Page 85 of Better Daddy

He gives me a clipped nod. “When you lose the right one, no one else could ever be enough.”

His eyes are haunted, the ghost of his past rearing its ugly head. He was head-over-heels in love during his undergrad. It was before he and I met, so I never got the full story.

Maybe I should have tried harder. We were roommates through the entirety of law school. I had the time.

My father put me up in a flat close to Columbia, and for the first couple of weeks, I lived alone. Brian and I became fast friends. Though in the beginning, we did little more than meet to study. He was too busy commuting from his father’s house in Brooklyn for much else. His younger sister was raising a baby on her own, and he helped her as much as he could. But quickly, the drive to Columbia five days a week got to be too much, so I offered to let him move into my spare room. He took me up on it, and although he still went home a couple of times a week to help, the time saved by not commuting allowed him to become the overachiever he is today.

“You ever look her up?” He’s mentioned her name before, but I’m fucking awful at remembering shit like that. Julie maybe. If Cal were listening in, he’d know.

Slowly, he shakes his head. “Nah. She’s probably home in Vermont, married with four kids, and happy as hell. She should be.” His words are rough at the end, his throat bobbing.

“You should try. You never know.” After the shit Sloane and I have been through, I fully believe that.

“Try what?” Lo bops into the kitchen, eyeing me, then Brian. “You thinking about asking someone out?” The excitement radiating from her is so painfully obvious that I can’t help but chuckle. “Youare,” she accuses. “I need the tea.”

“Dammit,” Brian mutters.

The cat, who’s been lounging on the floor beside him, lifts hishead, as if he’s been summoned.

“What did the cat do now?” Sloane appears behind Lo.

“Nothing.” Brian glowers down at the massive feline. “Go back to sleep.”

The cat doesn’t seem bothered by Brian’s attitude. In fact, he purrs and rubs against his black trousers, leaving a trail of light gray hair on the dark material.

“Now look at what you did,” Brian chides.

Sloane breaks into giggles, the sound lighting me up from the inside out.

“I’m so excited for karaoke.” Lo ignores Brian, probably because she’s used to his attitude.

“Me too,” Sloane agrees.

“That’s it. We need to party hardy with a singy blingy.” Cal clambers up from the living room floor, where he’s been playing with the boys, and rushes into the kitchen.

“What?” Lo frowns.

“Murphy needs a full-out over-the-top karaoke party.”

My brother has become obsessed with throwing the world’s greatest birthday party for his son.

I can’t blame him, really. He’s missed out on six of them already. Though he will absolutely go overboard. Knowing Murphy, who’s reserved and pretty easy to please, he’d be thrilled just to spend the day with his dad, but there is no telling Cal that.

Brian shakes his head, roughly batting at the cat hair on the leg of his trousers. “No, he doesn’t. Kids don’t have karaoke parties.”

Cal frowns, his hands on his hips. “I need a good idea.”

“You’ll come up with one, baby.” Lo wraps an arm around my brother’s waist.

“You know who won’t be invited though,” Cal says, expression hard.

Lo sighs. “I know, your mother.”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen my brother as angry at our mother as he was when he read her text this morning. She said she was heading to Arizona for some facial treatments. She never made aneffort to meet his son. Never asked about T.J. either. I’ve made my peace with it but I know he’s still struggling.

She expect us to apologize but it’s not happening. I have a feeling we won’t be hearing from her for a while. Or at least until the next time she decides to randomly show up and expect us to cater to her.

“Are you all leaving or what?”Brian huffs.