Page 46 of Troublemaker: The Big Picture Edition
Ryder looks concerned for another half a second before remembering something really important. “Hey! I got one!” He pats Lucky and Tate on their shoulders. “Why did the duck cross the road? Because Summer farted.”
“Hey! I did not!” Summer looks exactly like Swearing Emoji Face, but Shane manages to grab on to her before she lunges for my son, who, let’s face it, probably has a crush on her.
Grammie isn’t giving me the side-eye. Instead, she’s muttering out of the side of her mouth while standing next to me and staring straight ahead. “Bit of a piece of work, your ex, eh?”
“Nova? She’s not so bad.”
She rolls her eyes. This lady has had many decades to perfect her eye roll and her sarcastic tone. “Oh well, that’s a relief. Is your tongue seeing anyone special nowadays?”
“My tongue is technically available right now, Mrs. Todd. And yours?”
She scoffs and practically lays me out with a hard stare. “Don’t even try to flirt with me, kid. You couldn’t handle me if you tried.”
“You’re absolutely right, ma’am. Had to take my shot, though.”
She winks at me before barking at the kids to settle down.
She scares me on so many levels.
I take a step back and look around. Usually when I’m among the masses, I wonder to myself:How can I reach these people? What stories do they want to be told? How can I tell them in away that will appeal to them but also make them think a little differently?
But right now, I’m wondering if there’s even one person here that I could be attracted to the way I am to Emilia.
Disneyland is basically the opposite of that nightclub, but it doesn’t change the fact that no other woman appeals to me now.
Other women keep texting and leaving voice messages, friends and agents keep trying to hook me up with their friends or clients, and I keep telling them I’m too busy to hang out. I’m busy with work and Ryder and fucking my hand while thinking about Emilia. I’m just wondering how much longer I can wait to be with her, and I know for sure the answer isn’t until June.
And then all of a sudden, like a mirage, she appears.
Exiting the Pirates of the Caribbean, with two exceptionally good-looking guys who are more into each other than her, but one of them is holding her hand and pulling her along. She looks a little unhappy and pouty. And so fucking pretty. Just in a T-shirt and jeans and no makeup. And aNightmare Before Christmasfanny pack. But she still looks hot.
It’s the weirdest feeling, seeing her. Probably the way I’d feel if I see her at a school event, except that right now I could—Icouldpull her aside and just…something. But I can’t leave Ryder. And she wouldn’t want me to.
“Who is that young lady you’re staring at with such conflicted longing, Tongue?”
“Huh?” I glance over at Grammie Todd, and I’m so shocked to see that she’s looking at me with genuine concern that I forget about Emilia for a second.
When I look back, I see that she and her companions have stopped to discuss where to go next. Emilia is pointing at a piece of paper and then at her phone, and I would bet all my money that she had planned out their day to the minute and her friends aren’t adhering to her plan.
“Someone. It’s complicated.”
“Doesn’t look very complicated to me, Daddy-o. Maybe Ryder should sit beside me on this next ride. If you want to go use the restroom or make a phone call…”
I don’t know.
Does this count as abandoning my son for a woman?
But I mean—he’s having so much fun with the kids, and I trust these guys and Grammie to look after him.
And I mean—Pirates of the Caribbean is barely even a ride. It’s just a bunch of people sitting in a boat. Sure, it’s a little creepy, but it’s not dangerous. He probably won’t fall into the fake swamp water. If Grammie Todd can’t keep him in line, then no one can. He’s having such a good time, he won’t even notice if I’m gone for a little while.
And Emilia looked like she could use some cheering up.
And what are the chances we’d both be at Disneyland today?
Or that I’d see her at all, among all these people?
Fuck it.
