The Good Father

She filled out the black one she was wearing far too well, which soured his mood. The only good thing about the string-and-Lycra contraption was that there were no other men around to see her in it.

Except Jeff. Who didn’t notice anyone but Chloe in her colorful one-piece suit. And didn’t matter anyway since he was Ella’s brother.

“What’s got you so boned up?”

Brett took the beer that Jeff slid along the deck railing to him Saturday evening as his friend posed his question. He hadn’t heard the other man come out of the cabin. Now that the sun was down, there was a definite chill in the air.

The women were inside bathing Cody and getting ready to put him down for the night while Jeff did the dishes. Brett had been on grill duty all weekend and had been excused from cleanup.

Once the baby was down, they were going to play cards.

A nice, intimate family holiday. The things memories were made of.

He wasn’t there to make memories.

“I’m worried about you,” he said, which was partially to blame for his cantankerous mood.

“What’s to worry about?” Jeff sounded like the happy-go-lucky guy he’d been in college again. “We’re going to beat the girls at cards and call it a night.”

“And you’re going to be okay leaving Chloe tomorrow? And then leaving her completely alone?”

Because he was damn sure that the couple hadn’t had a single conversation about their situation in the time they’d been there. Nothing had been resolved. While the couple had had moments alone, Brett and Ella had been close enough to have noticed if there’d been any lengthy discussion.

“I wanted to talk to you about that,” Jeff said now, taking a long gulp of his own beer. It was the first one he’d seen him with all day.

Brett was on his second.

And still had the night to get through.

“You can’t be thinking about reneging on the deal, Jeff,” he said, his shoulders heavy with dread. He could just hear the spin Ella would put on that.

Unless Chloe was agreeable to moving home.

And Ella would be fine with it—realizing that the problem had been Chloe’s, not Jeff’s...

“No, if Chloe needs to leave tomorrow and have her time apart from me, she can have it. Truthfully, if she needs that time, I need her to have it,” the other man said, and Brett relaxed. “I want her healthy for her sake, but for mine and Cody’s, too. We can’t constantly be living in fear that she’ll need to take off again.”

“I agree.”

“I’m just glad that Ella’s sweet enough to go pick her up from wherever she’s staying and bring her here for these two nights. It’s been great. And whatever this blip is, at least we’ll ha

ve good memories of Cody’s second birthday, rather than a yearly reminder that things weren’t so good.”

They’d had birthday cake and presents at dinner. Brett had spent the event behind a camera lens.

“So what did you want to talk about?” The girls would be out soon.

And he’d have to sit at the table with Ella. Interacting, even if just as competitors in a game.

“I want to spend the night with my wife.”

Good thing Brett hadn’t been holding his beer. Chances were it would’ve spilled all over him.

“I can’t ask Ella to ask Chloe to spend the night with you, man.” The regret in Brett’s voice was real. “I feel your pain—” and then some “—but there’s no way.”

“You don’t have to ask.” Jeff was grinning. Not sharing Brett’s pain. “I already did.”

“You asked Ella to ask Chloe?” And she’d agreed to ask?