Initiative (Suncoast Society #31)(39)

“School starts in a month. Let’s get through that, first. Meanwhile, I’ll talk to my lawyer and we’ll go from there. Okay?”

And in that time Kyle might have decided Chelsey was fine and he was the antichrist. Five or six times, as a matter of fact.

Although this time did sound far different than ever before.

“Fine.” It didn’t sound like Kyle thought it was fine, but Darryl suspected his son wasn’t going to argue the point any longer.

“Let’s get inside. I hope you like Susie. She’s going to start playing D and D with us again.”

“I wish Mom would let me play.”

“Me, too, kiddo.” It wasn’t that Chelsey didn’t want Kyle to play, she just wanted to interfere with Darryl having yet another activity to do with his son. She’d come up with the same roadblock about other activities as well. The gang had even offered to move gaming to another night so Kyle could start playing with them when Chelsey’s excuse had been that she couldn’t change her schedule.

Then she’d had excuse after excuse, which Darryl knew meant that even if the gang changed the day every week—which wasn’t fair to them—Chelsey would still manage to find a way to f*ck things up for Kyle.





Grant had counseled Susie to hang back and let Kyle get in the door before doing the introductions, but Kyle apparently dropped all his stuff in the front hall and made a beeline for the kitchen.

He immediately hugged Grant and then walked over to her.

He was the spitting image of Darryl. Hell, she could be looking at a slightly younger version of the kid she’d gone to high school with.

It took her breath away.

He stuck out his hand. “Dad told me about you. I’m Kyle. Nice to meet you.”

Darryl stood in the kitchen doorway with a nearly frantic look on his face that she didn’t have time to interpret. That, or Grant’s furrowed brow as he looked from Darryl to Kyle and back again.

She shook with Kyle. “It’s very nice to meet you, too, Kyle. I’m Susie Costello. Your dad told me a lot about you this weekend.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Well, sure. I guess.”

“Are you dating anyone?”

“Whoa, Kyle!” Both men jumped in. “Buddy,” Darryl said, “that’s rude.”

“It’s an honest question,” Kyle said. He looked at her. “My mom cheated on Dad, and now she’s cheating on her boyfriend. I’m tired of people lying about stuff.”

She had no f*cking clue what to say to that.

Susie finally opted, despite Grant and Darryl’s protestations and apologies, to answer the question.

She met Kyle’s brown gaze. “I’m widowed,” she said. “Honestly? Until I reconnected with your dad and Grant this past weekend, I didn’t have much in the way of friends or fun. Some of my old friends still play D and D with them, and I’m going to start playing again. Darryl and Grant know my situation, and I know theirs, and you’ll probably be seeing a lot of me around here because I’ve been really, really lonely. It was nice to get back together with them and not feel alone anymore. But I promise, I won’t lie to them, or to you.”

The two men stood behind Kyle, their faces mirrors of shock that would have made her laugh if it wasn’t for Kyle standing right there.

Kyle apparently needed a moment to digest that. “Sorry I’m being rude,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at Darryl. “I’m really upset at my mom. I just wish things would settle down.”

“My parents fought all the time before they got divorced,” she admitted.

“They did?”

“Yeah. Ask these two guys. They heard them. A lot. They finally got divorced when I was in high school.”

“I don’t understand why she’s got to lie.”

“I don’t have the answer for you. I’m sorry. Sometimes, adults do stupid things. We’re not perfect.”

Kyle finally nodded. “Okay.”

With that, he headed out of the kitchen.

She leaned against the counter. “What…the…actual…f*ck?” she mouthed at the men.

Grant and Darryl shrugged.

It was some small measure of comfort that both men looked as confused as she felt by the encounter.

Yet with that out of his system, Kyle acted like a charming, funny, smart kid for the rest of the evening. During dinner, he asked her questions about running a dealership, and about things the three of them used to do in high school.

By the time dinner ended, Susie had mostly forgotten about the weird way it’d started. Kyle was pleased to find out that she enjoyed a lot of the same movies and TV shows he and the men did.

“Go get your shower, kiddo,” Darryl said after Kyle had helped them clean up the kitchen and load the dishwasher.

Once he was gone, and they’d heard the shower start a few minutes later, Susie leaned against the counter, wide-eyed. “Well?”

Grant looked at Darryl. “What happened?”

Darryl filled them in. When he finished, Grant swore. “That goddamned bitch,” he muttered.

“I think once he gets out of the shower,” she said, “I should probably leave. If you think you should stay here tonight and not come to my place, I’m okay with that.”