The Single Dad (Red's Tavern 4)

I felt completely crazy. Out of control, in a way I never usually felt. Longing swirled through me, deep and undeniable, as I watched him walk out the back door.

13

Cam

The loud buzzing of my cell phone on my wooden desk startled me.

I’d been staring at my laptop screen for hours, combing through a few necessary code scripts for a server maintenance my team was going to be working on later today.

I saw on the phone that it was already nearly five o’clock, I’d been working straight through since before lunch.

It was Rachel calling. I sat back in my chair, stretching my arms as I answered.

“Cameron. I’m glad you answered,” Rachel said.

“Of course,” I said. “Why, what’s up? You still picking up the kids in an hour?”

I glanced out the big windows in my office. Cooper and Dayna had been hanging out back since they got off from day camp, and Chloe was just down the hall in the living room, watching TV.

“Yes, absolutely,” she said. “I’ll be there at six. I just wanted to iron out plans for the trip at the end of August.”

“Right,” I said. “You guys are going to be gone for ten days?”

“Eleven, technically,” she said.

Rachel started rattling off details about the trip, and I typed out notes on my laptop. She and her parents were taking a trip to Cape Cod at the end of August, a trip that I was absolutely going to be there for until the divorce was finalized. Rachel’s parents had been generous enough to still invite me, but I’d known it was a bad idea. We had to start doing things separately, and that included vacations.

I was planning out my own trip with them to San Diego, some time a little later in the year.

“I’m just a little worried about Dayna,” Rachel was saying.

“I know she’s been taking things a little rougher than the twins,” I said. “But she’ll pull through. She always does.”

“Did you hear what happened to her at camp?”

“The asshole kid that made fun of her backpack? Yeah, we did talk about that for a good while the other night.”

“Not just that,” Rachel said. “One of the facilitators called me two days ago saying that Dayna hasn’t been participating in anything. She doesn’t answer questions like she used to, she never wants to play soccer anymore, and when they do their choir songs she just stands there with her mouth shut.”

My heart sank.

“But she’s always been the star of the show,” I said.

“I know,” Rachel said. “Last summer she was the loudest one in that damn choir.”

“Shit, Rach,” I said. “I can try to talk to her, but it really will probably just be a phase. You know?”

“I hope so. She’s just always had more of…”

“A spark,” I said.

“A huge spark,” Rachel agreed. “And I can’t imagine losing that.”

“I’ll be extra mindful of her,” I said.

“Good. Where is she right now?”

“Dayna?”

“No, Queen Elizabeth. Yes, Dayna Lyons-Erickson, your daughter?”

“All right, all right, point taken.”

I looked around, peeking out the window toward the backyard. I saw Cooper lying down in the shade, holding a book, but Dayna was currently out of sight.

“Not sure, right now,” I said. “She’s out back with Coop.”

“You don’t even know where she is?” Rachel asked, a clipped tone in her voice.

“It’s not like that, and you know it,” I said, trying not to react to her tone.

“I just think it’s a good idea to know where your kids are,” she said. “All of the times you were working alone in your office, I always had an eye on them, you know.”

Anger flared through me, unbidden. “Like you had an eye on them the other night when you were waltzing around town at Red’s Tavern?”

I regretted the words as soon as I’d said them. Rachel was silent for a moment, then I just heard a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone.

“I’m not even going to ask how you know about that, but you know damn well the kids are safe at my mom’s place.”

“I know they are,” I conceded. “I’m not… mad, Rachel. You know I can’t get mad for longer than about ten seconds, anyway. But you’ve gotta trust that the kids are okay when they’re with me. It’s not easy being alone here, but I really think I’m doing a good job. Okay?”

“Okay,” she said. “I do trust you. It’s just hard.”

“Tell me about it,” I said. “I worry about them 24/7 when they’re not around me, even though I know they’re completely safe.”

I glanced out the window again and saw Dayna, happily tossing a bucket of water over and over again against one of the trees.

“Thanks for talking with me, Cam,” Rachel said.

“Of course. And Dayna seems plenty happy in the yard right now, by the way. Active. Not moping.”