The Single Dad (Red's Tavern 4)

I turned around quickly, hoping to god my half-chub wasn’t showing through my pants.

“Gary,” I said, seeing my neighbor at the side of my yard. Gary was in his late seventies, but he looked and acted like he was a hundred years old. One thing I’d always wished we had were some nice wooden fences around the yard. Right now, it was all still open, and Gary Thornton was exactly the kind of neighbor who would just show up whenever he felt like it.

“Looks like you’re getting to work back here,” Gary said, squinting his wrinkled eyes at me and then looking at Luke.

“Yes. We’re building a bird feeder.”

“And who is this gentleman?” Gary asked. “I’m Gary Thornton. Live in the house next door.”

“Luke Warren,” Luke said.

“How come I’ve never met you before, Luke?” Gary asked.

I shot Luke an apologetic glance. It was a strange question, for sure.

“Luke is helping me build the bird feeder. He’s good at woodworking.”

“Certainly has to be better than you,” Gary said, letting out a long, raspy chuckle. “I saw Cam trying to set up sprinklers in his front yard once. He got shot with water in the face over and over again.”

I massaged my temples.

“Is that right?” Luke asked. “Sprayed in the face?”

He had a twinkle in his eye.

“I hate you,” I muttered quietly at him.

“Just imagining you dripping wet,” he said close to my ear so that Gary couldn’t hear.

My body was certainly hot now. I stepped away from Luke so he couldn’t fuck with me anymore.

“Luke’s a friend of yours?” Gary hollered across the yard.

“A new friend,” I said back.

“And where are your kiddos today?” Gary continued.

“They’re over at their mom’s new house.”

“So sad, that you split up with your wife. What a beautiful girl she was.”

I clenched my jaw. “Yeah,” I said.

“We should really be getting back to work, Gary,” Luke said. I was grateful that he said it.

“All right, all right,” Gary said, turning around on rickety legs. “I’ll let you keep it up. And now when I see a strange man getting in that pickup truck I’ll know it’s nothing to worry about.”

I let out a sigh as soon as Gary was gone, giving Luke a glance.

“So I’m a strange man,” Luke said.

“Gary’s the worst,” I said. “I’m sorry about that. I swear he must sit around in his living room, peering out the window, just waiting for any of the neighbors to do anything.”

“And then he comes over and bugs you about it?”

“Exactly.”

Luke nodded once, looking over at the sides of the yard. “I actually had a neighbor from hell, too, when I first moved into my house. It’s part of the reason I planted so much on the east side of the yard.”

“Really?”

“Her name was Maribel. She would look over into my yard and nitpick all of the plants I put in, telling me they’d never grow.”

I puffed out a laugh. “She clearly didn’t realize you can make anything grow.”

“By the time I finally had enough trees and shrubs to block the east fence, she moved away,” Luke said. “We can work on putting in a fence for you here, too, if you’re willing to outlay a bit of money for it. Liz knows people who will give you a great deal, and I can help stain the whole thing once it’s in.”

“I would love that,” I said.

His eyes lingered on me. “You just want another excuse to have me working shirtless in your backyard, don’t you?”

“Guilty as charged,” I said.

Luke laughed. “And I’ll enjoy looking at your pretty face as you try to help me.”

“Sounds like a perfect deal,” I said.

We crossed over to the deck, moving into the shade to take a break. He glanced around, his eyes landing on the small stack of river rocks that Cooper had taken home from our last camping trip.

Luke cleared his throat, his expression changing as he looked at the rocks. “These are pretty,” he said.

“Yeah. I love them. I think Cooper could be great at building things too, someday. He’s certainly already more creative than I’ve ever been.”

I didn’t know why Luke was so interested in the little stack of rocks, but it made me happy. He noticed the little things that no one else did. And as he looked at them, it gave me time to gaze at his body, too.

And my eyes kept landing on the dates tattooed on Luke’s arm. It was strange, because the dates didn’t have years. Instead they were just a day and a month: August 3rd and April 19th.

“What are these for? Your parents?” I asked, running my fingertips gently over the dates.

He looked down, seeming to be lost in thought yet again. “Remember when I said someone close to me passed away?”

“Oh,” I said, pulling my hand back. “I’m sorry if that was too personal of a question.”