Tainted Gold (Providence Gold 3)

Ugh, touching wood really wasn’t a good expression for me right now.

And the fox cub was growing and was perfectly healthy. We visited him every other day, always taking him in something new that Lily and Levi had found online. In an ideal world, he’d be released back into the wild, but so far the attempts to introduce him to some other foxes who’d been brought in because they’d been found injured and were recuperating before they were released had been a fail. Then again, in an ideal world he would never have been taken from his mother and raised with domesticated pets.

Last week it had become clear that where he was wasn’t the best place for him. There was a center an hour away who were experienced in cases like this, and they were looking to take him in to rehabilitate him there. At Barb’s place, there were too many tame animals, and it wasn’t helping with his nature, so they would probably move him within the next week.

With the baby coming, we were being safe and minimizing direct contact with him, but he was more like a baby himself than anything else, and I had to admit, I freaking loved the little bugger.

I also loved Chewy and Ozzy and was relieved when Lily had signed the adoption papers. Chewy was my shadow whenever I was around, following me for a shower, and sitting watching me on the toilet – which was scarring, but I didn’t have it in me to lock him out. The little baby whined when I did that and no one can do their business when they’re distracted, and the guilt had definitely been distracting.

One thing I knew though – if I could be a good doggy daddy, I could be a good baby daddy. The two weren’t different, everyone knew that. If you could raise and parent a dog, you could totally do it with a human. Right?

I’d met Lily’s dad and mom, who had flown in for the big news. To say they’d been shocked was an understatement, but her mom had recovered quickly and regularly Facetimed with Mom about grandma shit. Her dad wasn’t quite at that stage, but at least he’d stopped making the ‘you’re dead’ type gestures to me.

Well, mostly.

Last week he’d said goodbye to us, and when I’d turned to wave for the last time, he’d made a cutting motion across his neck, pointed at his eyes and then pointed back at me. Of course, when Lily or her mom looked at him, he was grinning and waving happily, it was when they weren’t looking that he did it. The guy who’d always whacked me on the back, invited me to his bar for a drink, and had stood shooting the shit with me was no more. I was now the boy who’d knocked up his daughter – his exact words.

At least the news hadn’t given him another heart attack, which was something I’d been worried about. No, instead it had given him a new boost for life – one which involved torturing me, apparently. For Lily and my son though, I’d deal with it. Salt in my coffee, vinegar in my coke, what tasted like pickle juice in my lemonade… it was all doable.

Trailing behind Lily and saying my goodbye’s to Chewy and Ozzy, I locked the door behind us and did my best to block out the whines and yaps of my babies. When we got to the truck, I automatically reached out to help Lily into it, knowing the step up caused her pain, and wanting to make sure she didn’t lose her balance. As always, I cursed the whole way around the front to the driver’s side because just touching her arm had my balls screaming louder than the two still demanding inside the house they come with us too.

“You ok?” Lily asked as I got in and did my belt up.

“Fine.” Big fat liar pants.

“You don’t look fine. Is your dick causing you problems?”

Giving her a look, I turned the ignition and put it into drive, sulking the whole time. We’d only gotten to the end of her street when I got a whiff of her perfume and groaned.

For three months, I’d learned all about her. I’d heard her stories about being the daughter of a famous actress, how the snide comments had affected her, how much she loved living in a small place where people didn’t give a shit about who her mom was, how she’d gone to prom with Tommy Balls(I shit you not) and he’d puked and passed out after an hour because someone had spiked the punch, how she loved fish tacos, how she preferred basic own brand tortilla chips over the flavored expensive ones, how she’d never been to Mexico but wanted to purely so she could try real tequila and tacos, how she dreamed of one day having a tiny pony like my cousin’s (this came after he’d sent me a video of it fetching the ball his son had thrown for it), how her favorite color was a purply blue like bluebonnets, how she was allergic to penicillin, her favorite time of the year on television was shark week not Christmas, she loved Converse and firmly believed you should have a pair for every day of the year… the list was endless.