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Clark had smiled, looking mischievous. “It’s not my first rodeo.”
His confidence was reassuring, at least.
I stopped by a taco shop and picked up a quick dinner before driving Toby home. The tacos and tequila comment from Clark’s teacher friend had me craving Mexican food. I’d have to skip the liquor since I had an early morning, but the spiced chicken with pico and lime crema sauce went down nicely.
After we ate, we began our evening routine of arguing over bedtime that ended with Toby stomping up the stairs in a huff. Five minutes later, he was back in the living room.
“There’s no way you took a bath already,” I said, gearing up for another battle.
Toby gave me a death glare. “There’s no hot water again.”
“Shit.”
“I can’t take a cold bath!”
I groaned. “No, I know.”
If I had a stove, I might be able to heat the water, but I hadn’t bought one yet. I had plans to remodel the kitchen, but that had to come after the must-dos like repairing a rotting side porch, replacing the windows I’d boarded over on the second floor, and dealing with the hideous wallpaper and carpeting throughout the place.
I mentally addednew water heaterto my list of things to do.
“I’m sorry, kiddo. How about I warm up some water in the microwave, and we use it to wash up a little tonight? I’ll work on getting the hot water fixed.”
“You promise?” Toby gave me a worried look. “There’s a lot of stuff you keep saying you’ll do, but then it doesn’t happen.”
I winced as that one hit me right in the heart. “I’ll move this to the top of the list, okay? I promise.”
“So tomorrow?” he asked hopefully.
“I don’t know if I can get to it that fast.”
“Dad!” His lip quivered. “How come I have to go to this stupid after-school program, but you get to put things off? It’s not fair.”
I wanted to tell him that when he was an adult, he could decide what to do and when to do it. I wanted to yell in frustration that I was doing things, and that those things would go a lot faster with his help instead of his constant attitude.
I’d thought moving into a house that needed repair work would be a good bonding experience for me and Toby, but it only seemed to be widening the chasm between us. When I tried to get him to help with projects, he was so grumpy and unhelpful I usually gave in and let him off the hook. But doing it all on my own meant fitting it into the very small blocks of time I wasn’t busy with work or parenting, so the to-do list was progressing slowly.
But yelling would only push us further apart, and maybe Toby wasn’t totally wrong. If I was going to ask him to really try with this after-school program, then he needed to know that I was going to work hard too. What was it Clark had said? A person had to opt in? This was my chance to show Toby that he could opt in to believing in me.
“I’ll get it done,” I swore. “You do your part, and I’ll do mine, okay?”
Toby gave me a tentative smile and nodded. Progress.
Now, I just had to figure out how to install a damn water heater.
CHAPTER4
HUNTER
The next morning I overslept—whichmeant Toby overslept too—and we both rushed around, frazzled and irritable. To make matters worse, we’d run out of milk and I had to stop by Glazed Holes to pick up doughnuts for breakfast on the way to school, feeling guilty for failing as a parent once again.
Miles greeted me with a big smile when I got inside, though, brightening my day a bit.
“Hunter, darling, you’re just in time to take me away from all this. Jake is in the back, but if we hurry, we can get a head start!”
I chuckled, used to this little game. Miles liked to play it every time I came in, but I didn’t mind his flirting because, unlike with the women who hit on me, it wasn’t serious.
“Sorry, the kiddo’s waiting in the car, so I’ll have to take a rain check.”
