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“When I was a little kid, my dad used to joke that we were Batman and Alfred. I was Batman and he was Alfred, of course. He’d picked up right away that something was going on with me. The way I organized things, how focused I was on certain things. He called it my crime fighting technique, since I was always solving problems, even before I could talk. He said it made parenting easy because he just followed my lead.
“I was really into the Adam West reruns that would come on TV. When I got older, he worked third shift so he would sleep while Wes and I were at school and then come get me and we’d watch cartoons. Batman was the one that stuck.”
Meegan knew it was no small thing that he had shared this with her. She walked across the room and slipped her hand into his. She had questions about his dad, his elusive mom, his brothers. This was plenty for today, though.
“My mom used to say we were two wild girls against the world.”
“What happened to your dad?”
Meegan was so fucking happy she was relatively well adjusted in the father department, otherwise talking about the man she literally didn’t know would be a tough one. “I don’t know who my dad is. My mom was really into hair metal bands and followed them everywhere, so my dad is either the drummer for Warrant or a roadie for Bon Jovi. I enjoyed the G rated versions of her tour stories so much, it never occurred to me to care that he wasn’t around. My mom did a good job. Sounds like your dad did, too.”
That hint of a smile touched the corner of his mouth. “He did a great job.”
* * *
Olin had planned to open up to Meegan about his childhood memories around his dad and Batman, but he hadn’t expected to be so relieved about her reaction. He also hadn’t expected her to share anything about her single-parent upbringing and he was glad she had. He’d been nervous as hell, waiting for her to come over. He didn’t host people, usually hanging out with his friends elsewhere. He’d never had a woman in his house before, either, beyond his personal assistant Brianna and Carla and Mari, the very nice women who kept the place clean. Telling someone you want to be with them seemed like grounds for breaking that unwritten rule.
Now that she knew what really mattered to him—his family and Batman—he felt good about his decision to let her in. Plus, Pam clearly liked her. Maybe they had a future together after all. He looked down at the freckles dotting the bridge of her nose and had to stop himself from kissing her there.
He was still shocked that she had texted him so soon, wanting to see him. He was happy about it. Overjoyed, to be honest. He’d just figured she’d hold off until after Thanksgiving before reaching out to him again. This was good, though. He was glad she was here.
“I thought we could take Pam for her final walk of the night and then order some dinner and watch a movie.”
“That sounds great. I—um, there was something I wanted to show you, too.”
“What’s that?”
“Some of the recordings we made of various scenes. I talked to my friends and they are cool with me sharing them with you. Of course, we’ll only watch them if you’re comfortable with it.”
“It might get a little uncomfortable in my pants,” he replied.
Meegan playfully poked him in the side, smiling at him. It was the exact wrong moment for Olin to realize he was still ticklish. The smile on Meegan’s face morphed as she flashed him a knowing look. “I’m not gonna use that against you, unless you give me explicit permission, but just know that I know.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. You were gonna do an audio-visual presentation?”
“Yes and I’m serious. This part of it—well, all of it, but definitely this part—is a consent-based situation. I don’t want you to watch any of it if you don’t want to. If you do, I just want you to see what I meant, like with the impact play.”
He was glad she’d explained it that way and it reminded him just how important this was to her. Now that she was here and she was still giving him a chance, he needed to take every opportunity to learn about this part of her world.
“Let’s watch it,” he replied.
“Great. But first, it’s Pam time.”
eleven
They took a nice, quiet walk around his neighborhood. Olin had done some version of this loop with Pam thousands of times by this point in her three-year-old doggy life. He’d never wondered what it would be like to take this walk with someone else. He’d figured it would just be him and Pam for the foreseeable future, but this was nice. Walking down the dimly lit street, Pam’s leash in one hand and Meegan’s soft, warm hand in the other. It was obviously too soon to get used to this. Still, he didn’t hate it.
After they returned to the house, Meegan declared her interest in ordering sushi, so they did, then started this movie calledThe Lake House. It was the first thing that popped up on the streaming menu and Meegan said Olin would like it if he liked interesting takes on time travel.
Halfway through, Pam started getting antsy and Meegan very graciously participated in her bedtime routine.
“By nine, she’s ready for bed.” Olin stood and stretched. He didn’t tell Meegan that he usually got in bed around nine, too.
“Woman after my own heart.” she said.
“Oh yeah?”
“Definitely. Last night was a rarity. If I’m not out, I’m comfy in bed at, like, eight-thirty. Dealing with five and six year olds demands beauty rest. Where does Miss Pamela sleep?”
