“You do it, Daddy,” Ira demanded, and Wells chuckled.
“All right. Let’s see if the other one wants an apple too,” he said, holding his hand out for the bison closer to him.
“There we go,” he said once the bison ate the apple.
I was already having the best time of my life, and I couldn’t wait for Ira and also Wells to see more amazing things on my parents’ ranch.
My parents were back late in the afternoon right on time after we’ve done a tour of the whole ranch and all the other guests left again.
We walked into the house to greet my parents, and as nervous as I was for them to meet Wells, it wasn’t as big of a deal like I had thought.
In the end, my parents were closer to Wells’s age then I was, but they weren’t judging us because of our age difference.
“I’m starting with dinner. Would you like to help me, Rooney?” Mom asked, smiling at me.
“Oh, yes. You remembered what I texted you last night, right? About Ira having diabetes?”
“Of course I remembered. You like vegetables, right, sweetie?” she asked Ira.
“Yes, and I eat a lot of fruit and sometimes I can eat something sweet.”
Ira was limited to eat certain things, but nowadays, there were enough food companies selling foods with less sugar in them, made for diabetics.
Still, I knew Wells liked to feed Ira healthy things.
“That’s wonderful! Would you like to help cut some of the veggies?” Mom asked.
Ira looked up at Wells to ask for permission, and he nodded with a smile, then brushed through his hair.
“Of course you can. Daddy’s gonna go to the bathroom and then I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Okay,” Ira replied, reaching for my hand and already pulling me toward the kitchen.
Wells smiled at me when he saw how relaxed and happy Ira was, and I smiled back at him to assure him everything was fine.
Things were great, but I wondered when the day would come when we finally had to speak up about what this thing between him and I actually was.
Wells
When I came back from the bathroom, Rooney’s dad stopped me before I could head into the kitchen.
He was sitting on the couch and pointing at the seat next to him for me to sit down.
“Rooney told me you’re a civil engineer, is that right?” he asked.
I nodded, but before sitting down, I looked into the kitchen to make sure everything was okay.
Ira was standing on a chair next to Rooney and her mother, carefully cutting a cucumber with a dull knife.
Looked like they had everything under control, and I was ready to have a talk with Devon.
“Yeah, I am.”
I had to admit that it was strange sitting here with him, only being a few years apart in age, yet I was fucking his daughter.
“I’ve thought about studying to become one myself, but I guess life had other plans for me. Met Louise and found myself buying a damn clown costume a few months later,” he said with a chuckle.
I laughed softly. “She was definitely the one then,” I said.
It was strange.
We were around the same age and we were both dads, yet being around him made me feel as if I didn’t know shit about being a father.
Maybe it was the thought of him having raised the girl I was seeing, which weirdly made him much older in my mind then he actually was.
I had to keep my mind straight.
Not overthink things.
Who knows? Maybe him and I could become friends.
“Most definitely. I knew from the moment I saw her the first time that she would mess with my head and steal my damn heart. And we got so damn lucky when Rooney was born.”
I smiled, thinking they did a good job of raising such a sweet and down-to-earth girl.
“Ira’s your only kid?” he asked. “Do you care for him all the time?”
I nodded. “His mother isn’t around anymore and I took him in when he was six months old. He made my life so much better, and I’m lucky to have him,” I told Devon.
He studied me for a moment and when I thought he’d ask another question about me being a father, he changed the subject without a warning.
“My Rooney is only twenty, but I think you’re aware of that,” he said.
“Of course. But age hasn’t been much of a problem for us.”