Page 26 of Night By Night

He laughed and picked her up. “Hello, JJ.”

“Daddy’s taking a shower. He told me to let you in.”

He carried her inside. “How’d you like Miss Eliza’s class today?”

“She was there but she wasn’t my teacher. It was really cool…”

And for the next ten minutes, until Hank emerged freshly showered and looking buff in his shorts and T-shirt, Maddox got to hear all about JJ’s day as they sat talking on the couch.

It hit him for the first time that while he knew people who had kids, and had spent time around kids before, he’d never really seen himself as a “parent.”

As he sat there, a fantasy flashed to mind before he could cut it off at the roots. Of him picking JJ up from school, or classes, or whatever, and the two of them cooking dinner for them as a family, having it ready when Hank came home from work.

Of being a dad.

Fuck.

This was a self-inflicted, slow-motion emotional train wreck he was helpless to stop in any way.

“Hey, man,” Hank said, smiling at him as he emerged from the bedroom. His blond hair was still damp from the shower, and because it was a little shaggy, even though he’d combed it, Maddox could see the waves in it.

Could imagine himself running his fingers through it and ruffling his hair.

Maddox stood. “Hey.” Maddox was glad he didn’t have to step in for a hug and risk being rebuffed, because Hank stepped in first and hugged him.

“Thanks, man,” Hank softly said as they hugged, and too softly for JJ to overhear. “I’m not going to refuse the company right now.”

Maddox’s heart raced, throbbed, although in reality he knew Hank meant it in a completely platonic way.

He patted Hank’s back as they hugged. “Dude, you’ve been through a lot. You don’t have to thank me for being here. Iwantto be here. I’m an adult—if I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be here.”

At least in that way he didn’t have to fib at all.

Hank took care of transferring JJ’s car seat to Maddox’s car and they were quickly off, with Hank navigating.

“If you’d told me we’d one day be having dinner with Mrs. McElroy,” Hank said, “I wouldn’t have believed you.”

“Right?” Maddox said. “I can’t wait to see her again.”

When they arrived, a tall guy wearing a friendly smile answered the front door. “Hey, you must be Hank and Maddox. Rusty McElroy.” He shook with them, then stooped over and smiled at JJ. “And you must be the little ninja in training Miss Eliza told me about.”

She giggled. “I’m JJ. Pleased to meet you.” And she stuck her hand out.

His grin widened and he shook with her. “Pleased to meet you, too. You know, our daughter, when she was your age, we put a sword in her hand. We could teach you to be a shield-maiden, and—”

“Rusty!” Eliza called from inside the house. “Let them in and let’s at least feed them dinner before you start tossing her into combat, huh, barbarian?”

He laughed and straightened. “Yes, Ma’am.”

Hank had already started inside the house but Maddox froze as his gaze met and held Rusty’s for a moment.

He heard that capitalM. And a whole bunch of things fell into place for him, including why she’d insisted on them using “ma’am” and “sir” during her classes.

Rusty arched an eyebrow at him, apparently picking up on what Maddox had figured out.

Maddox wondered how long it’d be before he ended up running into them at Venture.

He stepped inside and followed Hank and JJ into the living room while Rusty closed the front door behind them.