hide my disappointment and sighed. I got that this was all new for Drake and he’d never really been around kids, but I hoped he would give it the old college try.
Jameson went back to his food. I turned my attention toward Izzy and Martez, who looked awfully cozy next to each other, sitting across the table from Jameson and me. Drake was on the end, keeping his distance, as always. Meanwhile my sister was getting a lesson in Cuban Spanish. I don’t know what they were saying, but it sounded sexy. Judging by the way Izzy was blushing and he was tapping her nose and whispering in her ear, I’m guessing I was right. Regardless, it was good to see her laugh and smile. Even better, she wasn’t growling and glaring at Drake, whom she had threatened to his face that she would cut him if he hurt me. Good times.
Admittedly, I was kind of hurt. I just needed to lower my expectations. Drake was who he said he was, not who I’d seen him as once upon a time. I wrapped an arm around Jameson and squeezed. We were fine without Drake. It’s not like Jameson had ever said he wished for a dad—he’d only asked who his dad was. He thought it was totally cool that fireworks made him and Uncle Sam was his father. Yeah, so I knew that would come back to bite me one day. Just like I knew Jameson would one day want a dad—his real dad.
I stared at my food, depressed. Then a small miracle occurred.
“Jameson, would you like to visit the set of my new movie when we start filming?” Drake asked, his voice on the unsteady side.
My head popped up. I found Drake rubbing his neck and swallowing hard. I gave him a reassuring smile that he was doing the right thing.
Jameson grinned and rubbed his hands together in an evil-genius sort of way. “Can I blow stuff up?”
Everyone laughed. Drake even gave a small chuckle.
“I can’t promise that,” Drake responded. “But I could swing a meeting with Buddy the elf.”
Jameson jumped up. “Like tomorrow?” he shouted, as if this was the best day of his life.
“Not tomorrow.” Drake smiled, like a real smile. “But soon . . .”—he caught my eye—“I promise.”
The butterflies had now gone from twerking to pole dancing. I grabbed my stomach as if to tell them to knock it off. Drake taking a step in the right direction meant nothing for the butterflies. He was Jameson’s dad—that’s it. But yeah, I could have kissed him. “Thank you. Good job,” I mouthed.
“I can’t wait to tell Ollie tomorrow.” Jameson was ecstatic.
That made me happy but also worried me. I knew we couldn’t keep Drake’s presence a secret forever, but I was hoping we could for a little longer. At least until I knew for sure Drake was going to rock the dad thing. Yet, I couldn’t tell Jameson not to share his exciting news with his friend. I didn’t want Jameson to think anything weird about Drake being here, even though it was beyond bizarre. At least this town was used to the rich and famous vacationing here. So maybe no one would think twice about Drake being here. As long as no one saw Drake and Jameson together, it should be fine. Hopefully.
Jameson directed his attention back to Drake. “Just don’t be grumpy around Buddy.”
I pressed my lips together, holding back a laugh, anxiously waiting to see how Drake took his son’s advice. As I well knew, Drake didn’t like unsolicited advice.
Drake cleared his throat before saying, “I’ll try,” kind of grumpily. But for him this was progress, and I would take it.
After a dinner that went better than anticipated, Izzy and Martez kept “working” on the office. Jameson was, of course, curious about Drake’s movies and wanted to see some of them. That was tricky, as Drake’s movies weren’t exactly family friendly. You know, unless you thought bedding as many women as possible, while stringing along the leading lady, was gallant—in between killing off anyone who got in your way. Then maybe you would consider Drake’s films to be great family fun. As much as I loved to watch a shirtless Drake disarm bombs, I didn’t really want this to be the impression our son had of him. So, we pulled up some YouTube clips that showed an array of Drake’s acting prowess.
