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“Not while I’ve got a drill in my hand.”
I leaned against the refrigerator and sipped my drink.
“You can go relax, you know,” he reminded me. “Go about your night and do whatever you’d normally do. Just pretend I’m not here.”
“This is what I’d normally be doing.”
Would I normally drink whiskey standing in my kitchen? Did this look natural? Probably not. I was uneasy with Carter in my space, but I didn’t want him to go. The Rolling Stones kept on playing and it made me laugh.
“What? You don’t like my music?” he asked.
“No, I like it. It’s just… it’s such dad music.”
Carter raised an eyebrow but said nothing. He kept on working like I wasn’t there, but I didn’t leave him alone. This was my house. If I wanted to hang out in my kitchen, I could do just that.
“Start Me Up” ended and the first guitar riff of “You Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC played.
“This is even worse,” I teased him. “Total dad music.”
Carter’s eyes flickered with an expression I couldn’t name.
“Nothing about me saysdad, Zoe.”
“Your music does.”
“Well, my dad used to listen to stuff like this while he worked,” he said. “I guess it just feels right to play this.”
“Huh.” I didn’t expect him to give me a reason I couldn’t make fun of.
“And what’s on your playlist? The brilliant artistic stylings of Katy Perry and Taylor Swift?”
I smirked. He was right. I was a little basic when it came to music, but I offered zero apologies for liking a good pop song.
“Where’s Rex tonight?” Carter asked.
“At his first ever sleepover with his new best friend.”
“Must be nice. You get the night off of mom duty.”
“It is,” I agreed. “But I miss him when he’s not here.”
“Really?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Yes.”
“Huh.”
“You’re really surprised that I miss my son when he’s not around?”
“No, I just… I mean you get a quiet night with no kid. Don’t you ever want a break from him?”
I shrugged. “Sure, I get overwhelmed sometimes, but I like spending time with him. I like seeing the person he’s becoming. It’s… it’s one of the most rewarding parts of being a mother.”
Carter took a moment to let my words sink in, but eventually he nodded. “I guess I see that,” he said. “And as far as kids go, Rex is a pretty good one.”
“Yeah. He’s pretty good.”
“No, I mean it. Some kids kind of suck. Rex doesn’t.”
