7. Dex

dex

. . .

“Look at the way his nostrils flare when he snores.”

Hallie’s voice came through the fog of a restless sleep.

“Yeah.” Luna giggled. “Is that hair in his nose?”

“Ew, I think it is. I never noticed that before.”

“Maybe he cuts it,” Luna said. “I saw him giving his bushy eyebrows a haircut once.”

More giggling. “I’m glad my eyebrows don’t look like that.”

“They kind of do.”

“Do not!” Hallie was indignant.

“I just mean they’re dark like his. But don’t worry, yours aren’t as fuzzy. Daddy’s are like black caterpillars crawling over his eyes.”

Hallie snickered. “Totally.”

Silence for ten blissful seconds. And then.

“Daddy has an outie. I have an innie.”

“Me too.”

“Outies are funny-looking.”

“I know.”

The next thing I knew, one of them stuck a finger in my belly button. I opened my eyes. “Seriously?”

Luna, whose finger was still on my belly button, grinned. “Did that wake you up?”

“Your shit-talking woke me up.”

“We want to go swimming,” Hallie said.

“We have church first. You have Sunday school.”

“Can’t we skip it?”

“No. Your mom would kill me. Bring me my phone please.”

“Where is it?”

I tried to think where I’d left it plugged in. “Try the kitchen.”

Hallie left the room and went downstairs while Luna hopped onto my bed, but instead of getting under the covers, she started jumping on it. “Are we going to get a cat today?”

“No.” I moved my lower body out of the way so she wouldn’t crush the family jewels. “We have church, and then we can swim, and then I need to go to the grocery store. There’s still lots of unpacking to do too. Plus, I haven’t yelled at you enough yet for disobeying me yesterday. And we need to make our emergency plan.”

Hallie appeared with my phone. “It’s seven-twelve,” she said as she handed it to me, then proceeded to join Luna in jumping on my bed.

“I see that.” I also saw that I had texts from Chip and from Naomi, who’d also called several times. “What should we do for breakfast?”

“Donuts again?” asked Hallie hopefully.

“How about bagels?” I frowned at the message from Naomi, which had been sent sixteen minutes ago.

I heard Luna had an allergic reaction last night at the party. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. Did you take her to the ER? CALL ME.

After a deep breath, I looked at Chip’s text, which had been sent around midnight.

Hey, I hope everything is okay.

Really sorry about the allergic reaction.

Our flight doesn’t leave until two so if you’re up early and have time for coffee let me know.

“Stop jumping, I have to type something,” I told the girls. “Why don’t you go get dressed? Nice clothes, please. Something that matches.”

They performed a dismount and raced for their room, while I shot Chip a quick note.

All good here.

We’re heading for church shortly, but maybe you could swing by here on your way to the airport? We should be back by ten-thirty.

I didn’t want to deal with Naomi before getting some caffeine in my bloodstream, but I forced myself to call her back.

“Why didn’t you call me?” she shrieked upon picking up.

“Morning,” I said, mostly to piss her off.

“Dexter.”

“What?”

“I asked you a question! Why didn’t you call me after Luna had a reaction?”

“Because it wasn’t that big a deal. All she needed was an antihistamine. I handled it.”

“I still had a right to know it happened! You should have notified me right away. Instead, I had to hear about it from someone at the bakery this morning.”

“Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t think it was necessary.”

“Well, it was. I’m still their mother, even when they’re with you. I need to know about medical emergencies.”

“It wasn’t a fucking emergency,” I snapped.

“Watch your mouth—are the girls right there?”

“No. They’re getting dressed for church.”

“I want to talk to Luna.”

“You’ll see her at church.”

“Now, please.”

Deciding it wasn’t worth the fight, I took the phone into the girls’ room and handed it to Luna. “Your mom wants to talk to you.”

Luna put the phone to her ear. “Hi, Mommy. I’m fine. Yes.” She looked up at me. “Yes. Okay. I will. Bye.” She gave the phone to Hallie. “She wants to talk to you.”

Hallie got on while I crossed my arms over my chest. “Hello? Yes. It was fun, but we weren’t there too long.” She looked around the bedroom. “Yes. It’s nice. Uh huh. And the neighbor lady is really nice too. Her name is Winnie, like the Pooh, and she has a cat named Piglet.”

“Okay, give me the phone,” I said, nervous the next words out of Hallie’s mouth would be we saw her bum . “You can tell her about all this another time.”

Putting the phone to my ear, I walked back to my room. “Satisfied?”

“I guess. But please call me next time, okay?” Her voice had softened. “That’s all I ask. It’s hard enough to be away from them for days at a time, and I...I just need to know they’re okay. And it’s so hard when you won’t talk to me.”

Great. Now she was crying. I didn’t want the sound of her sobs to affect me, but the truth was, it did. I took the edge off my tone. “Fine. If there is another allergic reaction, I’ll call you.”

“Or any medical thing.”

My jaw clenched. “Or any medical thing.”

“Thank you, Dex. I appreciate it. I don’t mean to intrude on your time with them.”

“I have to go,” I said. “They’re waiting for me.”

“Okay. I’ll see you at church.”

“Fine.” Ending the call, I tossed my phone onto the bed and rubbed my face with both hands.

Marriage was a fuck ton of work, and I hadn’t been good at it, but damn—divorce was a bitch too.

I didn’t plan on doing either of them ever again.

Fifteen minutes later, we were ready to go. As I backed out of the garage, I didn’t even glance in the direction of Winnie’s house.

But Hallie spoke up. “Hey, maybe we should ask if Winnie wants to go to church with us.”

“We’re not doing that,” I said.

“Do you think she’s awake?” Luna asked.

“No idea.”

“I wonder if her car is in the garage,” Hallie said. “She’s old enough to drive, right Daddy?”

“She’s twenty-two,” I told them. “Yes, that’s old enough to drive.” And vote and drink, I thought—but barely .

Shoving the thought of that kiss from my head, I concentrated on the road.

“I wonder what she does for a job,” Luna said.

I realized I’d sat outside with her for at least twenty minutes but I had no idea what she did for a living. “I don’t know.”

“Her mom owns a bakery,” Hallie recalled. “Maybe she works there?”

“She might.” For a second, I wondered if it was possible Winnie had been the someone at the bakery who’d told Naomi about the allergic reaction last night. But how would she have known who Naomi was?

“That would be a fun job,” Luna said. “Baking cupcakes all day.”

“Hey, that’s the place our cupcakes were from!” Hallie shouted, pointing out the window. “Plum & Honey. It matches the sticker that was on the box. And the sign says open.”

“Can we go there, Daddy?” Luna pleaded. “Maybe Winnie is working.”

“I thought you wanted bagels,” I said, panicking slightly at the thought of facing Winnie this morning after I’d rubbed her crotch against mine last night.

“No, let’s go to the bakery,” Hallie said.

I looked around but didn’t see any other breakfast options, and of course, there was an open parking spot right in front of Plum & Honey. Cursing the universe, I pulled into it and the girls cheered.

As they unbuckled their seatbelts, I flipped down the visor mirror and checked my hair, trying to fix where it stuck up a little on the side I’d slept on. Then I sniffed the collar of my dress shirt—it was the same one I’d worn to the party last night, but I’d taken it off and hung it up as soon as we’d gotten home. I hadn’t felt like ironing a new one this morning, so I’d just thrown it on again. It smelled like cologne, which I figured was okay.

What about my breath? Had I brushed my teeth? I’d been so annoyed about the phone call with Naomi, I might have forgotten. I exhaled into my hand and sniffed. I couldn’t smell anything, so maybe I was fine. At least I’d trimmed the nose hair.

That’s when I locked eyes with a perplexed Hallie in the mirror. “What are you doing ?” she asked, blinking at me.

“Nothing.” I snapped the visor shut and opened the door. “Come on, let’s go or we’ll be late.”

“But why were you smelling your hand like that?” she persisted as they scrambled out of the back seat.

“No reason.”

I opened the bakery door and followed them inside, relieved when I didn’t see Winnie behind the counter. The girls, however, were disappointed, and went rushing up to the woman standing near the register. She might have been Winnie’s stepmom—she seemed like the right age, and I thought she looked familiar. Maybe I’d seen her at the party last night.

“Hello,” she greeted them, her smile warm and welcoming. “What can I get for you?”

“Is Winnie here?” Hallie asked.

The woman looked surprised, then she laughed. “Not today. Do you know Winnie?”

“Yes, she’s our next door neighbor.”

“We met her yesterday,” Luna said excitedly. “Does she work here?”

“No, but she comes in here a lot. She’s my daughter.” She lowered her voice and spoke behind the back of her hand, like she was telling them a secret. “She says she comes here for me, but I think she just likes the free cupcakes.”

The girls laughed as I approached the counter. It smelled delicious in here—like sweet, buttery cinnamon rolls were in the oven. And something about the scent reminded me of Winnie...maybe because of the cupcake we’d shared last night?

“So you must be Hallie,” Winnie’s mom said, pointing to Hallie. “And you must be Luna.”

“Yes,” Luna said. “But how did you know?”

“Winnie told me all about you last night at the party.” She looked up at me with gray-green eyes that crinkled a little at the corner and smiled. “Hi. I’m Frannie MacAllister.”

“Dexter Matthews. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too. I was sorry to hear about little Luna’s allergic reaction. I have sixteen-year-old twins, and one of them has terrible food allergies.” She hesitated, her expression turning apologetic. “I’m a client of Naomi’s at the salon, and we’ve chatted a little about the challenges of dealing with them. She was in here this morning, and I asked how Luna was—judging by her reaction, she hadn’t heard about it. I’m sorry if I caused any friction.”

Now it made sense. “No worries,” I said easily. “We’re divorced, but I spoke with her this morning.”

She nodded and turned her attention back to the girls. “Well. What can I get for you? And don’t worry—no nuts in anything!”

While the girls asked her about every single muffin, roll, and pastry under the glass, I checked my phone again to see if Chip had gotten back to me. He had—a couple minutes ago, he’d texted that they were just waking up and planning to have breakfast with his mom, sister, and stepdad at nine, but could swing by my place around eleven. All I had to do was give him the address.

I sent it to him and asked him to text me when he arrived, since we might already be at the pool. He immediately responded that was no problem and he’d see us soon.

“What about you, Dexter?” Frannie MacAllister asked once the girls had chosen their breakfast. “Can I get you something?”

I glanced at the display case and ordered a slice of quiche.

“Good choice,” she said. “The ham and gouda is one of Winnie’s favorites too. She might have even created this recipe—she’s an excellent cook.”

“Daddy is a terrible cook,” Hallie announced. “He tries, but he burns everything.”

Frannie laughed. “Winnie’s dad isn’t a very good cook either. But he’s good at other things, like I’m sure your dad is.”

“He’s good at putting out fires,” said Luna proudly. “He’s a firefighter.”

“ That is a very important job.” Frannie smiled as she took a slice of quiche from the tray. “Now, will this be for here or to go?”

“To go,” I said, still a little wary of running into Winnie. “Thanks.”

A few minutes later, we were sitting in the church parking lot, the girls eating their muffins in the back seat, me devouring a slice of quiche in the front, trying to avoid getting anything on my white shirt. “Girls, could you please stop telling everyone you meet embarrassing things about me?”

“What kinds of things should we tell them?” Luna asked.

“How about saying nothing at all if you don’t have anything nice to say? Wasn’t that what Bambi said?”

“It was Thumper who said that, Daddy,” corrected Hallie.

“Whatever. Just no more telling people things like I snore or I swear or I have hair in my nose.”

“But you do,” Luna said with a laugh.

“Tell them about the hair on my chest. I like that hair.” I finished off the last bite of crust and checked the bag for a napkin. “Or my muscles. Can’t you guys tell people what big muscles I have?”

“We could ,” allowed Hallie, “but muscles aren’t as funny as hair. And we decided we don’t care if you swear anymore.”

“You don’t?” No more napkins in the bag. I opened the glove box.

“No, because we need money in the box for Future Cat. So swear all you want.”

“Fuck,” I muttered, unable to find another napkin anywhere.

“That’s a dollar-fifty, Daddy.”

“A dollar-fifty!” I turned around and looked at them in the back seat. “You said yesterday the F word was only a buck.”

Hallie smiled sweetly. “Prices go up on Sunday.”

“Because of Jesus,” added Luna.

Turning around again, I grabbed the wheel and slumped down in my seat.

After church, I stood on the steps next to fucking Bryce for ten solid minutes while Naomi looked the girls over, as if she was expecting to find evidence of neglect. “You’re sure you’re all right?” she kept asking Luna.

“I’m fine, Mommy.”

Bryce kept busy on his phone the entire time, probably checking the value of his stock portfolio. He came from a wealthy family and never tired of telling people about his Harvard degree, his investments, or his sailboat. It drove me insane that once he married Naomi, my daughters were going to live in his house. They didn’t belong to him.

“Hals, do you want me to fix your pigtails? They’re not even.” Naomi reached for one of the elastics I’d put in.

Hallie pushed her hand away. “No, it’s okay. We’re just going swimming.”

“We have to go,” I said impatiently. “I’ll have them back by five.”

Naomi sighed and kissed them both. “Okay. Be careful in the pool please. And don’t forget sunscreen!”

I took the girls by the hands and walked them back to the car. On the ride home, I let them choose the music, and I think they knew I was bothered by something, because after I pulled into the garage and turned off the engine, Hallie unbuckled her seatbelt and hugged me from behind. “You get a ten this morning, Daddy.”

I patted her skinny forearm. “I do?”

“Yes.”

I looked over my shoulder at Luna. “Well, do you agree?”

“Yes,” she said, grinning at me. “It’s anonymous.”

“She means unanimous,” Hallie explained.

“Thank you.” I opened the car door, feeling a little better. “Who’s ready to go swimming?”

The girls had just gotten into their bathing suits when Chip and Mariah arrived. Since the kids were impatient to get in the water, we went out to the pool and sat in chairs near the edge. I sprayed Hallie and Luna down with sunscreen and made them wait a minute for it to dry, which they counted off standing on the pool’s top step, then jumped in.

While they played in the shallow end, Chip and Mariah talked a little about what I’d missed at the party and how they were anxious to come back and look at some wedding venues.

“I’ve heard Cloverleigh Farms is beautiful,” Mariah said, “but Chip’s cousin Winnie mentioned Abelard Vineyards too.”

At the mention of Winnie’s name, my blood warmed, but I was careful not to visibly react. “I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard it’s nice.”

“We thought about Chicago too, but we’re worried not everyone would be able to make the trip down, especially if we do it in the winter,” Chip said. “Mariah’s family doesn’t live too far from here, so this makes more sense.”

“You’re thinking this winter? Like before spring training?”

“Yeah.” Chip hesitated. “Actually, I’m thinking of retiring after this season.”

For the first time, I looked away from the kids. “Seriously?”

He shrugged. “My arm is shot, I’m tired, and I feel like I did what I wanted to do. I’m sort of ready for the next phase of my life. We’d like a family.”

I focused on my girls again. “Will it be hard to walk away?”

“If you’d have asked me that last year, I’d have said yes. But today, I can honestly say no.” He put an arm around Mariah and kissed her head. “There’s more to life than baseball.”

I laughed. “That’s something I never thought I’d hear Chip Carswell say.”

He chuckled too. “Times have changed, haven’t they? But after a while, you start to realize what really matters, and it’s not the money or the fame or the speed of your fastball.”

“I don’t know, those things sound pretty nice to me.”

“They are,” he said, “but I look at you and your girls and think it’s so fucking cool what you have. I’d easily walk away for that.”

“Can we watch our mouths around here, guys?” Mariah whispered, glancing around at all the families at the pool.

“I do love being their dad,” I said. “But I worry that the divorce is gonna mess with them forever. Or that I won’t be able to give them everything they deserve. Or that I don’t have enough time with them.”

Mariah leaned over and touched my shoulder. “My dad raised me on his own until I was nine, and I know it’s not easy. He was a cop and worked long hours, and he used to worry about the same things. But the time he did have with me—he made it count. You do too, I can tell.”

“Can you find a job with more traditional hours?” asked Chip. “Would that help?”

“Maybe. But I can’t fucking sit behind a desk. And I like what I do and who I work with. I have decent benefits. I like having three days in a row off.” I shrugged. “I sometimes think about doing something on the side for a little extra, but I’m not sure what.”

“You should talk to Tyler,” Chip said. “He’s got that sports complex and I’m sure he could use you as a trainer. You’d be good at that. You know how many guys would love to be trained by a fucking Navy SEAL?”

“The problem is my schedule. It’s never the same week to week.”

“He’d work with you.” Chip was confident. “You should get in touch.”

“You guys should do something together,” suggested Mariah.

“You’re moving back?” I asked in surprise.

“We’re thinking about it.” He looked at his fiancée. “With her family and mine up here, we don’t really have a reason to stay in Chicago.”

“That would be cool,” I said. “We could round up Fitz and Jimmy, get the team back together.”

Chip laughed. “That would be something.”

“Oh my God, you guys should!” Mariah exclaimed. “My dad and his friends played in this senior men’s league while I was growing up—in fact, they’re still playing—and going to the games was so much fun.”

“Uh, I think some people might complain if we had a retired MLB pitcher in a senior men’s league,” I said.

“I’ll take a little something off my fastball,” joked Chip. “I’ll keep my eyes closed. We’ll put a fake name on my jersey.”

“You’d still strike out every jackass at the plate. We’d be disqualified before the inning was up.”

He grinned, looking eighteen again. “Be a hell of an inning though. Then we’d go for beers.”

“Fuck yeah,” I said. “Count me in.”