Thawed Out (Merry Everything #4)

Chapter 15

15

F lynn’s teeth ground together as Jasper’s door slammed, and the temptation to go down the hall and rip the door off its hinges was huge, so he went to the garage.

There he turned his music up loud and focused on not killing his son.

He was fucking exhausted, he had a shift to take tonight, and Kiren was at some school function with his AP class.

Of course this was the day that Jasper decided to be a bleeding asshole.

He felt a tug on his shirt and looked down to find Cassie standing there. He had no idea how long she had been shouting at him, but her little face was practically purple. “Daddy!”

“Sorry! Sorry, what?” He clicked the music off, the sudden silence ringing in his ears.

Fuck.

Cassie covered her ears even though it was quiet now and burst into tears. “It’s too loud! I don’t like it.”

“Sorry, sweetie. I was jamming out.” He went for light, because his temper was threatening to let loose. “You want to have a dance party? I can make it quieter.”

“No.” She leaned against his leg. “Where is Dad-Mom? I have a tangle.” Cassie’s curly hair was a constant struggle.

“He’s at school for a special thing. Do you want me to try and work it out?” He wasn’t her first choice for that, but he was usually able to help without making her cry.

She eyed him critically, sniffing as her tears ended and nodding. “Okay. You can try.”

“Let’s go sit in your room. I’ll get the No More Tears and a comb, okay?” He took her hand and led her back into the house.

“Okay.” She held on tight like she was worried he might let go and disappear. They went into her room, and she crawled up on her bed as he found the things he needed. “Jasper’s mad.”

“I know. Do you know why?” He wasn’t above using his kids for information against the other.

“No, he’s just mad sometimes. Like you sort of. You’re mad too.” Cassie just said all of that like it was a simple truth, not a big deal.

“That’s true. I have a temper. I’m working on it with Miss Brenda, you know? Just like we all go to talk about our feels.” He thought he was doing better too, even though he was so fucking tired.

She nodded. “You’re doing good. The music was too loud, but you’re doing good.”

Well, thank God for that. He didn’t want to work this hard and still suck. “Thank you, baby girl. Scoot over, and I’ll do your hair.”

She scooted and shook out her hair. “Maybe we should ask Jasper why he is angry so we can help make him not angry.”

“Maybe. Maybe I’ll ask him in private after your hair is done. See if he wants to talk, one-on-one.” He settled behind her, kissing the top of her head. “You’re an amazing little sister, you know.”

“Jasper is a good brother too.” She nodded once. That was that. “Be careful like Dad-Mom okay?”

“I promise. I will be even carefuller .” He wanted to make her laugh.

It worked; she giggled and he could practically hear the eyeroll even though her back was to him. “Daddy!”

“What? I will be the carefulleriest ever .”

“Carefullerist!” she crowed.

He couldn’t wait for her to use it around Kiren so he could watch Kiren’s head explode.

“Yes, ma’am. Are you ready for spring to come?” It was coming—not soon enough for him. He wanted to be done with his internship. He wanted his license.

“Yes. I’m bored of the cold. And also spring has flowers and Peeps.” She turned her head making him pull accidentally so she turned away again. “Are we going to have an Easter tree? We should put Peeps on it. And Easter eggs.”

Where on earth had she come up with that thought? He loved how her mind worked. “Oh, that’s a neat idea. We could do that. We could top it with bunny ears.”

“That’s a good idea, Daddy. You have a good imagera-shun.” Her shoulders tensed a little as he worked on a bad part of the knot, but he was almost done, and he thought he was doing a pretty damn good job.

“Thank you, lovely. I appreciate that. I like to use my imagination. I like to think about things like going camping and going on a boat across the ocean.”

“A boat would be cool. I can swim too, so I would be safe. And we could see…” He could tell the wheels were turning, but after all that thought she said, “Fish!”

“Yes! Fish and birds and whales. I would like to see a whale, wouldn’t you?” He got the tangle out, and he could breathe a little.

“Yes. And a mermaid!” She reached back and felt her hair. “You did it, Daddy!”

“I did! I rock!” He opened his arms, and she pushed in to hug him tight.

“You rock! Love you!”

“I love you, silly billy.”

“Can I watch TV?” She gave him those puppy dog eyes. “Please?”

“Yes. Disney Junior?” She could do that while he went to not kill the boy.

“Yes, please.” She hopped up and ran for the den, then snuggled under her Little Mermaid blanket. “Disney. Disney. Disney,” she chanted at him.

“Yes, Princess. Your wish is my command.” He put it on and bowed dramatically before heading to see what the boy child needed.

He knocked once, then opened the door. “Hey, you.”

Jasper was sitting cross-legged on his bed, looking at a comic book and he didn’t glance up as Flynn walked in.

“You ready to talk?” He made himself not get riled up, because that was ridiculous. Jasper was a little boy. He had bad days.

“Nope.” Jasper flipped a page in his comic book.

“Okay. You don’t have to. I’m going to go watch TV with Cassie.” Little grump.

Jasper sighed. “I just can’t tell you because it’s mean, okay?”

“Okay. It’s tough when you want to be mean, but you don’t want to at the same time.” He leaned against the doorframe. He just had to wait this out.

“I wasn’t mean. What they said was mean about you and Dad-Mom. And you’re going to get mad. I was mad.”

“Ah. Well, you can tell me, if you want, and maybe we can work it out.” He wasn’t going to promise not to be mad, but he was going to be calm or else.

Jasper glanced up at him and closed his comic book. “Darren said that you and Dad-Mom weren’t real parents.”

“Yeah?” Little fucker. “Did he say why?”

Jasper nodded. “Yeah. He said you two can’t have babies, so I said that you adopted me and Cassie with a judge and everything, and he said that was stupid, and you’re not real parents, and then I yelled that he was wrong and pushed him, and then I got in trouble.”

That was a long sentence, but it was more than just words.

“Wow. What a bunch of hooey. Darren sounds like a jerk.” He moved toward the bed. “Can I sit?”

Jasper nodded and squinted at him. “Hooey?”

“Nonsense? Baloney?” He lowered his voice. “Bullpoop?”

Jasper gave him a half grin. “Bullpoopy. He is a jerk.”

“Sounds like.” He sat with his son. “And we wanted you. We chose you. We fought for you, and legally, you’re our children. So there. I’m sorry he was nasty, but pushing will always get you in trouble, right? So you have to think about that.”

Jasper frowned. “I told him to stop and to leave me alone, but he wouldn’t. Mrs. Fry even said it’s not his business.”

“Huh. Well, maybe I’ll have Dad-Mom talk to Mrs. Fry, teacher to teacher, because that’s not fair to you.” And if that didn’t work, he’d go talk to the little fucker’s parents.

“She said Darren was wrong, but she sent me to the principal for pushing him. Would you have pushed him?”

He told the truth, even though he wasn’t sure he was supposed to. “When I was your age, probably, and I would have gotten into trouble.”

“Okay.” Jasper nodded, relaxing a little. “Okay. That’s cool. That means I’m like you.”

“You so are. Even Cassie says so. You and me, we’re cut from the same cloth.” And he wasn’t going to apologize for that.

Jasper leaned on him. “You and me. That’s good. Dad-Mom says it’s okay for you to be mad, so it’s okay for me too.”

“Yeah, but we should talk about it, too, okay? So we can make things good for you. Easier.”

“Does talking make you feel better? I think I feel better.”

“It does.” He nodded. This was something that he understood. “Talking makes me feel less alone, makes me feel like I’m being listened to.”

Jasper leaned harder. “You’re a good listener. I’ll talk to you next time.”

“I’d like that. I like talking with you. It makes me feel good inside.” And less like murder.

Jasper sat up and smiled at him. “You’re my best friend, Daddy.”

He was going to die—just die from pure joy. He loved this little boy more than words could express. “Oh, buddy. You are my best friend too. We’ve got this, you and me. You want to come make popcorn?”

“Yes! And I have math homework. You can help, okay?” Jasper slid off his bed, and all traces of the angry kid that had slammed his door were gone.

Okay. Go him. Score one for the dad.

He felt about twenty feet tall and bulletproof.

“Let’s do this.” Flynn grinned and headed out. Math, cartoons, and popcorn—he had this.