Feels Like Summertime(30)

He doesn’t walk into the room. “After you get the boy out of your bed, you two come to the kitchen so we can have a talk.”

“Dad… Seriously?”

“Seriously,” he says. “Your kids are up.”

“Thanks,” I mutter. I swipe a hand down my face. “I’ll be right there.”

They close the door. “Sorry about that,” I say to Jake. “I didn’t know they were coming.”

“It’s fine. It’s not like we did anything wrong. Except sleep in the same bed. Cuddle. Et cetera.”

I look at him from over my shoulder as I pull my hair into a ponytail. “I don’t remember any et cetera. Surely if there was any et cetera, I’d remember it, right?”

“Oh, you’d remember it.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“I’ll hold myself to that,” he mutters.

I use the bathroom and brush my teeth, and then I find my kids all sitting around the table while Adam whips up special pancakes for each of them. For Trixie, it’s peanut butter and banana. Alex likes chocolate chip. And Gabby has always preferred blueberry.

I kiss both my dads on the cheek and sit down next to the kids. The bedroom door opens and Jake quietly goes to the bathroom.

I get up and open the refrigerator to get a glass of milk for Trixie. “So, why was Jake in your bed?” Adam asks right next to my ear.

After I nearly jump sky high, I stop, take a breath, and roll my eyes. “He was babysitting last night for a little while.” I rub my forehead, where a headache is already building. “When I got home it was late, and he was asleep on top of my covers.”

My dad joins the conversation behind the refrigerator door. “So you just crawled in bed with him.” Both of them are being really quiet so the kids won’t hear them.

“Well, sort of. It’s hard to explain.”

Dad kisses my forehead. “I’m glad Jake was here. I don’t like for you to be alone.”

“I haven’t been alone in sixteen years, Dad.” I grab the milk, close the refrigerator door, and drop into a chair.

“What does Jake think about all this?” Dad asks. He motions around the room and to my belly, like his action will encompass the entire crap that my life has turned into.

Jake walks into the room and sits down next to me at the small table. “Jake doesn’t know anything about all this.” He gestures around the room just like Dad did, and then to my belly. “But he sure as hell hopes someone will explain it to him really soon.”

Adam’s mouth falls open. “You didn’t tell him? Seriously, Katie?”

Jake steals a bite of Gabby’s pancake and she playfully tries to stab him with a fork. He laughs and Adam sets a stack of pancakes in the center of the table. Jake gets one for himself. He slathers it with butter and syrup, and then puts another on top.

“I love a man who likes to eat,” Adam says as he lays a hand upon his chest and sighs dramatically.

Dad grumbles and grabs a fork, taking a few pancakes for himself.

“I didn’t think you guys were coming yet,” I say. I get up and fill a dog bowl for Sally, who has been drooling next to Trixie’s plate since the pancakes started moving around. He turns his nose up at it and continues to watch Trixie’s fork go back and forth.

Dad finally notices the dog and stabs his fork in its direction. “What the hell is that?”

“Jake’s dog,” all the kids say at once.

“That beast is yours?” Dad asks Jake.

“Technically speaking, yes.” Jake shovels a forkful of pancakes into his mouth. “His name is Sally,” he says around a bite.

Adam chuckles. “Trixie named him, huh?”

Jake nods. “Yep.”

The crunch of gravel in the drive gets my attention and I lift the edge of the curtain to look out.

“Is that my truck?” Jake asks. He gets up and walks outside. The truck’s horn begins to honk.

“That’s for me,” Gabby says as she eats the last bite of her pancake and finishes her milk. “I’m driving Mr. Jacobson to the doctor.”

“In Jake’s truck?”

“I guess.” She shrugs and walks outside.

I follow them out and I see Jake and his dad arguing at the driver’s side window. “’Bout time, girl,” Mr. Jacobson grouses at Gabby.

“Oh, keep your shirt on,” Gabby tosses back. Mr. Jacobson grins and scoots over so she can drive.

“Gabby’s never driven a truck this big,” I warn them.

But Mr. Jacobson just waves his hand like he’s swatting a fly. “Never a better time to learn.”

Gabby puts the truck in gear, backs over a fence post, and they leave together, the truck making jerky motions.

I feel like someone has just put me inside a snow globe and given it a good shake. The pieces haven’t even started to settle around me yet.

“She’s going to wreck my truck,” Jake says.

I wince. “Maybe not.”

Jake growls low under his breath. “I’m going to kill him. He could have had her drive his car.”

Jake swings around quickly. I see him moving out of the corner of my eye, and I react the only way I know how to react: I brace my arms over my head and wait for the blow.