Page 32 of Just This Once (Stone Family #2)

Dante

I t never occurred to me until today that I might actually need to buy a car.

I have use of one of the company’s trucks, but my dad is a stickler that it’s not “my” vehicle.

It’s Moretti’s, and I have to track all my mileage.

I personally get around on my motorcycle; though, if I’m going to be driving around with the kids more, I’ll need to invest in something of my own.

As much as I love watching Taryn drive—the tip of her tongue at the corner of her mouth as she waits to make a left turn, or how she sets her elbow on her door when she’s impatient with the driver in front of her—I want to be able to chauffeur her around.

Especially because she’s dead set against my motorcycle.

I think it would take an act of God to get her on the back of my bike again.

A pity.

Because there was nothing better than having her plastered to my back, her arms hugging the life out of me.

I’m in the middle of scrolling a list of the best family cars when I hear Taryn mutter a low curse.

I glance up, noting a shiny BMW outside of her house.

The sun has set, and it’s too dark for me to make out the man leaning against it, but I can guess.

And as hot as it is to watch Taryn parallel park so motherfucking perfectly, all of my attention is on Craig Barrett.

All the good vibes from the day evaporate as she turns off the car. Jake lets out a loud breath before he opens his door. Maddie follows, but Taryn doesn’t move from behind the wheel.

“All right?” I ask her, and she shakes her head.

“Fine.”

It absolutely is not going to be fine. It’s a problem. I can feel it, but before I can say anything else, she steps out of the car. “Hey, Craig.”

“I’ve been waiting here for twenty minutes,” he snaps, and I shut my door as quietly as possible, though he still notices me, and I can already tell this is going to be more than a problem. He’s looking for a fight.

Taryn flops her arms at her sides like they’re so heavy she can’t hold them up anymore. “I’m sorry. We ran a little late.”

“Twenty minutes is not a little late, Taryn.”

I don’t like the way he speaks to her like she’s dumb, and I step around to her side. Of course, he takes note and scowls. Taryn sighs. “I left a voice mail that we were on the way.”

“Bullshit. You never called me.”

“Yes, I did, about twenty-five minutes ago, actually.”

“No, you didn’t.”

I don’t know how she dealt with this toddler for so long. He huffs out a laugh that is so grating I reflexively grind my molars. “Maybe you meant to, but?—”

“Here. Look.” Taryn pulls out her phone, scrolls through it, then holds up her screen. “You didn’t pick up, so I left a voice mail.”

He knocks her hand down, and I make to step forward, but Jake catches my arm. I hadn’t realized he had come to stand next to me. Maddie’s on Taryn’s other side. Like we’re forming a fucking army against Thanos.

“It’s my weekend with them,” he says, angry finger in the air.

Taryn spends a few seconds merely glaring at him, and I’m sure she’s calculating her words.

Making sure to stay calm. “You’re right, it is your weekend with them, when you are supposed to get them at ten.

But since you changed the plans last week yet again, your time is cut short by hours.

So even if we had not made other plans, and I had not called to inform you that we were running late, why didn’t you come pick them up this morning like you were supposed to? ”

“Because I was busy. Not everyone has time to jaunt off for some bullshit.”

“We went to see The Nutcracker ,” Maddie says, in a voice so small I recognize it in myself. Trying to stand up to a bully, but the bully is the person that you were taught to always respect. That you thought would love you, no matter what.

Craig scoffs. “ The Nutcracker ? That’s why I’ve been waiting here all night?”

“All night?” Taryn cants her head to the side. “I thought you said it was twenty minutes. Or was it really two minutes?”

He ignores her questions, turning to Jake. “You had a good time at The Nutcracker ?”

Jake shrugs, mumbling an affirmative, which only pisses this asshole off more. “You’re kidding me with this, Taryn, forcing our son to go to a goddamn ballet!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Maddie flinch. She loves dancing and singing, and her father shitting on the thing she loves is only reinforcing what she probably fears most—that her father doesn’t really love her.

But he doesn’t stop. He goes on, shouting, “You’re turning our son into a pussy! ”

“Hey, whoa, no.” I step forward with my hands up. “You can’t be saying stuff like that.”

“Who are you?”

“My name’s Dante.”

“Well, Dante—” he spits out my name “—this is none of your business. My family is none of your goddamn business.”

I shake my head. “Actually, it is, when you’re out in my neighborhood yelling at your children and ex-wife.”

He laughs sarcastically, pointing at me as he asks Taryn, “ Really ? You’re fucking a kid?”

“Why don’t you go home?” she says, motioning to his car.

“I’m not going anywhere without my kids.”

A big act for a guy who doesn’t really seem to care about his weekend. If he did, he would’ve been here this morning, like Taryn said. Not outside shouting at us for being twenty minutes late.

“Go get your stuff,” he tells the kids, but they don’t move.

Instead, they look to Taryn. I watch Craig’s temper rise with a locked jaw and flared nostrils as he realizes his kids don’t take what he says seriously.

They’re choosing to follow only what their mother says.

And he lashes out. Because that’s what insecure men do.

“Go get your fucking stuff now!”

Maddie jerks back at the outburst, but Taryn captures her wrist, soothing quietly, “It’s okay.” Turning to Jake, she hands her house keys over to him. “It’s your dad’s night. Go ahead.”

Jake holds out his hand for Maddie to take as they walk inside, and my stomach churns. I know what it feels like to be intimidated by your parent, and I’m not sure exactly what to do, but I know having Craig out here yelling and stomping like some roided-up bull isn’t it.

I try to keep my voice even as I tell him, “How about you go wait in your car? Nobody needs you yelling out here. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

Craig turns his anger on me, taking a step closer until we’re chest to chest. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

I stick my hands in my pockets so I don’t do anything stupid, even though I would really fucking love to. “I’m just saying, your kids are watching. Don’t make this worse than it already is.”

Craig’s jaw clenches, and for a moment, I think he might take a swing at me. But then he takes a step back, his eyes darting toward the house, where his kids are watching from the porch.

Without taking my eyes off him, I nod to Maddie and Jake. “It’s okay. It’s cool. Everybody’s good.”

As soon as the door shuts, Craig scoffs at Taryn, waving his arm in my direction. “You think you can replace me? With this…this kid?”

“I’m not a kid, but you seem to be doing a pretty good job of proving you are. Out here acting a fool in front of your children.”

“Fuck off,” he mutters in my direction before opening his mouth to go in on Taryn again, but she cuts him off.

“If you don’t respect my time or the kids’ time, you cannot expect to be respected in return. As I’ve told you before, they’re old enough now to understand what’s going on, and you need to be prepared to face the consequences of your behavior.”

“Don’t condescend to me.”

She lifts her shoulders in a careless gesture.

“I’m telling you the truth. I’m warning you that you will lose your children, and it won’t be because of me.

It will be because of you and your actions.

And I’m not going to let my children go home with you if you don’t calm down.

You are not in the right state of mind to be their parent, let alone drive. ”

He opens his mouth to respond but thinks better of it. His jaw snaps shut, gaze flicking between Taryn and me. Eventually, he grates out, “My children don’t need a replacement daddy.”

I rub my jaw, wishing I could punch his, though I am going to do the thing he should have and walk away.

I take three steps back, putting physical distance between myself and Taryn.

At this point, I believe any man would be a better father to his kids than he is, and I would love to let him know, but I keep quiet.

The kids shuffle back outside with backpacks over their shoulders, and I offer them a small wave and smile, sending all my support their way, hoping they can feel it.

While Craig fumes, Jake and Maddie hug their mother, each of them telling her they love her, and in return, she kisses their cheeks, whispering words only they can hear.

Then she nudges them to Craig’s car. “I’ll see you tomorrow night, okay? ”

Craig storms to the driver’s side without another word after the kids are in his car, and I move right behind Taryn, close enough that she can lean her weight into me. After they drive off, I wrap my arm around the front of her shoulders, pressing my face against the side of her head. “You okay?”

Her shoulders and chest rise on a breath. “Yeah, I’ll be okay.”

Except she’s not okay. Her voice is small and shaky, and I can feel her wilting in my hold. “Let’s get you inside. It’s cold out.”