Rock Bottom (Dawson Family 6)

Weston’s eyes meet mine and he nods before turning to Quinn. “I think it’s time to slow your roll.”

“Fine,” Quinn huffs. “You guys are no fun. I like Rory. She believes in ghosts and has a cat.”

“You’re trying to convince him to go out with her again,” Archer reminds her. “I wouldn’t bring up ghosts or cats.”

“He has a point,” Weston whispers to Quinn, loud enough for us all to hear.

I reach for my coffee, which is cold by now, and try to remind myself that all Quinn wants is for me to be happy.

But she doesn’t get it.

“Fine, I’ll admit she’s nice,” I say, knowing I’m walking a dangerous line. “Nice to talk to. Nice to look at. Nice to…” I trail off and raise my eyebrows. “But it doesn’t matter. I don’t want a relationship,” I press. “I’ve already been down that road and you saw how it turned out.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No,” I interrupt, pulse rising. “We weren’t perfect, but I did everything right. I showed up. I cared. I tried. Maybe I wasn’t the best husband, but I did what I was supposed to do and look what that got me.”

Quinn frowns. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” I let out a breath and an awkward silence falls over the table, filled only with whatever Emma is making her Barbie say to a pink unicorn.

“I need to use the bathroom,” Quinn says, handing Aiden to Archer. Her brow is furrowed and her cheeks are suddenly flushed. Shit. I upset her.

“You okay?” Archer asks.

“I don’t feel well.” She puts her hand over her stomach. “I think I had too much coffee this morning.” Quinn makes it two feet away before both girls need to use the bathroom too. Violet suddenly has to go too, and Scarlet gets up to take her and help Quinn with the other girls.

Aiden starts to cry the second his mother and sisters leave, and we spend the next five minutes trying to get him to calm down.

“Doesn’t this make you want another?” Archer asks over Aiden’s cries.

“Nope,” Weston shoots right back. “We’re very happy with two. Though Scarlet was hot as fuck when she was pregnant. She disagreed.” He shrugs. “Jackson’s years older than his sister. Having two close together…I don’t know how you do it with three.”

Archer laughs. “I couldn’t without Quinn.”

That ache in my heart is back. It’s dulled over the last year, but it’s a missing part of me, sending waves of phantom pain through me when I least expect it.

The want to have my own family. To be wrestling with my own toddler, annoyed and irritated as all hell but going to bed thankful every night because we have each other.

“So about Rory,” Archer says, words cutting through my thoughts. Dammit. I should have known this was coming as soon as my sisters left the table. “You liked her enough to take her to breakfast.”

I look at him, trying to ignore the question in his statement. “Yeah. She was fun.”

“In your last year of newfound bachelorhood,” Weston starts, “when has fun turned into breakfast?”

I ignore his gaze on me as well.

“She’s been great to work with.” Giving up, Archer gives Aiden his phone, and the kid finally settles down. “Nice. Personable. She fit right in with my surgical team, and I’m doing just as bad of a job trying to convince you to date her as Quinn.”

I let out a heavy sigh. “I’m not dating anyone.”

“What would going out with her one more time hurt?” Weston asks, looking me dead in the eye.

A million reasons rush through my mind, with the biggest being what if I fall for her?

Before I’m forced to give an answer, the girls come running back.

“Daddy!” Arya yells from across the diner, holding Violet’s hand as they hurry over, followed by Scarlet. Quinn and Emma rejoin us a minute later. Aiden goes right to Quinn, snuggling up in her lap. The tension has left our little group, and I intend to keep it that way…and not talk about Rory again. Thinking about her makes a knot form in the pit of my stomach, giving me a feeling I can’t quite place. It’s like knowing you forgot something but you’re unable to remember what it is you forgot. It’s just that feeling of unknown dread.

“Are you ready to be a single mom in a few weeks?” I ask Quinn.

“Yes,” she glares at Archer. “It’s not fair you get to go spend a week in Miami and leave us all here in the cold.”

“I’m going to a medical conference, not a party.” He puts his arm around her. “I’d say I won’t enjoy it just to make you feel better, but I love biology as much as you love software.”

“I know,” Quinn grumbles, then she wrinkles her nose and leans down, smelling Aiden. “Your son pooped, and I just took the girls to the bathroom.”