Page 28 of Forbidden Kisses

I excused myself from the group, going downstairs with the brownies she’d packed for Jeremy.

Why the fuck had I asked that? I thought knowing might make things less weird, but I was dead wrong.

Jeremy and Dad were bent over a fishing rod on the counter. Dad was explaining to him how to replace the hook.

"Ready to go?" I asked.

Jeremy looked up. "Sure. Grandpa was just showing me what to do if a fish runs away with my hook."

Dad straightened up, ruffling his hair. "I've shown him a few times when we were fishing, but it's easier to learn the mechanics of it when you don't have adrenaline in your veins and a fish on your line. How was it upstairs?"

“We’re making progress.”

"Good, good. Do I smell brownies?”

“Yeah, she packed this for Jeremy. Mom’s got a full tray upstairs. Some with pecans too.”

“Damn, she’s spoiling me. I’ll close up here and see if she needs help with anything. Maybe we'll grab dinner afterward."

Fuck no. The logistics of my parents dating wasn't something I wanted front and center in my mind.

"Okay, buddy, let's go," I said. "We need to buy some things for tomorrow."

"All right. Bye, Grandpa."

After Jeremy hugged everyone goodbye, we left the store and got in the car. The whole drive, my son talked nonstop about fishing, Spider-Man, and God knew what else. Sometimes I think he just talked to talk, and I loved it.

We headed straight to the grocery store next to our condo building. Jeremy insisted on buying all sort of snacks for tomorrow. Since I didn’t know the layout of the store, it took us a while to find everything even though the fancy-ass place was small.

“Dad, Riley said that if we find white truffles, she can make a veggie muffin snack.”

“A what?” That sounded disgusting.

“We saw it on TV, on a cooking show.”

I frowned.Why didn’t she buy them herself?I’d given her a credit card last week to use for that reason.

I realized why when I looked at the price tag. She’d probably figured it was too expensive.

A little while later, we left the grocery store with two loaded bags.

Once I was inside the car, Jeremy said, "Dad? Can we drop the truffles at Riley’s house?”

“Why?”

“So she can bake the muffins for tomorrow.”

“Jeremy, she can just bake them in the afternoon. This is her free time. We can’t encroach on it.”

“Shetoldme to bring them to her house if we bought them.”

I found that hard to believe, so I decided to double-check with Riley. I called her right away, holding the phone to my ear.

“Hi, Duncan!” she answered cheerily.

“Riley, is this a good time?”

“Sure.”