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“Alex!”
He looks in her direction, and the penny on me finally drops.
Oh my God. He’s her brother?!
Very bottled blond Bella approaches us, smiling and unaware of what I just tried to do with her brother.
“I see you found Liv!” she continues.
Alexlooks at me and offers me his hand to shake. “Nice to meet you, Liv.”
“Nice to meet you, Alex…” I say, gritting my teeth.
Chapter Two
ALEX
It’sSaturdaymorningandI somehow manage to wake up in time to pick up my son Harlan from a sleepover at his friend’s house.
I barely drank last night, so I’m not hung over in the slightest, but I’m exhausted and have a monster headache.
Back home, I kneel in front of him so that we are eye to eye and inform him of the rules of the day.
“Alright, buddy,” I start. He’s six, and I see smarts beyond his years in his hazel eyes, which he got from his mother.
“We are going to visit your aunt Bella’s work, okay?”
“Okay,” he says, doing his best to pay attention, but the wriggling hands in front of his body tell me he’s about to explode.
“And we are going to behave while we’re there, right?” I say, calm.
He always looks terrified when I talk to him, and I would love to know why. I don’t remember ever raising my voice to him. Maybe it’s just the way I talk that’s intimidating.
“Where does Aunt Bella work?” Harlan asks, very curious eyes turned toward me.
“She writes for a magazine!” I say, standing to give my knees a break. “Now let’s go get you dressed.”
I head for his bedroom, and he comes jumping after me, finally showing his hyper self for the world to see. Getting there, I walk to his closet and start setting aside clothes for him to wear.
“Dad?” he starts, clearly want to ask me something.
“Yes, buddy?”
“What’s a magazine?”
I laugh. Harlan looks at me with confusion, trying to understand why I’m laughing at his expense, and I ruffle his hair and start to remove his t-shirt.
“A magazine is like a special book with lots of pictures and stories. You can read about interesting things and see cool pictures, just like a really fun and colorful book. And guess what? You can read it on a screen too, like a tablet or a computer!”
“Oh!” he interjects, clearly taking an understanding of the subject. “And what do they talk about?”
I put him in the new shirt. It’s a black polo that requires adjustments to the collar.
“They talk about interesting people. They want to talk about daddy!” I say, proud.
Taking off his shorts to put on the pair of jeans I picked out for him, Harlan looks at me with wide eyes, impressed.
“I never knew you were interesting, dad!”
