Page 67 of Controlled Burn

I’d been so worried, but it didn’t take long at all for me to realize that the problem was all in my head. Daddy Night at Kirby’s might have intimidated him, but he seemed right at home at a bar surrounded by first responders. And considering who his father was, that made sense.

Caleb

I knew Keith had been worried about taking me to The Spotted Dog, and I understood why. Which was just evidence that while we had made progress—the man had just given me access to his house, for example—we still had a lot to learn about each other. Like I did not do well with the unknown.

And that was what that whole experience at Kirby’s had been that night, the unknown. I’d never been to the club, I’d made the mistake of going alone, and the Daddy thing as a whole had been the biggest unknown of all. But this was totally different. I knew most of the people we would see, and I was no stranger to pubs. Plus, like I told him, I had my Daddy there with me. What else could I want?

Like Keith had predicted, the guys had given him a hard time when we arrived, but none of it was ill-willed. It probably helped that because Robert was my father, they already considered me part of their family.

“So,” Ford said. “What do you think of Del?”

“Dad’s girlfriend?” I shrugged. “I haven’t met her yet. We were supposed to have dinner when he got back, but I guess we’ll have to see if he’s pulled his head out of his ass by then.”

The whole table went silent for a second, and then they all burst into laughter.

Kevin lifted his beer towards me for a toast. “You sound a lot like your old man. He’d be proud. If, like you said, he pulled his head out of his ass.”

“He will. Keith’s a good guy, and Robert knows it,” Ford added.

I looked over at Keith to find him watching me. “I sure hope so.”

He reached over and took my hand, twining our fingers together before lifting our hands to his lips and kissing the back of my hand. Then he leaned over and spoke softly in my ear so only I could hear. “It’ll be fine, Rabbit.”

I gave him a nod and turned to Andy. “So, Andy, are you settling in here in Vesper?”

“I am, thanks. It took me a while to find a place with a fence that would take my dog, but I finally found one.”

“Oh, is he a pit?” I knew it could be really hard to find a place that would rent to you if you had a dog that was a pit bull, even though all the pits I’d ever met had been super sweet dogs.

“No, she’s a lab mix of some kind, but she’s big as a horse and weighs close to eighty pounds.”

“Oh wow. I’ve thought about getting a dog, but I don’t know that I would want one quite that big.”

“Why don’t you have one?” Andy asked. “Does your apartment not allow them?”

“They do, but only if they’re under twenty pounds, and while I might not want one as big as yours, I don’t really want a little one either. Plus, I’ve never had a dog before, so—” I shrugged.

“Never?” Keith asked.

“No, my mom’s allergic. I like dogs, though.”

“Speaking of dogs?” Keith said. “What did your dad do with Oscar?”

“He said he was thinking about taking him with them, so I assume that’s what he did. I didn’t talk to him before he left.” I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. This thing with my dad was difficult for both of us, but it was extra hard on Keith because he felt like he’d let my dad down somehow. I just hoped they would be able to sort things out.

Keith

We got back to the house, and Caleb flopped down on the couch. “Man, this was a long day.”

I stepped up behind the couch and started rubbing his shoulders. “We probably shouldn’t have gone out tonight. I didn’t even think about how tired you probably were after dealing with that book sale all day.”

He looked back over his shoulder at me. “I wanted to go. Besides, it was fun hanging out with all your friends.”

“They are pretty great.” I kissed him on the cheek and went around to sit beside him on the couch.

He leaned against me and let out a contented sigh. “I think you’re pretty great.”

I chuckled and wrapped my arm around him. “Right back at you, Rabbit. Now I know you’ve had a long day, and you’re tired, so we should probably get some sleep since we have a busy day tomorrow.”