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I cleared my throat. "Ready?"
She looked behind me. "Where's Dean?"
"He's sulking in the car."
Her smile dropped, and I worried about what had taken the happiness away. "He doesn’t want me to go with you, does he?"
"He doesn't want to go with me." Unable to help myself, I reached out and pushed one of the pretty red wisps out of her face. "But I want you to come. I need you to come."
Her expression was uncertain, but she got her purse and walked back to the car with me. As we approached it, I realized Dean was still in the front seat. Jesus, I hoped he wouldn’t make me drag him out of there so that Betts could sit there.
As we drew close, his door opened and without a look, he moved to the back seat. It made me think that this was not the first time he'd been brought along on a date. Of all the manners and etiquette he lacked, it was strange that he understood he needed to change seats. Or maybe he saw it as an opportunity to get away from me.
I helped Betts into the car. She turned to look over the shoulder of the seat. "Hello. I'm Betts. You must be Dean."
Dean looked at his phone but managed a hello to her. I shut her door and made my way around to the driver's side. I opened the door and got behind the wheel.
"Are you playing a game or doing something on social media?" Betts was asking Dean.
"Just some stuff on TikTok."
"Whenever I'm feeling down, TikTok always has something to make me laugh."
I arched a brow as I looked over at Betts and started the car. "You watch TikTok?"
"Usually, it's for work. But sometimes, I watch it for fun too."
I frowned. "I have a TikTok account?"
She rolled her eyes. "The team does."
I glanced at Dean through the rearview mirror, catching him rolling his eyes as well. It occurred to me that Dean was closer in age to Betts than I was. This TikTok discussion was highlighting that I was an old man.
"That one with the team doing the Cupid Shuffle on the ice was pretty good," Dean said from the back seat.
What the fuck?
Betts smiled as she turned to look over her seat again. "You saw that one? Oh my God, how they groaned about doing that. But I thought it came out pretty good."
Once again, I watched Dean through the rearview mirror. He shrugged, but there was something about it that wasn't as disdainful as it normally was toward me.
I had bought tickets to the haunted house in advance, but there was a line for us to wait until our turn for entry. As we stood waiting, Dean continued to look at his phone.
"Oh, that was funny. I'll admit, I like the ones that are lip-synching. Especially if it's dogs lip-synching,” Betts said to Dean.
Dean didn't say anything, but he adjusted his stance and moved his phone so that Betts could have a better look. There was a sense of relief that he was willing to accept her and at the same time, I felt jealousy. Not the rage I’d felt when I thought she was sleeping with Mikael.
No, this was an envy that she was connecting with my son who despised me. I reminded myself that our relationship was what it was because of me. Dean wasn't going to make it easy for me to fix, and I suppose, considering what a shitty father I'd been, it shouldn't be easy. I needed to earn his respect and his love.
The sound of a chainsaw blasted through the area, and Betts startled, practically launching herself into my arms. It now made total sense to me why young men would bring their girlfriends to scary movies, to hold their woman close.
The rule with Betts after our night in the hotel was that out in public, we had to be professional, or maybe friendly, but nothing that would give away the lust that burned between us. But her body was pressed against mine, her face buried in my chest, and so I had no choice but to put my arm around her and keep her safe.
Dean looked up at me, and if I wasn’t mistaken, there was a slight arch of his brow as if he was wondering what the deal was with me and Betts.
"We're not even inside yet and you're terrified," Dean said. I think it was the most I heard him say since his mother had dropped him off with me.
Betts straightened and inhaled a breath. "I was just startled for a minute. I didn't realize the scary stuff would start before we actually got inside."
