Page 23 of Dad Next Door
“How can you know what my face is saying if you’re not even looking at me?” she asked innocently.
“I don’t need to see you to know what you’re thinking.”
“And what am I thinking?”
“You’re thinking of being a sister and sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
She fake gasped, her hand over her heart. “I’d never do something like that.”
Knowing I’d lost, I lowered the paper. My sister was stubborn and wouldn’t let up until I let her grill me.
“So, what’s going on with you and Quinn?”
I rolled my eyes and lifted the paper.
She pushed it down, forcing me to lower it again. “You really think this is going to work on me? Have you forgotten the time I spent seven hours sitting outside your bedroom door waiting you out back in senior year because you thought you could hide from me? Or the time I?—”
“Yes, you’ve always been annoying.” I put the paper down. “Nothing is going on.”
“Nothing?” She pinned me with a look. “You guys are doing garage playdates every other Friday after Simon leaves, and now you’re hanging out in the evenings when Leo isn’t here. That doesn’t sound like nothing.”
“They’re not playdates.”
“Two adult men chilling in a garage drinking beer and eating dinner together is either a playdate or a real date. And since you said he’s straight, that would make it a playdate.”
“We’re friends. I don’t know what you expect me to say.”
“That!” She pointed at me triumphantly. “I want you to admit you’re friends. You act like your friendship is some state secret. It’s weird. I want to know why.”
“I don’t act like that.”
“You do. Hello, were you not there on Sunday when Mom asked you if you’d met anyone new and you said no?”
“I said no because she was asking about a romantic interest.” I shot her a flat look. “Quinn’s a friend. A much younger friend. I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.”
“He’s only ten years younger than you.”
“That’s a big age gap when one of us is old and a single parent and the other is young and single and living his best life.”
She shot me an unimpressed look.
“It’s really not a big deal.”
She arched one eyebrow.
A blur of soft pink streaked across the room as Jinx raced around, bouncing and leaping off the furniture until he came to a stop in front of me.
“Come here.” I patted my chest.
I usually discouraged teaching cats to jump up on people, but it was the only way to get Jinx to stop dive-bombing me. As a seal point sphynx, which just meant he was a Siamese with the recessive hairless gene, Jinx was a natural climber and spent a lot of time on top of shelves, cupboards, and doors, whatever he could get up on. Having him wait to be invited up was preferable to the sneak attacks he used to do.
Jinx jumped up, landing against my chest with his front paws over my shoulder. He immediately tucked his face against my neck and purred. I put one hand under his rump so he didn’t slip.
“Saved by the cat.” Lydia ran her fingers over Jinx’s back. He snuggled closer to me. “I need to get going.”
Still cradling Jinx, I walked my sister to the door and waited as she gathered her sweater, purse, and various other things she’d left scattered around the foyer.
“I’m staying over tomorrow night, FYI.” She jingled her keys at me. “I swear, you’re gonna have to bail me out of jail if I have to go over and tell my neighbor that practicing his bagpipes at eight in the morning is not okay any day of the week, but especially not on the weekends when the rest of us want to sleep in.”