Who's Your Daddy? Read Online Free PDF Page A

living under my roof, you’ll be home at midnight.”
    “Dad, come on—”
    “Eleven?”
    “Fine,” Ryan growled. “Midnight.” He grabbed his jacket off a chair. “I’m going to work.”
    “Have a good night,” Donovan said flatly.
    “Whatever.” The kitchen door banged shut behind Ryan.
    Donovan blew out a breath and looked skyward. “Two more years. Thank God, two more years.”
    I chuckled to mask my nerves. “You know some kids stay in their parents’ house even after—”
    “ No .” He shot me a pointed look. “Checkout time is eighteen.”
    I laughed. We both knew Donovan would never kick the kid out, but some days, it was sure tempting.
    Ready to potentially do this all over again, Don? The knot in my stomach tightened.
    Donovan glanced at the door Ryan had just slammed, then shook his head. “Kid’s gonna be the death of me.”
    I laughed dryly. “You’ll make it.”
    “Yeah.” He smirked. “We’ll see about that.” Then he tugged at the front of his sweatshirt. “Anyway, I’m going to run up and take a shower. I still smell like the firehouse.”
    “You smell fine to me.”
    He grinned. “Well, I’d rather get clean so we can get dirty later.”
    I tried to laugh, and maybe even conjure up a tingle of excitement about “later”, but the weight of this afternoon’s conversation with Carmen pressed too hard on my shoulders.
    Donovan cocked his head. “Something wrong?”
    “Actually…” I hesitated. “We need to talk.”

Chapter Three
    Donovan
     
    Staring at Isaac, I gulped. “Um, okay. What about?”
    Before Isaac could speak, though, Ryan came back into the kitchen. “Hey, Dad, I forgot to tell you, I’m going out with Kristy tomorrow night too. Can I borrow twenty bucks?”
    “You’re going out?” I said. “Or may you go out?”
    Another eye roll. “Can I go out with her tomorrow night?” he asked in the apathetic monotone of a teenager.
    “Where?”
    “Out.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “You might want to give me a straight answer with a little less attitude, especially if you think you have a shot at that twenty bucks.”
    “To a movie,” Ryan said.
    “What movie and what theater?”
    “ Double Negative , at the Cineplex downtown.”
    “And you’ll be back when?”
    Ryan opened his mouth but hesitated, probably biting back his customary smartass retort of when I get back . “The movie’s at six. So, probably ten.”
    “On a school night?”
    “All of my homework will be done before I go.”
    I pursed my lips. Part of me thought about arguing with him, but whatever Isaac wanted to discuss needled the base of my spine. “Okay, you can go. If you’re home any later than ten thirty, we’re going to have a problem.”
    “Okay, fine. What about borrowing twenty?”
    I pulled out my wallet. Then I looked at Isaac. “You have any cash on you?”
    Isaac reached for his own wallet, but then shook his head. “I left my wallet upstairs. I don’t think I have any cash, though.”
    “Remind me in the morning,” I said to Ryan. “I’ll stop and get some cash while I’m out.”
    “Cool. Thanks, Dad.” He started to head out again.
    “I assume your homework’s done?” I called after him.
    He stopped. “Most of it.”
    “Define ‘most of it’.”
    “Just have to finish some geometry worksheets.”
    “And what about your paper that’s due tomorrow for US history?”
    Ryan’s eyebrows jumped. He cleared his throat. “I…um…it’s almost done.”
    I eyed him. “I want to see it before you go to bed.”
    “Dad, come on, it’s—”
    “You want to go out tomorrow?” I shot my son a pointed look.
    Ryan glared back at me. Then he exhaled. “I’ll go get it.”
    “Thank you,” I said quietly.
    My son stomped across the kitchen and down the stairs to his bedroom.
    I groaned and rested my elbows on the counter. Rubbing my temples with my fingers for a moment, I took a couple of slow breaths. I worked a dangerous job, but some days I swore it