Page 73 of Mr. Infuriating (Mister #1)
Gabe
Since Gretchen and Jake were spending the night at Gretchen’s parents, Brittany decided to go to a slumber party at her girlfriend’s house.
Brayden’s tournament was out of town, so that left me home alone in the big, quiet house with just my thoughts.
Normally, I relished my time alone, but now, that was the last thing I wanted.
My mind had been racing since Gretchen pointed out how upset our kids were going to be when we stopped seeing each other.
The kids , yeah.
Because I was totally equipped to handle it.
I wasn’t crawling out of my skin because I missed them, and they’d only been gone a few hours.
Not. At. All.
I decided to be productive and go work on Gretchen’s cabinets. But I realized that would still give me time alone to think, so I called Beau.
Sure, he’d give me shit, but at least I’d stay out of my head.
“Hey, what are you doing right now?”
“Watching a recording of last night’s hockey game, why?”
“The Bruins win.”
“I already know that, dickhead. I watch SportsCenter in the mornings.”
“I’ll buy you dinner if you come help me at Gretchen’s.”
“Dinner, huh? Do I get to pick the place?”
“Within reason.”
“Are you going to be stingy? ”
“Are you going to be an asshole?”
He didn’t even hesitate. “Probably.”
Knowing I didn’t have much choice, I let out an exasperated sigh.
“Fine, but anything over fifty bucks, you’re paying for yourself.”
“Seventy-five.”
“Sixty.”
“Deal. I can meet you at her place in half an hour.”
“See you then.”
~~
My little brother walked into Gretchen’s kitchen and let out a low whistle when he looked around.
“Wow, you’ve really made a lot of progress.”
“It’s amazing how much you can get done working just a couple of hours a day over the course of a week.”
He ran his hand over one of the cabinets I’d already installed.
“Don’t let this go to your head, but you are one talented motherfucker.”
“Yeah, no shit. People aren’t paying me for my stellar personality.”
“Good thing. Otherwise, you’d be broke.”
“Or worse, working for you.”
“Pffft. You wouldn’t last a week.”
“You’re probably right. I wouldn’t be able to stand smelling like oil.” I leaned forward and sniffed the air around him. “Even on my days off.”
“I doubt if you even know how to change your oil.”
I gripped his shoulder with a grin. “That’s what I’ve got you for.”
Now that we’d exchanged the required amount of sibling barbs, he looked around again with a thoughtful expression.
“But seriously, this is really coming together nicely. I bet we can finish everything today.”
The thought was bittersweet. Fortunately, I still had a few more days since she still didn’t have water.
“Well, not everything. We’ll need to leave the sink cabinet” I shot him a dirty look as I continued, “until Henry repairs her pipes. But once that’s done, she should be ready to come back home.”
“When’s Henry supposed to get that done?”
“He’s waiting on a part, but he thinks Wednesday or Thursday.”
His face split into a grin.
“So, she’s been at your house almost a week. How’s it going? You engaged yet?”
“I think your plan may have backfired, little brother.”
He wrinkled his brow.
“Backfired? How?”
“She’s staying at her parents tonight, so her son doesn’t get too attached to me and the kids. And Britt has liked playing big sister. It’s become a whole clusterfuck. We should have just kept it a weekend fling between us and not gotten our families involved.”
“It’s too late for woulda shoulda couldas. I think it’s a good thing.”
“How do you figure that? ”
“You’ve learned your families are compatible, so you could blend them together.”
“It’s a nice fantasy, Beau, but she wants another baby.”
“So, give her a baby. Do I need to explain how that works? When a daddy and a mommy love each other very much, they go to bed without any clothes on, and nine months later, they have a baby.”
“You’re such a dick.”
“We already know that. But that doesn’t explain why you’re making this so complicated.”
“I closed that door a long time ago.”
“So, open it back up. Or go through a window. Or a wall.”
He then broke out in Lil John’s Get Low song, complete with choreography.
Watching my little brother grab his balls while dancing around the kitchen, I thought, maybe being alone with my thoughts would have been the better option, after all .