Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
I was about to say we really needed to leave when someone called out behind us.
“A hundred bucks on Dave!”
“The women are sitting this one out, it seems.” Farrah left me, taking her bag with her.
The men set up a table for arm-wrestling, and a whiteboard which had been propped up next to it with a fixture of sorts. I noticed James’ name wasn’t on there.
Just when I thought we were off the hook, he walked out from inside the house with a beer in hand, quickly taking in the new developments. He seemed to immediately catch on to what was happening when Dave and another guy sat down facing each other.
“Why am I not on the list?” He grabbed another beer from the cooler and approached the table. It was the first time he had spoken out loud all afternoon.
“Oh. We thought you wouldn’t be interested,” Dave said. “And we didn’t want you to get hurt. No offense!”
Everyone howled with laughter and James’ expression darkened.
“Write me down.”
“Oooh we have a challenger!” someone cried out, and James’ name was written on the board. They added him against a man named Gary for the last match.
I didn’t like the looks of this. James had chugged one beer after the other, and while he usually kept his temper around other people, I knew what those men were implying.
That he was perhaps too old to be interested–or capable–of competing against them. His age had never really been an issue for anything, though these people were making it A THING.
I sat down on a stool and watched Dave beat his friend. Then there were two more matches– one that lasted a full five minutes of arms going back and forth, and then it was James’ turn against Gary.
Gary was around my age and looked like he worked out. James set down his beer and stretched his arms and fingers. Before taking the seat in front of Gary, he scanned the porch until his eyes met mine.
“Per mi amore! Ti amo!” he cried out, taking a bow.
This public declaration of love caught me off guard, and I almost choked on my drink, but I quickly recovered and blew a kiss at him. Cheers surrounded us.
They sat down and placed their elbows on the table. For a second, I feared James would lose. He was muscular, but not bulky, and Gary’s arm swelled when they began to push.
But it was for naught. James growled, and with a quick swing, he slammed Gary’s knuckles onto the table.
“HA!” he cried out, raising his arms in victory.
I sighed with relief. Not that all of this really mattered in the grand scheme of things, but I knew it would be a blow to his ego if he lost.
And a part of me was actually enjoying this again, despite my urgency to know what was troubling James. It was just so… normal. Adults playing games after a good lunch and some drinks. Sharing with neighbors as if there weren’t people after us, threatening to break up our family…
When I was about to go over to James so we could finally leave, they wrote his name down again. Crap. This was going to last longer.
It wasn’t over after just one match. There would be semi-finals and finals.
James made eye contact with me again and winked. I could see his eyes were a little watery– possibly from all the beer he’d had, or the exertion from the match.
After beating another guy, James kept chugging beers and cheering more loudly everytime a match ended. While I was happy he was finally enjoying himself, my apprehension mounted.
Any time now, someone could say something that would make him mad. And I wouldn’t be able to stop him from causing a scene or sending someone to hell.
“And the final match is…. our gracious host and the new dark horse! Dave and James!” announced a man who had suddenly become the games’ narrator.
Dave got into one seat, and James sat on the opposite one. They faced each other for a few seconds before joining hands.
The match began as both men’s arms tensed up. Dave’s face instantly grew red, while James looked concentrated, his brows furrowed. Thin veins popped out from his forehead.
Dave’s hand pushed back on James’, but he held strong.
“Go James!” I cried out, in spite of myself. I didn’t want him to lose his concentration.
My words seemed to invigorate him. In an instant, James began to push back, and slowly, Dave’s hand began to go down.
In a split second, his hand touched the table.
Cheers erupted from everyone except Dave, who sat on the chair massaging his wrist.
James took everyone’s congratulations and then made his way to me, while everyone watched.
“Like I said. Per mi amore. Everything is for you,” he said, gallantly bowing to me and kissing my hand.
If only this bliss could last forever.
Becca.
After the barbecue, James told me what had been on his mind.
Alison was out of prison.
Like he had said, there wasn’t much we could do about it right now, so I took in the news and tried to think of something else.
At night, we both collapsed into bed. It had been a long day.
I woke up happy the next day, despite the news James had given me, and made a point to spend the day with Alessandro again.
We were playing on the floor blanket, and he grinning as he shook a toy box that made a jingle sound. He squealed as though this were the best thing ever, when James came over to me.
“James?” I asked at his mysterious smile.
“I’m going out,” James said. He leaned down and kissed my forehead, then the top of Alessandro’s head. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Where are you going?” I called at his back.
James just waved a hand, and I frowned as the bedroom door closed.
“Well,” I mumbled to Alessandro. “Grandpa is being a bit of a poop.”
“Da.” Alessandro pointed one graham cracker crusted hand at the door. “Da.”
“Yes, you’re right. You’re right.” I was still a bit peeved that James was keeping secrets from me again, no matter how big or small.
I decided to take my mind off of it by bringing Alessandro to the park. I hadn’t wanted to take him out in case people started asking questions about him or Dahlia, but we needed a change of scenery.
I put him in a very expensive stroller that I’d assured James we didn’t need, but he hadn’t listened to a word. It was rather nice and smooth-rolling, though.
