Page 61 of Alfie: Part One
If Trip wanted something, West and I at least considered it. With Ellie, we had another strategy. She changed her hobbies and passions so often that West and I didn’t buy her Christmas presents until right before Christmas. That girl updated her wish list a minimum of twenty times in between Thanksgiving and December 15th.
Something like a pet, a living thing…? She’d need to ask for it for at least four or five months.
We all knew what’d happened with the hamster.
“Daddy?” Ellie yawned. “Are we sleeping at Daddy’s?”
“That’s up to you, baby girl,” I replied. “It might be easier if I come pick you up in the morning, but if you want me to swing by in a few hours, I can do that too. It’ll be in the middle of the night, though.”
Every now and then, she did look to Trip for his input. Like now.
“I think you should swing by,” he said thoughtfully. “Then we can see.”
Then we can see.
That would be quite the fucking detour, but no matter. If they wanted me to come back just to see if they’d made up their minds, so be it.
“You got it, buddy,” I said.
When we reached West’s street, I brought out my work phone and rested it on my thigh. No message from Kellan yet, which meant he hadn’t left home.
I pulled in next to West’s car, and the kids unbuckled their seat belts and climbed out with their stuffed animals.
I followed them to the door and rang the doorbell.
Ellie tested the door. “Poop, it’s locked.”
“As it’s supposed to be, am I right?” I combed down her hair a little with my fingers.
They’d been ready to doze off on the couch when I’d gotten the text from Kellan about a problem in Camden. Three low-men were scheduled to accept a shipment in roughly an hour, and Colm had forwarded a report to Kellan about one of the three saying the other two were shit-faced. Now, none of them was answering their phone.
West opened the door in his fancy dark-blue pajamas, and the look of surprise was no surprise. The pajamas were the surprise, to be honest. He’d had bottoms and a shirt when we’d first started going out, though they’d quickly disappeared when I’d let him know I slept naked.
“Hi, Daddy! We’re on an adventure!” Ellie rushed forward to hug West’s middle, whereas Trip was busy playing a game on his phone. He walked forward too, gave West an absent-minded hug, then walked inside the house.
“What, uh—what kind of adventure?” West looked to me.
I cleared my throat, mildly nervous. But I’d chosen this. “Yeah, I understand this won’t help my case in tryna look like a good parent, but can you watch them for a few hours?”
Ellie peered up at me and scrunched her nose. “What’s a case? Like the bag for my doll clothes?”
I chuckled under my breath and dipped down to kiss the top of her head. “Just a joke between Daddy and me. Go inside and get cozy for a movie you can fall asleep to.”
“Okaaay.” She trailed inside.
I had no plans to linger, so I was just gonna give West the barest amount of information. “I had a work thing come up. Shouldn’t be more than three hours, tops.”
“A work thing.” He folded his arms across his chest, clearly not believing me. “A work thing at almost midnight. Sounds very legit.”
“You should meet people who work on call,” I said. “We can fight about this later, though. Trip asked me to come back when I’m done, but chances are they’ll be dead to the world by then. Can you tell them I stopped by, and then I’ll be here bright and early in the morning? I can bring bagels.”
He frowned and straightened a little, and he gave my clothes a brief once-over. Nothing much to look at, just jeans and a hoodie.
“What’re you going to do?” he demanded.
I gave him a look. Like I was gonna give him specifics?
As Finn was quick to point out—certain details could be shared with your wife. Or husband. Whatever. If you trusted them with your life, if it was a gesture of goodwill to someone who could keep a secret. You gave a spouse a hand, never an arm.