The Teddy Bear Club

by Sean Michael

  “Oh, 48 Hours rocks. Have you seen Homicide Hunter?”

  “Nope, sounds like it’s up my alley, though.” He leaned against the counter, watching as Aiden stirred the grits. “So what do you do to the shrimp?”

  “I’m going to heat them in a pan, really quick.” Aiden shot him a grin. “A little olive oil, a little lemon, a little garlic.”

  “Are you sure? That sounds pretty simple, and they charge a fortune in restaurants if they add shrimp to a dish….”

  “The whole thing with cooking shrimp is not getting them overdone. Because then? Rubber-band city.”

  Dev nodded. “I’ve had those before. It’s gross. And once you know a restaurant overdoes them like that, you give them a pass.”

  “Yeah. It doesn’t take but three or four minutes. It’s quick.”

  “I bet that’s handy when the kids are awake and you’re trying to get supper cooked really quickly.”

  “You know it. Especially if they’re already cleaning.”

  “Cleaning?” Dev wasn’t sure what Aiden meant.

  “Cleaned. Cleaned, sorry.” Aiden rolled his eyes and pinked; then they started giggling, both of them.

  God, being tired made you stupid sometimes. Dev knew all about that. “Are we almost done? Something tells me you need to sit before you fall asleep at the stove.”

  “Me? No. I need a Coke. You want one?”

  “God, yes. I do. I haven’t had one since this morning, and that’s far too long, even with a coffee in between.” He chuckled and found Aiden’s plates, put a couple on the kitchen table, then added knives and forks.

  Aiden pulled two cans of Coke from the fridge. “Do you need a glass?”

  “I’m good with the can.” Dev never had stood on ceremony, and now that he had U, that went double.

  “Good deal.” Aiden added cheese and cream and spices to the grits, whistling happily.

  “Everything smells really good.” Dev hadn’t had food like this outside of a restaurant in forever. It wasn’t that he couldn’t cook; it was that he couldn’t cook complicated things.

  “Thank you. That’s one of the best parts about cooking—all the senses are engaged.”

  “I never thought about it like that. You get Linds helping you at all yet?” The books all said you had to engage kids with cooking and cleaning early. Okay, so he’d read ahead, but U was going to get there eventually, and he liked being prepared.

  “She loves to make fruity-duty salad and peanut butter jellies.”

  “Fruity-duty?” That made him chuckle.

  “Oh yes. With nanos and strawlberries.”

  “Nanos and strawlberries? Oh God, that is cute.” Was U going to be super cute? He sure hoped so. Probably even cuter because U was his.

  “She has her moments, that’s for sure.”

  Dev could hear the pride in Aiden’s voice. The man was in love with his girls, there was no doubt about that. It was great to see and made him like Aiden even more.

  “So she’s not in school?” he asked.

  “Next year. She’s a little too young.”

  “They go all day now too. That’s going to be rough, eh?” He could totally imagine how hard it might be after having your kid all to yourself for a few years. To let someone you didn’t know look after them.

  “I don’t know. Bee will be one and a half then, and I’ll probably enjoy having just her for a little bit.” Oh, exceptional point.

  “I can see that.” He took a drink of his Coke. “So what’s next? Books? You a big reader?”

  “I like to read, I guess, but I don’t have a ton of time.” Aiden shrugged. “I tend to do puzzles and crosswords, watch movies and TV.”

  “Oh, puzzles. I fucking love sudoku. I’m a manga man myself, and I can read mysteries like I eat candy.” He used to have a lot more free time than he did now.

  “Oh yeah?” Aiden sounded genuinely interested. “You’ll have to make some recommendations.”

  “Sure, I can write you up a list and shoot it to you.”

  Dev’s stomach growled as Aiden pulled the cornbread out of the oven, and they both chuckled. “You might think I haven’t really eaten since breakfast or something.”

  “Barring those exceptional defrosted carrot muffins, right?”

  “Defrosted carrot muffins totally don’t count.” He grabbed their Cokes and took them over to the table, sitting as Aiden dished up the food into bowls and set them on the table. It smelled like heaven, genuinely, rich and spicy and heady.

  They filled their plates and he dug in, forking up a bunch of grits and groaning as the taste hit his tongue. “Damn. These might be the best grits I’ve ever had.”

  Aiden beamed at him, looking so pleased. “Thank you!”

  The shrimp were just as good, and the cornbread was delicious. They both concentrated on eating, and he knew that Aiden was as aware as he was that they could be interrupted by wails at any moment. U was sleeping well, though, this evening, so far at least.

  “I’m going to invite us over to supper every night if you’re not careful.”

  Aiden chuckled softly. “I know. Linds didn’t get up a dozen times, Bee is sleeping hard. It’s a win.”

  “Totally. Let’s get the dishes done. I totally want to check out your gaming setup before U needs his next bottle.” He was not going to jinx anything by mentioning the colic.

  “Sounds good to me. Let’s load the dishwasher and head downstairs.”

  “Dishwasher! Score!”

  It didn’t take them very long at all to load the thing up, and Aiden turned it on. They grabbed a couple more Cokes and he followed Aiden down to the basement.

  It was finished and all one room with different areas, including one obviously for the kids, and then the big gaming center with a huge TV and a couple of different consoles.

  “Nice setup.”

  “Thanks. That’s my office area, the media center, the play area. It works for us.”

  “Yeah, they can play in sight while you work or hang out. That’s cool.” He was going to have to start thinking about converting his place soon enough. Making it more kid-friendly before U was mobile.

  God. Mobile. His little place wasn’t kid-friendly….

  “You okay?”

  He shook himself and nodded for Aiden. “Yeah, yeah. I’m good.” A little freaked out over all the changes he was going to have to make as he accepted the fact that U was going to be a permanent addition.

  “You know, I’ve had a long time to deal with this. Meghan was pregnant with Bee when she was committed. She fought hard to make sure that she brought the baby to term, but I had Linds already when I brought Bee home. I got to prepare.”

  He nodded. “It’s a lot. And I guess I’ve spent a lot of the last three months convincing myself that Terry was coming back, that it was only temporary.” He’d still fallen in love with the little dickens, though, no matter how much he told himself he shouldn’t.

  “Well, would you give him back without a fight now?”

  “No.” He didn’t even hesitate to answer. Terry had given him up. U needed somewhere stable, with someone who could support him, who would always be there for him and would love him. “He’s mine now. I know I can do better for him than Terry can.”

  “Well, then. If she comes back, you’ll have to deal with it. Make sure and call Logan Monday.”

  “I think I’d better. I need to get this sorted. At least know my rights for custody if she does show up. I mean, she left her two-month-old with me for over three months and counting. I have to look like the better choice, right?” He sat next to Aiden and took the controller Aiden offered.

  “God yes. Is she…? I mean, Meghan has severe mental issues….”

  “No, she’s a sixteen-year-old girl rebelling against an uptight Christian upbringing. I don’t think she meant to get pregnant, but I imagine once she did, it freaked the folks out so badly that she decided to keep it. It never occurred to her she’d have to deal with the bab
y once it came.” He sighed. Hell, he was armchair psychologizing. “And for all I know, Mom did kick her out.”

  “That sucks. She’s just a baby herself.”

  “Yeah. Well, I was sixteen when they tossed me out. Told me I was dead to them.” What had been the hardest part of it was that he hadn’t expected it at all. He’d expected them to be unhappy about it, sure. He’d expected lectures. He hadn’t expected to be cut out like he’d never existed.

  “Assholes. I hate that shit.” The fury in Aiden’s voice surprised him.

  “Yeah, it sucked hard. I made it, though. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps, as they say.”

  “That’s because you’re a good guy, strong. Still, we don’t sign on only for the good times.”

  “No, we don’t. I want U to feel loved and accepted no matter what we discover about him.”

  “There you go. Love isn’t conditional.”

  “No, not at all.” Which couldn’t help but make him feel that his own parents didn’t really love him. And that sucked.

  Aiden reached out and squeezed his hand. “It’s going to be okay. We build our own families when we have to.”

  He held on tight. “I know. I’m glad I’m finally getting to build mine.” He’d been isolated for a lot longer than just since U came. It was simply easier to see now.

  “Me too.” They sat for a second, then Aiden moved to start booting everything up.

  Now with this, he was at home. This was his gig. God willing, U would sleep until late and let them play for a while, let them play and have a few non-kid-filled moments.

  If not, he’d had supper, and he’d talked to someone in person who was an adult.

  He couldn’t really ask for much more than that.

  Chapter Three

  AIDEN needed a fucking cigarette in the worst way. He didn’t have any, wouldn’t buy any, and hadn’t indulged in seven years, but still.

  Argh.

  “Daddy! Daddy, no! No baths!” Linds screamed at him.

  He closed his eyes and counted to ten. Bee was cutting a tooth, and Linds had taken advantage of his exhaustion and his distraction to paint herself with markers.

  Everywhere.

  His phone rang, the theme from Call of Duty winging out. That meant it was Dev. He’d assigned the ringtone when they’d exchanged numbers last night, and he was amused as hell at himself for it.

  “Hey. Can you—”

  “Daddy! No! No!”

  “—give me a second, man?”

  “Yeah, call me back when you can. Good luck.”

  “Yeah.”

  He grabbed Linds up and dumped her in the tub, which was when Bee started to cry.

  He went to get her, and Linds started screaming and splashing water everywhere. God, sometimes it was driven home how much easier it would be to not be on his own.

  He rubbed Orajel on Bee’s sore gums and sat on the toilet, staring his older daughter down.

  She finally ran out of steam, sitting in her bath and sniffling, hiccupping.

  The temptation to ask if she was quite done was huge, but he resisted. Pick your battles, he told himself.

  With the Orajel doing its work, Bee was soon asleep in his arms. And Linds finally grabbed the soap and grudgingly ran it over her body. Then, once the colors started to run, making the bubbles different colors, she started giggling. Thank God.

  He got Bee into her crib, then went to check on Linds, made sure she did her teeth, and read her a story.

  God, it had been a long day. A really long day.

  He called Dev once he got settled with a beer in hand and a cold washrag over his eyes.

  Dev picked up right away. “Hey, Aid. I was beginning to wonder if I should mount a rescue mission.”

  “Yeah. Markers and teeth and baths and I have a killer migraine. What’s up?”

  “I wanted to thank you for yesterday. Hell, I was going to call first thing this morning, but I thought that made me look a little desperate for adult company.” Dev chuckled softly. “Of course it was probably the truth. Look, if you need to go lie down or something, I can talk to you another time.”

  “I’m good. I have a beer, a cold cloth, and I’m going to call for a pizza.”

  “Ah, the supper of champions.” There was a squawk in the background.

  “How’s things for you, man? U doing okay?”

  “He’s starting his evening wailing. Let me put the white noise machine on. I went shopping today and found one that didn’t cost the earth.”

  “Oh cool.” He grabbed his headphones while Dev was gone, put them on, and ordered himself a pizza on the web.

  Dev’s sigh heralded that he was back. “He quieted down right away. I think it’s a miracle.”

  “I’m so glad you thought of it, man. It’ll save your sanity.”

  “I didn’t think of it. It was you. Or Zack. Can’t remember who, but I owe one of you my sanity.” Dev laughed. “Anyway. I wanted to thank you for yesterday. I had a great time.”

  “I did too. Seriously.”

  Dev was dear. Cute as hell—lanky and dark haired with pretty blue eyes.

  “Maybe we could do it again sometime? I’d invite you here but it’s not exactly kid-safe yet. Or maybe we can go shopping for the things I’ll need to childproof and you can give me a hand.” Dev laughed. “Or you can invite me over for dinner again.”

  “Sure. Anytime. Hell, you could come now, but I know it’s late.”

  “Because just after eight is late when you’re a single dad.” He could hear the laughter in Dev’s voice, but it wasn’t aimed at him. Or rather, he was pretty sure it was aimed at both of them. “If I came over now, it would have to be a sleepover.”

  A sleepover. Huh. He thought about it, then nodded. “Sure. The babies did fine and we can veg out, make pancakes for Linds in the morning.”

  “Seriously? I was teasing, but if you want to, I’d love to come. I’ll pack up some stuff for U and my sweats and we can be there within the hour. Should I bring anything?”

  “You want to bring some Coke? I have a leftover cake.” He texted the pizza place and added a pie.

  “You got it. See you soon.” Dev sounded happy.

  “Cool. See you.” He hung up, then called Logan, waiting for his best friend to answer.

  “Hey, A. How’s it hanging?”

  “You know that Dev guy? I invited him over to spend the night.” He couldn’t believe it.

  “You what? You? Seriously?” He could hear the shock in Logan’s voice.

  “I did. I mean, I did. What was I thinking?”

  “I don’t know—I guess that depends on why you invited him over.”

  “We had a decent time last night. He seemed lonely. We played first-person shooters for a few hours. I don’t know.”

  “So you just want some adult company? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Unless he’s an ax murderer, but I don’t know that I’ve heard of one with a baby as a prop.”

  “I just…. He’s a nice guy. Cute. Sweet. He sounded lonely, and I have a vicious headache and I wanted… companionship.”

  “Yeah? I guess there’s nothing wrong with that.”

  Logan didn’t get it. He had one kid for one day a week. He worked in an office. He had a life.

  “So you like him?” Logan asked.

  “Yeah. I mean, I don’t know if there’s chemistry or anything yet, but… I like him.”

  “So hang out with the man with the baby. Give me a call in the morning if you want. To make sure you weren’t ax-murdered.”

  “I will. I will. You want to meet for lunch in a couple days?”

  “Sure. I’ll have Markus check my schedule and set something up.” Logan’s assistant was the keeper of the calendar, and Logan counted on him to keep his appointments.

  “Good deal.”

  “Are you cooking for him?”

  “I ordered pizza.”

  “Isn’t that like the food of love for you geeky types?”
>
  “Shut up.” Food of geeky love. Asshole.

  Logan chuckled softly. “Calling it how I see it.”

  “Teething. It’s the food of choice for teething-baby dads.”

  “Ew. I wouldn’t want to have to go through that again.”

  “I don’t want her to have to go through it.” It broke his heart, listening to her scream.

  “Every kid does, though, don’t they?”

  “Yeah. Yeah—at least they don’t remember it.”

  “Yeah. Damn, that’s my call-waiting. I need to get that. You have fun tonight, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  “Night, Logan.” He didn’t dignify the rest with a response.

  Logan’s laughter seemed to fill the air as he cut the call off.

  Aiden closed his eyes, waiting for either food or company.

  The doorbell rang, and he was pleased to see his company had come first, Dev carrying U in the car seat, bulging diaper bag over one shoulder.

  “Come on in.” He held the door open wide, offered Dev a smile.

  “Thanks. I really appreciate you letting me come over. Especially given you’ve never had to experience my screamer at two in the morning.”

  “Bee’s teething. You may regret coming.”

  “Dueling screaming babies. Joy.” Dev shrugged as he followed Aiden to his guest room. “I don’t know, though. Having another grown-up there makes a huge difference.”

  “Yes. I have the porta-crib put up in here.” He was lucky he still had it.

  “You rock. Thank you. I’m going to leave him in his car seat for now. Let sleeping babies lie and all that.” Dev set U’s car seat down on the floor, the baby shifting but not waking.

  “Did you bring the white noise machine or should I get an app on my phone?”

  “No, I brought it. It seemed to be working, so I didn’t want to go without.” Dev began unpacking the diaper bag.

  He nodded and sighed as the doorbell rang. “Pizza. Be right back.”

  A quiet “no problem” came from Dev as he headed back to the front door.

  He paid the bill and put the pies on the table, grabbed plates and forks.