Teaser for Day Dreaming #3
She leaned as she scanned the restaurant that wasn’t nearly big enough to require such a detailed search. “Actually,” she said, chin and neck sticking out as she landed on a table in the far corner where a group of four was packing up. “I have a table opening up any second.”
“Great,” he said, nodding and folding his arms over his chest as he stepped back to let the incoming customers crowd the doorway, instead of them.
On her tiptoes, Aria leaned close to him and whispered, “I have to pee.”
He nodded and looked around, and found a restroom sign pointing toward the back. “Lucas? Mind waiting for the table?”
“Dad, you don’t have to stand guard outside the door or anything,” Aria grouched, rolling her eyes at her moronic father. “I’ll be right back.”
He leaned enough to see the full path to the door. “Okay,” he said.
Aria pushed her shoulders back with a show of confidence and wove between tables toward the restrooms.
Phone up, Lucas was back to… whatever it was he did on that thing.
Hopefully, it wasn’t any form of social media, as they’d run into enough issues with that and it wasn’t supposed to be on his phone anymore.
Although the apple didn’t fall far from the tree in a lot of ways, Lucas was a bubbling extrovert.
Probably not a bad trait to have inherited from his mother.
Reed meandered a glance toward the phone.
Lucas tipped his phone away so Reed couldn’t see the screen.
“Sorry. Old habits.” As he released a long breath, Reed dropped his arms to his sides. Then folded his arms across his chest again.
The bathroom door opened, someone walked out, and Aria headed in.
Subtly, Reed checked that Lucas was occupied, and let his gaze drift back toward the bartender.
He’d finished pouring drinks and was leaning against the doorjamb to the kitchen, jersey-style letters on his upper back, and a number below it.
“All set,” the server said as she hopped back over.
Reed took a sharp breath and turned toward her. “Great,” he said again.
He followed the server, sending Lucas ahead between them, and glanced back toward the bathroom.
The door swung open, and Aria stepped out, her blonder than sandy hair drifting down over her face. How did she see anything like that?
Lucas slid into the table first to face the wall. Reed slid onto the bench facing the pub, leaving it to Aria whether she sat by her dad to kick her brother under the table, or next to her brother to elbow him through the meal.
For better or worse, she slid into the seat next to Lucas and scooted the chair away. Reed slid to the middle of the bench.
Lucas glanced at the menu, then was back on his phone. Reed should probably say something, but they were all dead tired. Aria held the menu up in front of her face, a useful blockade to prevent her father from attempting to make conversation.
Not a problem. Reed was tapped out anyway.
He leaned back in his seat and stretched his long legs out to either side of the central table leg. Comfortable, but more importantly, it was a functional position in case his travel-cranky kids started kicking each other under the table.
No reason not to indulge now. He bit the edge of his tongue and looked back over at the bar.
The bartender gestured something, grinning and laughing as he backed out of the kitchen. Metal glinted on his left ring finger. Damn. Probably for the best.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” the server asked as she sashayed over to them again, biting her bottom lip as she settled close to Reed.
“Yeah,” he said, looking at the bar again, the row of taps. “I’ll try that stout.”
“Can I get a Coke?” Aria asked him quietly.
Reed lifted the corners of his mouth in a “really?” smirk. “No caffeine this late in the day,” he quietly reminded her. “Water? Sparkling water? Milk? Juice would be okay, I guess.”
“Do you have sparkling water?” she asked the server, instantly switching to a head-high, pensively deep sort of demeanor.
“You got it,” the cool young grown-up server answered, and flashed her a wink that had Aria instantly blushing.
“Water,” Lucas said as he kept his attention on his phone, then quickly looked up to make eye contact and share a polite smile, then back to his phone.
“You got it,” the server said as she walked away.
As if nothing had happened, they retreated back to their own mental spaces.
Another guy in the same slim-fitting black t-shirt with the pub’s logo came out of the kitchen. Mid laugh and riling the other guy, he turned—
Reed froze in place, his breath puffed like he’d been burned, and he blatantly stared.
Not as stacked as the other guy, although both were comfortably over six feet.
This guy was toned and smooth, with a sleek athleticism in every movement.
The new guy lifted his hand up and rubbed the back of his neck in response to something the other guy said.
Like he was posing, the move brilliantly displayed his arm.
With those forearms, the definition of his triceps, he wasn’t a gym rat, but an athlete.
Lost in a satisfying checkout, Reed quickly glanced to see that the kids didn’t know what he was looking at. Safe. They were wiped out and entirely uninterested in whatever interested their father.
Reed shifted to get a better look. Deeply brunette short hair, cozy brown eyes, thick dark lashes, and a stubbled beard neatly trimmed enough so Reed could tell the five o’clock shadow was on purpose.
A hot grin that lifted higher on one side, adorably sweet, but he was clearly thinking something devious.
Arms opening wide, the guy laughed and earned a teasing smack in the chest from the bartender. He ducked back enough to dodge the bulk of the blow, but the bartender had expected the dodge and laughed. This was definitely the younger brother, not by much. It was the attitude.
In retaliation, he smacked the bartender on the arm and jumped out of reach. “I’m out,” he said as he backed fully out from behind the bar, turned on his heel, and headed down the hall past the restrooms.
Fuck, he needed to get out more. First day of vacation, and he was fantasy relationship shopping.
Reed leaned back and released a long breath. Across the table, the kids were enveloped in their own heads, expressions drawn and shoulders slumped. Well, Aria in her own head, and Lucas was on his phone, but they were exhausted. Takeout would have been a better idea.
They didn’t seem keen on visiting as they ate. He tried to make small talk, but the vacant expressions across the table said they weren’t in the mood. Fair enough. Reed didn’t even finish his beer, ate half his dinner, and waved for the check.
Town was still bustling on the walk back. The sun was dipping low, but the longest day of the year wasn’t far off, and it was plenty bright even without the arched streetlights that began to flicker on.
They passed the brewhouse that had made the beer he’d had with dinner. The patio was packed to the gills, but it looked like a nice place to hang out. Little firepit conversation areas, propane heaters just lighting up for the evening as the sun dissolved into shadows.
Maybe the kids didn’t appreciate the downshift, not yet, but he sure as hell needed it.
Everyone in his acquaintance knew him as Bethany’s husband.
As Lucas and Aria’s dad. The latter wasn’t so bad.
Working from home, with his brother out of the country and his parents spreading their newly, quasi-retired wings, Reed didn’t have much of a social life.
Not that it was a problem, normally, but… yeah. It would be nice to have people to meet up with for… well, anything.
When they reached the condo, he punched in the code and promised to show the kids how to use the door tomorrow. And, fuck, he needed to get Lucas a driver’s permit soon. Maybe get him his own car, but holy hell, he didn’t even know where to start with that.
The kids went straight to bed without arguing, and he skipped nagging about brushing teeth, and definitely about flossing. At least Lucas was getting to the point that he liked looking good and smelling clean. Aria… well, hopefully soon.
He filled a glass with water and climbed the steps to the gigantic primary suite. Had he been designed the condo, he would have put the kids’ bedrooms upstairs with a game room of sorts. But, he supposed, he’d have too much time to himself when they were with Bethany.
Not skipping the ritual himself, he brushed and flossed, stripped to the skin and slid between the pristine, brand new white sheets under the white comforter.
Laying on his front, one hand scrunched in his hair, his eyes closed in an instant.
Wind brushed in through the open windows, flooding the room with smells he didn’t even know how to describe. Nature, he supposed.
Dreamland treated him fairly as he drifted in and out of sleep. That was a first, having pleasant things to think about when he couldn’t sleep, like the guy at the pub’s arms, rather than Bethany ranting about something that he’d fucked up.
When the morning accumulation of gray cloudy sky glowed bright enough to contrast the sleeping mountains, he huffed a breath and rolled to his back, sprawling his arms wide on the massive bed.
He rubbed his eyes and laid there another minute.
Okay. Okay. Time to get up.
He trudged to the bathroom and grabbed his inhaler.
Puff, hold, let it fill the lungs. Reed held the albuterol as long as he could.
Running shoes tied tight, shorts on, he tugged a shirt over his head.
Mint coated his teeth as he brushed away the medication, rinsed, and spit it all out.
He dashed toward the stairs, then quickly slowed to quiet his steps.
The kids would know where he’d gone, but there was a slim chance they’d wake before he got back.