were practically toe to toe. “Is there a hot fudge sundae in there?”
Grinning, he replied, “Three of them.”
With a small head tilt, she asked, “Any of them in a waffle bowl?”
“Only two of them.”
Haley’s shoulders sagged slightly.
“For me and you, kid. Your aunt isn’t a fan of the waffle bowl.” He shrugged. “It’s not her fault she doesn’t have good taste.”
“Hey!” Sydney cried with a laugh, and it broke the rest of the tension.
“Yeah, well,” Haley said, taking the bag from him. “She’s dating you, so that doesn’t make you sound too great either.” Without another word, she walked over and put their dessert on the kitchen table and began setting it up.
Kyle sauntered over to Sydney and placed his hands on her hips. “You okay?”
And as she looked up at him and saw the concern there, she couldn’t help but smile. “I think so.”
“You guys! Things are going to melt! You can kiss and do all that other gross stuff when you go out tomorrow night!”
“I guess that means she’s okay with all of this,” he commented.
“Unfortunately, I think we need to take it day by day.”
8
“This was a great idea.”
“I agree.”
“Why haven’t we ever done this before?”
“Because you never date anyone for more than a week, so…”
Kyle took a pull of his beer and glared at Hunter. It didn’t matter that he was only speaking the truth; it still stung a bit.
“Whatever. I appreciate you extending the invitation.”
“No worries. Violet and I are always looking to host more get-togethers. The yard’s in good shape and the new deck helps, but once we move to someplace bigger, we’ll do this more often.” He looked around the yard and smiled. “Haley seems to be enjoying herself.”
Yeah, they had opted to make it a family day with all of them going to Hunter and Violet’s for a barbecue rather than dropping Haley off so he and Sydney could go out for dinner.
And have a night alone.
It was all good, though. It wasn’t ideal, but Kyle knew how much this meant to both Sydney and Haley, so that made him happy.
Beside him, he heard his brother’s low chuckle. “What’s so funny?”
“You.”
“Oh, really?” he asked, unable to hide his annoyance. “Why?”
“I’m just standing here watching you watch Sydney and Haley with this goofy smile on your face, and I find it amusing. Sue me.”
It would be easy to turn this into some sort of shoving match and some wrestling on the ground like they were known to do, but instead, Kyle decided to take the opportunity to get a little advice.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Considering I’m so much smarter than you, I would actually encourage you to ask me a lot of questions.”
He sighed loudly. “I’m trying to be serious here.”
Hunter took a long drink from his bottle of water before nodding. “Okay. Go ahead.”
He took a minute to explain what had happened the night before with Haley.
“So you’re upset that you didn’t get your way,” Hunter said when he was finished.
“What?! No!” Then he paused. “I mean, a little. I’d really like a night alone with Sydney, but I have no idea when that’s going to happen now. And it’s not like I can spend the night there while Haley’s home, right?”
“Probably not. Hell, I had a hard time the first time Violet spent the night with Eli here. The only difference was that Eli was only three and he had no idea what was going on. I have a feeling there’s no way the two of you could be quiet enough that Haley wouldn’t know everything you were doing.”
Groaning, Kyle looked to where Violet was coaching Haley on some sort of backflip thing. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too.”
Beside him, Hunter looked out at the yard too. “It sucks and I completely feel your pain, but…I hate to say it…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…you told me so. I got it. Trust me.”
Hunter laughed lowly again. “I’m not trying to be a dick, Kyle. I warned you about how hard it is to date a single parent and you went ahead with it anyway.”
“And where would you be if Violet decided you weren’t worth a little inconvenience?” he challenged. “You guys got through it and you complained about it a time or two, but in the end, everything worked out. So can I just please be allowed to have a moment where I am a little less than…thrilled with the situation?”
“Okay, okay, okay. You’re right. I’m just worried about you; that’s all. And