“Daddy! Mr. Synclair’s coming to McDonald’s with you,” Hunter said, folding up his coloring book and dumping the paints back in the box.
“I’m Gage, Hunter. Call me Gage,” he said, picking up and dropping all the paint brushes into the water to soak. At the same time, Trent answered the kids.
“No, he doesn’t want to come to McDonald’s, guys,” Trent said, working the colors in Em’s box back into their spots. Gage gave Trent kudos. He worked fast, never looking over at him, trying hard to get them out of the office as quickly as possible.
“Daddy, he said he wanted to come so you wouldn’t be lonely sitting there,” Em said. She gave up helping Trent and sat back in the chair trying to explain why Gage needed to go.
“Honey, no, he doesn’t want to go to McDonald’s,” Trent said. He finally dumped everything left on the table into the box with no care to it at all.
“I would love to go to McDonald’s. I’ve never been,” Gage said. It caused Trent’s eyes to pop up to look him straight in the face.
“You’ve never been to McDonald’s?” Trent asked. His hands stopped in mid-wipe, where he had taken Hunter’s paper towel to clean off the table.
“No, not once, and apparently I’ve had a neglected childhood. Hunter and Em offered, I accepted. So it looks like we’re off,” Gage said, not giving Trent any more room to exclude him. Gage pulled Em’s chair back and she bounced off. Hunter wiggled out of his, both heading toward the front door of the gallery.
“Guys… You haven’t finished cleaning up,” Trent said to their retreating backs.
“Leave it, I’ll get it later. Let’s go,” Gage said, looking back over his shoulder as he walked into his office to grab his wallet and car keys. The workers were here for at least another three hours; surely he would be back before their shift ended.
“Are you riding with us?” Em asked Gage from the front door.
“I have the work truck, guys,” Trent said, and Gage could see the inward groan he gave at their question. He bet Trent worked hard in his mind, trying to find a way out of Gage going. No way would he give on this. Trent stayed a complete mystery, especially after what the kids told him tonight. He needed answers, and maybe those answers would help Gage put this guy to bed. Okay, not the best choice of words, but he knew what he meant.
“How far is it?” Gage asked.
“I know of the one in Oakland Park, where we live. It’s about fifteen minutes away,” Trent said, stepping out the front door of the gallery. He grabbed on to Hunter’s shirt so he didn’t dart out to the truck and get lost in the people walking the street.
“Then I’ll meet you there. Let me check things out in here, let them know I’ll be back,” Gage said as the front door began to close between them.
“See you there, Gage,” Em said right before Trent scooped her up in his arms and turned away to his truck. He laughed at the look of discomfort all over Trent’s face. He must have thought Gage wasn’t looking. Clearly Mr. Hot and Sexy didn’t realize Gage was always looking… Watching this man, coming up with little names for him, was turning into his favorite past time. Whatever. The discomfort served Trent right, Gage had been uncomfortable all week and Trent needed to know the feeling.
Chapter 9
What the hell just happened? Gage freakin’ Synclair is going to McDonald’s… with me… and my children… What. The. Hell? Trent’s mind couldn’t wrap around the mere idea of the crazy notion let alone focus on the more important issue; how in the hell could he completely ignore the only other person sitting at the same table with him? Oh, this was so not going to be good!
To make it all a hundred times worse, he’d been awake for twenty-eight hours. He coasted on no sleep and both his body and mind were strung out, completely exhausted. Trent sighed before reaching back to pull the seatbelt forward. Once secured, he glanced down at his lap. His fucking dick, which should be exhausted too, was already half aroused from merely being in the same room with Gage. One more of those hot, sexy looks Gage tossed his way and he would, without a doubt, be sporting a straight up, tent-building hard-on through the entire McDonald’s experience. How could he possibly explain that one to the man sitting across from him?
The bigger, more pressing problem for right now, he knew the fatigue showed on his face, making his eyes red and swollen. He looked at himself in the rearview mirror and saw little lines showing under his eyes. He looked terrible, and why should it matter to him? Dinner with Gage hadn’t been in his game plan for the evening. How did he let this happen? Turning on the ignition, he looked back to make sure the kids were buckled up. He’d been in such a state of distressed mental anguish over Gage’s plan to meet them at the restaurant that he didn’t remember getting the kids in the truck, but they appeared to be perfectly secured in their usual seats.
“Guys, listen to me. You can’t just invite people to go with us like you did. You have to talk to me first. Hunter, you and I have had this discussion before. You need to remember and talk to me first. I don’t want this to happen again, do you understand?” Trent said, while pulling the truck from the curb out into the street. Neither Em nor Hunter responded, and he looked back in the rearview mirror again. Both their little eyes were lifted to the mirror staring back at him. With the look on their faces and the silence coming from the backseat, he knew he must have said it too harshly. They thought they were in trouble.
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Em said first.