I feel on edge when Conor meets Lana. He’s closer to her age than I am. I’ve never chased women, and I don’t plan to start now. Except if she shows even the slightest fucking interest in him, I’ll have to unleash my charms to regain her attention.
Lana doesn’t smile at Conor any differently than she does at Rooster or my sisters. Of course, my nephew isn’t flirting with her either. Messing with my baby mama is something Wyatt would pull before he married DeAnna. Conor never broadcasts his moves. If he wants to swoop in and steal my woman, he’ll play cool around me. I’ll never see his treachery coming.
While Lana doesn’t offer Conor much in the way of smiles, she beams at the sight of our daughter. Carina’s made her way from Bambi to Barbie to Lineke. Lana takes the baby and cradles her. I watch them and start wondering if there’s something here that could stick.
I’ve never had a single bit of luck when it comes to anything long term with a woman. I’d like to blame that on my sisters scaring away decent women, but it’s mostly just my taste in the bad ones.
Distracting me from Lana, Barbie claims Conor is starving. Either we feed him, or she’s leaving. I know my sister’s just restless. Gabbing with the girls hasn’t been fun for her in decades. She’d rather work in her yard or go jogging than talk babies.
“What’s the plan food-wise?” Rooster asks me.
I don’t even pretend I’m not keeping an eye on Lana. Rooster knows me too damn well anyway. Why go through the motions?
“Summer chose beef and chicken shish kebabs.”
I text my oldest daughter to see if she’ll show her face long enough to help with lunch. She says no but then shows up anyway. We grab the food from the fridge and walk to our large outdoor kitchen.
“Did you make another kid yet?” Summer grumbles as her flip-flops slap against the concrete.
“Maybe. My sperm is very potent.”
Rolling her brown eyes, she stands back and frowns at me. “Why am I helping?”
“You always help.”
“Not when people are over.”
I set the food aside and sigh deeply. “My poor sweet Summer is so shy,” I announce, and she rolls her eyes again. “People are scary to her. She needs to hide from strangers. Like a cat or a baby.”
Summer rolls her eyes a few more times, but she’s fighting a grin. “I don’t want to talk to your slut.”
“Because you’re emotionally fragile?”
“No, because she won’t be around for long. I don’t want to learn stuff about some hooker.”
Now I roll my eyes. “You’re so full of shit. I can tell how much you want to be Lana’s best friend.”
Summer crosses her arms and frowns hard at me. The girl looks so much like my side of the family that I don’t know if she takes after her mom at all.
“I’m not helping.”
“Are you going to let two strangers, a child, and a baby change your behavior? Weak sauce, kiddo.”
“That’s not why?”
“No, you’re shy. I get it. You don’t want to help me cook. That’s fine. Go hide until they leave.”
“Quit whining,” Summer says, pushing me over. “I’ll help. I can’t have you crying.”
“You’re crying. That’s why I can’t understand you. You’re sobbing too hard.”
“You’re the one covered in crybaby snot.”
“You’re swimming in it.”
“You’re the one who filled the pool with your tears and boogers.”
Grinning, I hand her the shish kebab skewers. Summer has always liked helping on the grill. Cooking is a different matter. That’s “woman’s work,” and she isn’t stooping to that drivel. But grilling is “man’s work,” so she’s on board.
“Can Lana cook?” Summer asks while stealing a pineapple piece and popping it in her mouth.
“I don’t know. Her sister runs a restaurant, so Lana probably knows a few things.”
“I figure if she’s going to be around a lot that she can at least feed us when she isn’t servicing your dick.”
“My dick isn’t why she’s here. Lana brought Carina to our house, so we didn’t all have to visit her. The nicer we are to her, the more willing she’ll be to drive to Elko.”
“She’s not going to ditch the baby with us, is she?”
“No. She has family. There’s no reason to believe she wouldn’t want her mom or sister to raise Carina if something happened.”
“So now we have to be nice to the whole group,” Summer grumbles.
“No one has suffered like my sweet Summer.”
Despite giving me her most teenage hellion glare, my