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“She’s fourteen. She can handle herself for a little while.” Trent chuckles. “Hell, we were always on our own when we were fourteen.”
“That’s the point. I don’t want her to grow up the way we did.” I swing open my passenger door and sit my tool bag on the floor inside. “She’s been hanging out with this new girl who’s causing trouble and I need to keep an eye on her.”
Trent leans against the truck. “Noah’s a good kid though. She won’t go along with peer pressure.”
“She stole a neighbor’s candy bowl on Halloween. Took off with the bowl and everything. The neighbor caught her and came and told me.”
“We all did stupid shit when we were younger.” Mitch shoves his hands in his pockets. “It’s okay if she gets into a little trouble here and there. As long as you give her consequences for her actions.”
“She said she feels like she has to prove herself to this new girl.” I shake my head. “I’m out of my league here. I don’t know how to change that.”
“You can’t change it. She’s gotta figure it out for herself.” Trent shrugs. “That’s how we all learned. You can’t put her in a bubble.”
I understand what they’re saying, but logic doesn’t mean shit when it comes to my daughter. “I want her to do the right thing and stay out of trouble.”
“I’m just saying you’re allowed to go out and have a little fun every once in a while.” Trent rests a hand on my shoulder. “I’m worried about you.”
“What is this, an intervention?”
Mitch arches a brow. “Do you need one?”
“Fuck no.”
Trent lets out a long sigh. “I know you went through a lot with Tara but—”
“No. This has nothing to do with Tara.”
Jason looks between us. “Who’s Tara?”
“Noah’s mother.” Her name strikes a nerve in me like it always does. “How does me not going out for a beer have anything to do with Tara?”
“She went down a bad path and you couldn’t stop her. Now you see Noah making bad decisions and you’re scared she’ll end up the same way as her mother.” Trent jabs my chest with his index finger. “But you can’t control her any more than you could’ve controlled Tara.”
I clench my jaw. “Noah will not end up the same way her mother did.”
“You can’t sit home all day to make sure of that. Look at you. You’re barely living. You go to work, come home, and do it all again the next day.”
“And you’re grouchy as fuck,” Jason adds.
“How long have you been single now?” Mitch asks. “Noah’s a teenager.”
“She’s fourteen, but that’s not the—”
“You haven’t fucked anyone in fourteenyears?” Jason’s eyes widen. “Shit. Youdoneed an intervention.”
I roll my eyes. “Just because I’m single doesn’t mean I haven’t had sex, dipshit.”
I just won’t tell him how few and far between the sex has been.
Trent levels me with a look. “Aren’t you tired of being alone? How are you going to meet anyone if you won’t even make time for your friends, let alone go on a date?”
“I’m alone because I choose to be alone. Raising that kid is my number one priority. Everything else takes a back seat.”
“Until when?” Trent tilts his head. “Your life is practically half over.”
Jason grunts. “And your dick’s lifespan is more than half over too.”
“I have Noah, and that’s all I need.” I swing open my door and get into the driver’s seat. “Leave my dick out of this.”
