Dad Next Door (Crimson Club Book 5)

14. Tristan

“Dad and Jace broke up!”

I paused, my hand on the doorknob and one foot still outside my house, as Leo came bounding into the foyer with three of the cats on his heels.

“I’m sorry?” I squeezed into the house and did a quick round of pets and head scratches as our animals, minus Maple, gathered around me.

“Dad and Jace broke up,” Leo repeated.

I had a million questions, but I kept my mouth shut. As much as I wanted all the details, I didn’t want to put my kid in the middle of adult issues.

“Sounds like you had an exciting week.” I held out my arms for a hug. “I’m so happy to see you. I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” He gave me a big squeeze.

“Are you okay with them not being together anymore?” I asked.

I might still be salty about why Jace lived with Simon, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d been a stable fixture in Leo’s life for the past year and a half.

He shrugged and scooped Jinx up. “Yeah. It’s weird that he’s not there, and Dad was grumpy all week, but it’s fine.” He followed me into the kitchen. “It’s not like he wasn’t grumpy when Jace was there. But why is he mad at Quinn?”

I nearly tripped over my feet, and Mili, who chose that moment to dash in front of me. “Quinn?” I looked around the kitchen for my sister.

“Yeah. He kept saying it’s Quinn’s fault Jace left. And yours.”

My brain kind of stuttered as it tried to catch up.

Almost a month had passed since the wedding, and Quinn and I had settled into a routine that worked for us. During my weeks with Leo, we texted and did video calls after Leo was in bed.

On my off weeks, we tried to spend a few evenings together during the week, but weekends were iffy because of our work schedules. That was especially true for Quinn since he was juggling his new contracting firm, his online work, and his dancing, so he had even less time off than I did.

“And he said Quinn’s a gold digger and you’re an idiot for not seeing it.” He shifted Jinx onto his shoulder. “What did Quinn do? I thought he was our friend.”

“He is our friend,” I said firmly. “Your dad is upset about Jace, and he’s lashing out at Quinn because he’s hurting.”

I hated that I once again had to cover for Simon’s inability to censor himself around our son. He never minced words when he talked about me, but I refused to stoop to his level and made sure not to badmouth him in front of Leo, even when he deserved it.

Lydia came into the kitchen from the back family room and mouthed ‘Nice save’ to me.

“Oh. Okay. Are you and Quinn dating like Dad and Jace were? Dad said Quinn might be your boyfriend now, but he won’t be for long because no one in their right mind would want to date you.” He wrinkled his forehead in confusion. “But Dad dated you. He married you.”

This time my brain didn’t just stutter. It full-on buffered as I processed everything Leo had just said.

“Dad?” Leo asked.

“Sorry.” I shook off my stupor. “It’s like I said, your dad is angry about Jace, and he’s saying mean things about Quinn and me because he’s hurting.”

Lydia rolled her eyes and mouthed ‘He’s an asshole.’

“But are you and Quinn dating?” Leo pressed.

I’d planned on telling him about us this weekend, but it looked like we were having that conversation now and not when I’d had time to prepare.

“We are.” I scrambled to find a way to explain things to my son. “It’s very new, but we’re boyfriends.”

“Cool.” Leo put a wiggling Jinx on the floor so he could run off and chase his sisters. “That means he can come over and hang out with us, right?”

I blinked. That was it? Leo had accepted it that easily?

“He’s really busy right now, but we can hang out with him when he’s got some free time. Do you have any questions about anything?”

“Can I have an ice cream sandwich? I didn’t have one after dinner.”

“Um, yeah. Sure thing.”

He made a beeline for the freezer. I watched, my brain spinning, as he got his dessert and left the kitchen without another word.

“I’m going to strangle him the next time I see him,” I muttered as Lydia came to stand with me.

“Get in line, little brother.” Her eyes were dark with anger. “I’m glad Jace finally grew a set and left his crusty ass, but what the actual fuck is he doing talking like that in front of a nine-year-old? And why is he talking to Leo about you and Quinn in the first place?”

I scrubbed my hand over my face. “I should have seen this coming. Not the Jace thing, because wow.”

Lydia nodded in agreement.

“But the Quinn thing. I should’ve known he’d do something like this as soon as he saw us at the wedding. I thought I’d dodged a bullet when he kept his trap shut, but of course it was too much to hope he’d be an adult about things. At least Leo took the news about us well.”

“He’s nine, and he likes Quinn. I’m not shocked.” She leaned against the counter. “Dinner is in the fridge. We ordered pizza because I burned the meatloaf.”

Still half in a daze, I went to the fridge and pulled three slices out of the box. Stacking them on top of each other, I took a bite of my new giant slice.

“At least pretend like you’re civilized.” Lydia pointed to where I kept the plates.

I ripped off a piece of paper towel and used that as a plate instead.

“Weirdo.”

“Takes one to know one.” I took a bite of one of the slices this time. “Any issues with pickup this week?”

“Nope. He was a dismissive asshole, as usual, but didn’t give me any problems. I didn’t even know about the Jace thing until I was driving Leo home and he told me everything.”

“Everything?” I asked warily.

“Not everything,” she assured me. “But enough to make my cold, dead heart happy.”

“Like what? I need some happy news after this week.”

“Apparently Simon and Jace had a big argument on Sunday. Leo didn’t hear what they were saying, but he said Jace stormed out and didn’t come home until Wednesday. When he did, it was with some ginormous friends, Leo’s words, and he gave Simon a letter and said he was moving out.”

“Wow. That’s cold. A letter?”

“A handwritten one. Leo found pieces of it in the garbage after Simon ripped it up. He didn’t read it because it was in cursive, but he said it was long, like multiple pages.”

I laughed into my pizza. “I love this for him. The king of sending letters when he has a temper tantrum got a handwritten breakup letter.”

My sister grinned. “He certainly had the day he deserved.” She glanced around, like she was making sure Leo wasn’t in earshot. “What do you think pushed Jace over the edge? It had to be the wedding, right? What didn’t you tell me?”

“Nothing. I told you everything. We went, Quinn was the perfect date, Simon did his posturing thing, then we left.”

“Yeah, I know all that. But you never told me how you and Quinn went from a fake date to seeing each other.”

“It’s nothing crazy. We just realized that our date wasn’t fake after all.”

“That’s so sweet. And totally not the whole story.”

“Sorry, sis. I know you love drama and gossip, but it really was that boring. We kissed while we were dancing. That’s the most dramatic thing that happened.”

She narrowed her eyes like she was trying to suss out if I was withholding anything vital. “That’s it?”

I nodded and took another big bite of my pizza.

“Well, I’m glad you two finally got your heads out of your asses and made things official.”

I choked on my pizza.

“What?” She blinked innocently. “You two are too precious for this world with your it’s-not-a-date dates and making moon eyes at each other when you thought no one was watching.” She pointed to her eyes with two fingers, then at me with one. “And I’m always watching.”

“That’s… We weren’t like that.”

She swiped the crust of my pizza out of my hand. “You mean you weren’t spending all your free time together and gushing about him incessantly when you weren’t?”

“No.”

She arched her eyebrow and took a big bite of the crust.

“No?” I repeated, not quite as confident in my answer.

“Oh, my sweet summer child,” she said when she’d swallowed. “You’re so clueless it’s adorable.”

“Shut up.” I snatched the last of the crust from her hand and shoved it into my mouth.

“I’m happy for you,” she said, her tone serious. “He’s good for you. It’s nice to see you with someone who treats you right. I know it’s only been a month, but you’re different. More like the man you were before Simon. I’ve missed that version of my brother.” She glanced at the time over the stove.

I took another bite of my food so I wouldn’t have to answer her. She wasn’t wrong. I felt different. Less stressed and more settled, even though the only thing in my life that had changed was my relationship status.

Having someone to talk things out with and get advice from made all the craziness that was my life easier to handle. I hoped I did the same for him.

“When are you leaving tomorrow?” I asked after a bite.

“Julie’s picking me up at ten. I should head out. I haven’t started packing yet.”

“I still can’t believe you’re going camping. You can’t even walk barefoot on grass without freaking out.”

“Because stepping on bugs and worms is so much fun.” She made a face. “But we’re not camping. We’re glamping. We’re talking pure luxury that just happens to be in the woods. Glamorous camping is the only way to go.”

“You’re such a millennial.”

“Right back atcha, little bro.” She pushed her long braid back over her shoulder. “You good if I head out?”

“Yeah. Thanks for today. Text me when you get home.”

“Will do. I’m gonna go say goodbye to the kidlet.”

“Have fun glamping.”

She pointed to the doorway, where Freddie, Mili, Shadow, and Jinx sat, patiently waiting for permission to come into the kitchen. “You have about ten seconds before Jinx breaks ranks and saves you from your paper towel.”

I crumpled up the sheet sitting on the counter. She wasn’t wrong. Jinx loved to shred paper, and paper towels were one of his sworn enemies.

“Later.” She waved over her shoulder. “Hey, Leo!” she yelled as she headed out of the kitchen.

“What?” he hollered back.

“I’m leaving! Where are you, so I can say goodbye?”

“Right here.”

“Where’s here? Get your butt over here and say goodbye to your favorite aunt.”

Chuckling, I waved the pets in and pulled out my phone to call Quinn.

“Tris?” he answered on the second ring. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I think. Why do you sound panicked?”

“I’m not used to people calling me, like a voice call, unless it’s work related. I’ve been programmed to think a phone call means there’s an emergency.”

“Oh, sorry. I can hang up and text you instead.”

“It’s fine, Tris.” He huffed out a soft laugh. “You can call anytime you want. It was just a surprise because I’m not used to hearing my personal phone ring. What’s up?”

“Jace left Simon, and Leo knows we’re dating.”

The silence on the other end of the line was deafening.

“Quinn?” I checked to see if the call was still connected.

“I’m here, just processing. How do you feel about that?” he asked carefully.

I trudged over to the back living room and sank into my easy chair. “I’m not sure, exactly. Leo told me about Jace leaving, then repeated a bunch of nasty stuff Simon said about us and how you’re a gold digger.” I snort-laughed. “I know we haven’t talked money, but I’m pretty sure you make more than me, and you don’t have a kid and an army of pets draining your disposable income, so wouldn’t that make me the gold digger?”

“I’m sorry he’s still doing that, talking badly about you to Leo,” he said softly. “I know it’s not helpful right now, but Leo’s a smart kid. He’ll remember all of this when he’s older. He’ll see which parent acted like his parent.”

“I know. I just hate having to always take the high road. I want to be petty and mean too. I’m the one who got cheated on. He left me, but I’m the problem?”

“You can be as mean and petty as you want with me. I think he needs a new nickname. Something so bad we have to use an acronym. I’ll workshop some ideas, and we’ll pick the winner.”

I smiled. Quinn always knew how to lighten the mood without invalidating my frustrations or feelings.

“So what happened with Jace?” he asked.

I outlined what Leo and Lydia told me.

“Wow. Now that’s an exit.” Quinn laughed, the sound throaty and rich. “The handwritten letter is just chef’s kiss.”

“I really wish I could have read it. I never got to do the big dramatic fuck you. It’s about time Simon has to deal with the consequences of his actions.”

“Me too. But I’m sure it was filled with things like ‘you’re an asshole’ and ‘I’m better off without you.’ Hopefully there was an ‘eat shit’ in there too.”

I snickered.

“Are you okay with Leo knowing about us?”

I paused. Quinn and I had decided together that we would wait a few weeks before telling him. It wasn’t that I didn’t want Leo to know or was trying to hide it from him; it was more that we wanted to figure out what we had before bringing him into it.

I appreciated how Quinn always deferred to me when it came to Leo. He offered advice and suggestions, but understood I needed to do what I thought was best for my son.

“I’m pissed, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. And Leo’s fine with everything.” I paused again. “Do you want to come over tomorrow? Maybe we can do dinner and watch a movie or something?”

“Yeah.” I could hear his smile. “I’d love to.”

Crash.

“I’m okay!” Leo immediately shouted.

“One second.” I pulled the phone away from my ear and covered the speaker with my hand. “Is everyone else okay?”

“Yeah,” he yelled back. “Freddie knocked the umbrella stand over.”

I put the phone back to my ear. “Still there?”

“What happened? I heard yelling.”

“Freddie took out my umbrella stand.”

“Do you need to go?”

“Yeah, I probably should. Wait, aren’t you dancing tonight?” I’d forgotten he had a shift at the club tonight in the craziness that had transpired since I got home.

“Yup. Your timing was perfect. I just pulled into the parking lot when you called.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you late.”

“You didn’t, and I’m the one who answered and kept talking. It’s not on you if I’m late. Text me a time for tomorrow, and if you want me to bring anything.”

“I will. Hopefully it’s a good crowd tonight.”

“Here’s hoping. Night, Tris.”

“Night.”

Ending the call, I stood and went to make sure the only casualty of Freddie’s enthusiasm was my umbrella stand.