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I give him a wave. “Hi, Jesse.”
He nods his head in return.
“Mind your manners. Tara said hello. Be a man and get your head out of that phone and say hi.”
“It’s okay—” I start, but Rob interrupts me.
“Jesse,” he warns, and his son slides his phone into his pocket, crossing his arms and giving a reluctant hello.
Will puts his hand on his brother’s shoulder and gives it a pat. “Man, you’re worse than Dad was, and he was a hard-ass when we were kids.”
“Jesse gets into enough trouble for the two of us and Cade included, trust me,” Rob explains.
“I believe it.” Will gives his nephew a pointed look. “Those idiots you hang out with were joyriding in Castleton last night. Sideswiped a car and almost crashed into the woods. They got away from the officer on the scene.”
Jesse shrugs indifferently. “Then, how do you know it was them?”
“Everyone knows that crew,” Will explains. “They’re gonna end up in jail or dead. Good idea your old man has you under lockdown this summer.”
“As his gopher. All he wants me to do is follow him around the worksite.”
“A good day’s work is what you need,” Rob explains. “It’s that or stay with your mom and your sister all summer. Your mom has a bunch of trips she plans on taking you on.”
“And watch her and Mike make out all the time? Screw that,” Jesse spits, and Rob makes a hollering sound toward his son.
While Jesse gets reprimanded for using foul language, Melissa leans into me and explains, “Mike is the ex-wife’s boyfriend. He and Rob were good friends for years. Their sons played baseball together, and the men coached their Little League team. Christine, Rob’s ex, started dating Mike suspiciously fast after their divorce.”
I nod my head in understanding. Rob doesn’t just have an ex-wife. He has a dirtbag friend who snagged her as soon as the ink was dry on the divorce papers. I thought seeing fruit in a bakery was bad. This guy has to watch his ex-wife move on with his friend. So do these kids.
Molly jumps out of my arm and walks over to Rob. “I don’t want to spend the summer with Mom. I want to be at the ranch with you!”
Rob takes his daughter’s hand. “I’m not happy about it either, but I just don’t have another option. Jesse will stay with me and you will go with mom.”
“Why does she have to go away with Christine?” Will asks his brother.
“Because Dad has issues,” Jesse interrupts his dad before he can answer.
Molly throws her arms around Rob. “I want to be with you, Dad. I don’t want to travel with Mom and Mike. I want to stay at the ranch.”
Rob places an arm around his daughter’s back. “I want you all summer, too, but I don’t see how I can do that and keep you safe when I have no one to watch you.”
“Sending Molly away with Mom and Mike isn’t a good idea.” Jesse takes his phone back out of his pocket and starts scrolling. “Mike’s a jerk who tries to act like he’s our father.”
“Why didn’t you tell us you needed help with the kids this summer? Melissa and I would have tried to work something out,” Will offers.
“My house is an hour-and-a-half drive from here. You and Melissa have your lives in Newbury and the kids want to stay at the ranch. If I can’t make that happen, then they have to go back to their mother. That was the deal I made with Christine.”
“Mom said you were getting a nanny,” Will states, but Rob waves him off. “I thought you had this taken care of.”
“I’m not cut out for other people watching my kids. I had someone try, but we had a difference in opinion on parenting style, so she stormed off like a child.” His eyes glare at me.
“You said it wasn’t going to work out!” I declare.
“Wait, you were the nanny?” Will looks at me, confused, and then turns to his wife, who puts her hands up as if she were being arrested for lying. “You knew about this and didn’t tell me?”
“I just found out in the kitchen,” Melissa states quickly. “She ran into her ex, Patrick, in the bakery in Newbury and found out he’d bought a house in town, so she needed a place to escape to for the summer so she didn’t have to see him and his fruit.”
My head falls into my hand as I mentally curse Melissa and her diarrhea of the mouth when she gets nervous.
