The Love I Need

Chapter 86

"Woah, you're like, really big." Emily tips her head back to stare up at Adam. "Bigger than Uncle Theo even, and he's giantormous."

"Ginormous," April corrects her while giving Adam a bit of a forced smile. I'm not certain Adam can tell it's forced but I know her enough by now to realize it's a step closer to unhinged than it is to happy.

"Yeah, that's what I said. Giantormous." She looks at Cal with a sassy look on her face as if to say, mom's losing it, and then turns her attention back to Adam. "Mommy says you're Daddy's friend from before he knew us. So are you a bad man?"

April's eyes go wide and she places a hand on Emily's shoulder, a silent reminder to stop asking questions. Cal quickly answers, "No, Monster," at the same time that Adam replies, "Yeah, I am."

Emily crosses her arms over her chest, ignoring her mom and dad to continue her conversation with Adam. "Well, you shouldn't do bad stuff anymore then. Sometimes, you will, but that's okay if you just keep trying to do good instead, okay?"

Adam nods while he sets the pizza boxes on the table next to a stack of plates that April had put out earlier. "Okay. I'll try."

Emily smiles, satisfied by his answer, and then pulls out a chair closest to the boxes of pizza. "You can sit by me. I'll help. Daddy always says I did a lot to help him."

Adam smiles while slowly taking the chair next to her, but not before he glances at Cal as if to check that it's okay. When Cal shrugs, Adam takes his seat. "Okay, thanks, um, I didn't catch your name?"

"I'm Emy." She climbs into her chair and holds out her hand for Adam. "What's your name?"

He looks surprised by her name but doesn't comment on it and gives her hand a gentle and brief shake. "Adam. It's nice to meet you." His eyes move to April and then glance at Theo. "All of you. Sorry to show up unannounced but..." He looks at me while he lets the sentence hang. He didn't exactly have a way to reach us since I had promptly blocked his number again after calling him last night.

"It's good to see you," Cal says while pulling out a chair at the head of the table for April. He circles behind Emily and Adam to take the chair on the other end, leaving the two chairs on the opposite side of the table for Theo and I.

April sits down and then leans across the table to shake Adam's hand. "I'm April." She winces when she sees the evidence of Theo's punch. "And it looks like you've already been introduced to Theo... Do you want some ice?"

She begins to stand again but Adam holds up a hand to stop her. "No, that's okay. It's not the first time I've been hit for being caught too close to Emilia at the wrong time."

I snort, unable to stop the laugh that bubbles out of me when I recall the time I had stupidly kissed Adam to make Cal jealous, and he had ended up getting attacked by an extremely territorial Cal.

Cal joins my laughter and Adam slowly grins while Theo and April share a look.

Emily's mouth drops open as she connects the dots of our conversation. "Uncle Theo," she scolds with wide eyes, "you're not supposed to hit!"

Theo uncomfortably strokes his beard and nods slowly. "You're right, Emy." He looks at Adam while pulling out the chair across from Emily for me. "I apologize for that, Adam. You caught me off guard, and I haven't decided how I feel about you yet." He pushes my chair in for me once I've sat down and then lowers himself in the chair directly across from Adam.

Adam seems to take note of the present tense Theo uses. "That's fair." He looks around the table at myself, April and then Cal. "I'm not here for what you're all worried about. I—"