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Did she mean what I thought she did?
I backed away quickly. “Are you telling me this whole date was a ruse to get me to knock you up?” I asked.
“What do you care?” she said, her voice suddenly changing from bubbling champagne to relaxed and sarcastic. “You’re fucking loaded. Besides, I need to pay off my student loans.”
I scrambled for my clothes as she sat naked on the bed. “You have to be fucking kidding me,” I said, swearing off dating forever. I went to the table in the entryway and grabbed my car keys, then pulled open the door to the five hundred dollar a night hotel room. “Enjoy the room,” I said coldly. “You can expect to hear from my lawyer.”
I didn’t intend, of course, to get my lawyer involved. Not unless she showed up with a baby.
God, James,I thought to myself.How could you be so stupid?
When I got home, I was emotionally exhausted and couldn’t have been happier to see Haley asleep on the couch, Katie in her arms also passed out.
I really hadn’t been fair to her. It was no wonder she hadn’t talked to me since her first day. She was so… normal. I went to her side and gently nudged her.
“Hey,” I whispered, and she opened her eyes sleepily. “Why don’t you take tomorrow off? I just had a nightmare date, and I want to hang out with some sane people–my kids.”
Haley looked at me warily and nodded, sliding her arm out from under my youngest’s head. “Well good night, then,” she said.
“Good night,” I replied, making a mental note to get tested for STDs this week.
I picked up Katie and took her to her bed, tucking her in and giving her a kiss good night on the forehead. “Sleep well, princess.”
I stared at her for a minute, the spitting image of her mother. I decided in that instant that I would just be happy for the time Jane and I had and forget going on dates. It was too risky, and I had everything I needed right here.
***
The next day, Haley must have slipped out before I even woke up because she was gone when I went to ask her if the grocery order had come. I was gonna make the kids pancakes for breakfast but needed milk.
I made my way to the kitchen, opening up the fridge and finding it fully stocked. “Excellent,” I said softly.
But not softly enough because the gang appeared in the hall almost immediately.
“Good morning, Daddy,” Leann said. And I involuntarily shuddered at the nickname. I hoped to God that I’d be able to get past that. It killed me to be triggered by one of my kids.
“Good morning, kiddos,” I said with a smile I only half felt. “You guys want some pancakes?”
The kids cheered, reasonably at first, then raucously as they decided to outdo each other’s volume.
“Okay…” I said. “Calm down. Have a seat and I’ll get you some orange juice.”
The kids nodded happily and for once, did as they were told. Haley must be having a good influence on them because I could never get them to do that.
I pulled the fresh orange juice from the fridge and offered each of them a cup of it. Ben, who had an odd relationship with food, decided that at first he didn’t want any but then wanted two cups after seeing his sisters enjoying it.
Pancakes were served up for everyone, including me, and I sat down to find out how their weeks were going.
“How’s school?” I asked them.
I always felt like a terrible parent when I neglected to ask them at dinner, but usually my mind was so full of the day I could hardly remember my own name.
“Boring,” Ben said.
“It’s fine,” Leann replied. “We got a class lizard.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh really?” I asked. “And did you guys name the lizard?”
Leann nodded. “He’s called Pikachu.”
