Chapter 9

Diesel whined for the tenth time since we'd come out to pull weeds. Although I had him on his chain, his entire body was pointed toward the cowboy boot. It had been two days since the wedding, and I'd spent most of it trying to get my dog back from my wife's house.

So weird that she was my wife. It had been an awkward see you later when we got home from the wedding. I wasn't sure if she wanted me to hang out. And when she didn't stop me from heading home, I had my answer.

But during the drive home, I agreed to come over on Tuesdays and Thursdays for dinner to get to know everyone better. So, I'd spend tomorrow night at the boot.

Diesel shot up to his feet, bouncing up and down like a jack-in-the-box.

I stood, wiping my hands on my jeans, and glanced toward the path to Rose Garden just in time to see three little bodies appear.

"We came to help with the pumpkin patch," Blair announced as she and Jayden finally made it into earshot.

"They promised Chris and Addy," Kai added, running up behind them.

Help? I had a feeling none of them were going to be any help.

Example number one presented itself when Kai released Diesel from his chain and the two started rolling in the grass. "Is this how you help?"

"No." Kai smiled. "They came to help. I just came for my dog. Ivy said I can play with him. Okay, Dad?"

I winced. He never called Ivy mom, so I didn't know why he was so set on referring to me as Dad. But I wasn't sure what to do about it, either. "Um, sure."

I turned back to the other two and pulled open the gate to the garden. "Do you two want to come in?"

After they stepped inside, Blair asked, "Do you not want to be a dad?" Her head tilted to the side as she inspected me. "You look like a dad. Even the jeans."

There was nothing dadish about my jeans. "What's wrong with my pants?"

"They're that weird, thick baggy material." She frowned. "You should have Shane help you pick better ones. He's got rizz, and you need some rizz if you're gonna get Ivy to fall in love with you."

I opened my mouth, but only a crack of a noise came out.

"Don't worry, we'll help you." She inspected me again. "Unless you don't like kids, and that's why you don't want to be a dad."

"I never said I didn't want to be a dad." Although I didn't. I'd learned from Declan that kids are loud and messy. And they leak. His baby was always either crying, drooling, or throwing up. I had no interest in that. I preferred my clothes to be free of other people's bodily fluids.

As much as Declan was a grump, he'd gotten all the dad genes. That had never been my thing. I was better at being fun Uncle Finn.

Both kids were staring at me, waiting for my response.

"Oh. Uh—" I shrugged. "I like kids."

"Good. Then we'll work on the rizz thing." Blair nodded and her two little puff pigtails bobbed.

"So, do we pull this out?" Jayden asked, holding a small pumpkin.

Well, since he'd already picked it, that seemed like a useless question. "How about we just stick to weeds?" I yanked one out of the ground and held it up to show the kids. "Like these."

I showed them a few more types they could pick and what they shouldn't, and they got to it.

"So how was school?" I asked as we worked our way through the garden.

"Today was not my day." Blair sighed. "We started sixes in multiplication facts. Boy, is math not my vibe."

"I love numbers."

Her dark, almost black eyes ran over me. "You look like that math nerd type."

"Hey!" I scoffed. "And to think I was going to offer to help with math facts."

"Deal." She smiled. This kid was a handful. "Jayden had a good day at school, though. His class got to do gym."

"You like gym," Jayden groused. "I like Legos and books. Not people throwing balls at my face," he mumbled.

"What are you reading?" I asked as I swiped out another weed.

"Percy Jackson."

"Nice!" I rocked back onto my haunches and held out my fist to him. He just blinked at it. Okay, maybe that wasn't what people did anymore. I thought it was, but I wasn't up on kid lingo, so I dropped my hand. "I read The Lightning Thief this summer with Chris when we went on vacation. We loved it."

"I'm only on chapter three." He sniffed and pulled the last two weeds in his area.

"Maybe we could read some one day."

"Maybe," he agreed. He didn't seem thrilled at the idea, though.

I stood up and brushed my hands onto my jeans. "You guys doing anything fun tonight?"

Jayden shrugged. "I think we're ordering pizza."

Since the kids had finished their areas, I lifted the trash can lid I'd brought out to collect the weeds and headed to the woods to dump them. "Pizza? Kinda hard to deliver out here."

"Yeah, Shane said it might be tricky." Blair smiled. "But since it's Ivy's birthday, we didn't want her to have to cook."

I froze halfway to the woods and spun back around. Birthday? Today was my wife's birthday? That seemed like something I should know. I could just hear my brother's scoff when he learned that I missed my wife's birthday. During the honeymoon phase of my relationship, no less.And with all Ivy did for all her kids, she should be made to feel special.

"What are you guys doing for her?"

Jayden's brows pulled together. "We just said. Shane's going to order a pizza."

That wasn't exactly what I meant. "Are you having a party? Or cake? Did you get her a present?"

"Ummm, no," Jayden said as both kids shook their heads.

I raised one eyebrow.

"No one took us to get her a present," Blair explained, adding, "It's too far away from everything out here."

That was ridiculous. I was here. I might not be a kid person, but I liked Ivy's kids. I would have taken them anytime in the last few days. But no one told me about my wife's birthday. I frowned. We probably needed to go over the basics.

"Go wash your hands." I dumped the weeds into the woods and followed the kids into my cabin. We needed to fix this situation.