I hold my arm out, and Harvey comes around the table, stopping right in front of me. “Okay, how about this. I meet the guy, feel him out—” Ezra and Gilly start laughing under their breaths, earning narrowed eyes from me. My son frowns adorably. “I’ll get to know him, but before I agree to go out on a date with him, if it even gets that far, then I’ll ask your permission.”
“You’ve got my permission, Mom. If you’re dating someone, that means he could end up being my other dad, like my friend Jesse has, and any guy that might be my other dad has to treat you right, like my real dad does.”
My heart melts. My boy feels deep and he feels hard, and the look in his eyes and the sincerity of his words tells me this is important to him. God, I love my kid! “Come here, kiddo. I love you, you know that?” I ask him, jerking him into my arms for a huge bear hug.
“Mmm hmm,” he mumbles against my chest.
“So, you’ll do it?” Gilly asks, wiping happy tears away from her smiling face.
I nod, looking between my sister-in-law and brother. “Yes. But don’t tell him. Let’s go for the element of surprise.”
Ezra’s lips curve into a wicked grin as he rubs his hands together. “I’m looking forward to this BBQ now. Something tells me this one is going to be interesting.”
Chapter 3
Rhodes
“Dad! Marco and Renee are here,” Jake says from my bedroom doorway.
Looking at him in the mirror’s reflection, I frown in confusion when he scans me from head to toe.
“You sure you don’t want to wear a nice shirt or something?”
Turning around to him, I quirk a brow. “Sorry, kid. Didn’t think the firehouse BBQ was a fashion show.”
‘It’s not,” he answers quickly. “But considering you’re a lieutenant and all, shouldn’t you put some effort in?”
I then realize he’s also not wearing just any old clothes he’s found on his floor as per usual. “Why are you dressed up?”
Jake looks himself over. “I wanted to wear a shirt with my jeans. You should try it sometime,” he adds with a smirk. My spidey senses are pinging, but I’m not exactly going to complain about my teenage son putting in some effort. He’s a good kid, but he’s also a sixteen-year-old boy who’s all about girls, sports, social media, and gaming. Pretty much the same as I was at his age, except I already had the girl, I played varsity baseball, and social media consisted of Myspace, not all the different sites available now.
Almost twenty-three years later, I’m a widowed single dad who’s contemplating taking up Dee Duncan’s offer to one day go into her restaurant for a thank-you dinner. Of course, she probably doesn’t see it as anything more than that, but the woman fascinates me even more after the scene outside her building last week. She flirted, I flirted back, and then I had to go, but the chemistry was there. I’m not so out of the game that I don’t remember what it’s like to feel a spark with a woman. I just haven’t wanted to have it ignite with anyone in the five years since my wife, Lily, lost her battle with ovarian cancer.
Jake walks over to my closet and rummages through the hangers before pulling out a black short-sleeved button-up and holding it out my way. It’s the exact shirt I had been thinking of wearing to Dee’s restaurant when I next had a clear night with no work, obligations, or when I wasn’t a walking zombie because of said work and obligations.
“Put this on. And do something with that.” He points to my hair.
“Jake, wanna clue me in on what’s going on? Is this more than just a normal firehouse catch up?”
“No. Nope. Not at all,” he replies cautiously. “You just never know who might turn up. You said you were open to dating and putting yourself out there. Why not practice tonight? Then we can work on getting you into speed dating or making an online profile for you or something.”
“You really are team dating now, aren’t you?” I smirk and take the shirt from him. Moving over to the bed, I reach behind my shoulders and tug off my CFD tee before replacing it with the shirt.
It was only recently that I decided I should put myself out there and consider dating again. That just happened to coincide with my growing fascination with everything Dee Duncan after Jake introduced me to her videos months earlier. At first I thought it was just another foodie with a god complex spouting their unqualified dribble about an amazing hamburger they’d bought, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Dee captivated me from her first smile to the camera and the following tirade about plant-based products that did not taste the same as the real thing. Then she’d covered non-animal product ones that—when done right—can taste okay. I’ve been a meat-eater since conception—all Andersons are—but the video had even me considering trying something different next time I was at the grocery store.
“Don’t forget the hair,” Jake says, walking out of the room. “Oh, and that cologne I got you for your birthday.”
That kid is something else. He’s awesome, and I’m proud of the man he’s becoming, but he never fails to give me glimpses of ‘what the fuck’ now and then.
After putting some putty in my hair and styling it, and giving myself a spritz of Bvlgari Man, I slide on my boots and walk into the newly renovated kitchen and living area to find Marco and his girlfriend, Renee, standing in a huddle with Jake, the conversation ending abruptly when they see me.
“Don’t stop on my account,” I murmur, giving them a suspicious side-eye as I grab my keys
