Page 71 of Mr. Infuriating (Mister #1)

Gretchen

Gabe helped me clean up after dinner, then we sat down on the couch with Jake and Brittany while they watched an episode of Bluey that Brittany had thoughtfully recorded.

I normally fast-forwarded through commercials at my house, but Gabe had questions, so I muted them while Brittany explained the premise of the show.

Jake tried to help and patted my leg. “Chilli,” Bluey’s mom’s name. Then he patted Gabe’s leg and declared, “Bandit,” which was the father’s name in the show.

Even in the seven-minute segment we’d watched, Gabe had to have figured that out.

My little man then patted his chest and said, “I Bluey,” then reached for Brittany’s hand and said, “Bit-nee Bingo.”

Bingo was Bluey’s sister. Bluey was also a girl, a fact that didn’t seem to bother Jake for the scenario he was creating.

Oh boy. How the hell am I supposed to handle this?

I decided I’d try to be literal about it.

“No, silly. You’re Jake !” I tickled his sides as I tried to lighten the mood. “You’re a boy, not a puppy! I’m Mama.” I pointed to Gabe and continued. “That’s Gabe. He’s Brittany and Brayden’s daddy, not yours. Your daddy’s name is Troy,” and Gabe scoffed softly.

When I snapped my head to look at Gabe, he murmured, “Sorry,” before coughing into his hand.

Jake wasn’t to be deterred and patted Gabe’s leg again as he proclaimed, “Bandit,” then leaned against him to watch the show, like that was the end of the discussion .

I shot Gabe a look over Jake’s head and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

Gabe shrugged and situated his arm around Jake’s little body curled up next to him before turning his attention back to the TV.

I looked at Jake snuggled against Gabe, with Brittany on the other side of my son and realized I had a problem. It wasn’t just my heart that was going to be broken when things came to an end. Our kids were going to suffer, too.

This was going to hurt my boy more than when his dad walked away. Jake hadn’t really known Troy since the man was never around. My son hadn’t missed him once he was gone, but it was obvious he was starting to care for Gabe and Gabe’s kids and would be hurt by their absence.

What had we done?

****

Gabe

Gretchen followed me into the guest room, where I laid a sleeping Jake gently on the toddler bed. I noticed her pink flowery suitcase against the wall and turned to her with a frown.

“Why is that in here?”

“I can’t stay in your room with Brittany here, Gabe.”

“She sleeps like a log. And so what if she knows you’re sleeping in my room?”

“What happens when our time together comes to an end? The kids are going to be confused and hurt. Jake already thinks of you as a father figure; he said as much tonight. He’s already had his biological father reject him; what do you think you suddenly disappearing from his life is going to do?

” She sank onto the bed and buried her head in her hands, murmuring, “Staying here was such a bad idea.”

While I didn’t think them staying here had been a bad idea, I had to admit, Jake comparing me to the cartoon dad tonight had made me pause.

I thought I’d been doing the right thing by stepping up and being a role model.

I hadn’t thought he’d think of me as a father figure.

I guess I thought he was too young to make that kind of connection.

But he had, and while he sat next to me on the couch, I’d kind of felt proud that he thought I was worthy.

But Gretchen pointed out that Jake was going to think he’d been rejected again when she and I finally went our separate ways, and now I felt terrible.

“So, what do we do?”

She let out a long breath. “I don’t know. Anything we do now is going to be too little, too late. We can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.”

I was relieved she didn’t suggest they go to her parents, or that I try to keep my distance.

“Maybe you both could go with me when I work on your cabinets this weekend. And this week, instead of going straight to my house after school, you go to yours for an hour or two.”

“That might work. It will get him back in his old routine.”

The one that didn’t include me.

That stung more than it should.

I reached for her hand.

“Come on, Britt said she’d wait for us to start the movie. ”

She took my hand, and as we walked down the hall, she murmured, “I think I’m going to go stay at my parents’ tomorrow night while you guys go bowling. We haven’t visited them in a while.”

“Britt’s going to be disappointed.”

Crushed was more like it. She probably wouldn’t want to go.

“I’ll feign a family emergency or something.”

I didn’t love the idea, in fact, I fucking hated it. But decided I was going to choose my battles.

“I’ll back you up, whatever you decide.”