Struggles of a Single Father (Book 1 of the Struggle Puff Series)

Chapter 32

Edited – 03/13/2020

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We arrived at the apartment at the same time as the kids. When we got inside, I gestured for Tilisia to follow me to my room.

Once we were away from everyone, we pointed at each other and said, "I have the perfect plan!" in unison.

We both froze and looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

"Well," She huffed, "My idea is definitely better than yours."

"Says you! You haven't even heard my idea!"

"Pfft. We both know I'm a master at perfect plans." Her arms were now crossed over her chest.

"Yeah. Because you learned from me!"

We were at a standstill, but I came with a new solution.

"How about we both type out our plan and then compare. Sound good?"

She looked at me with her judgmental eyes before nodding and pulling out her phone.

We typed in silence for three minutes before trading phones. When we saw what the other wrote, we stared at each other before laughing.

"I'll admit, dad. Your plan is genius!"

"Yours is pretty brilliant too, kid."

Without exchanging any further words, we walked out of the room and into the living room where we found an awkward Cadence sitting in between an upset Ain and a conflicted Amy.

"So," I started, suddenly nervous now that everyone was looking at me with mixed expressions, "We have formulated a plan that I think will accommodate everyone."

No response.

"Tough crowd." Tilisia whispered to me.

"When do they need an answer at your job, Amy?"

"They need to know by this weekend." She answered slowly, "And if I accept, I'll need to be moved there by October thirteenth."

I looked to Tilisia who just nodded at the new information.

"And on top of that, if you choose to take it, Ain also has to decide what he's going to do, correct?"

He just nodded.

"And you said your only two options were moving with her or going back to your parents." Tilisia took over.

He nodded again.

"Geez, could you guys get to the point already? I am highly uncomfortable right now!" Cadence clearly didn't like our slow build up to the solution.

We all glared at her, but I decided to get to the point a little quicker.

"Tilisia and I were thinking about it, and we may have an option that will work for both of you." I was nervous that I'd get my head torn off for not running it by Amy first, but I was going to deal with it, "And before you shoot down the idea we would like to preface this by saying that Ain will be seventeen this year and has really matured and proved himself to be very responsible."

I nudged Tilisia in the shoulder to get her to say the rest. Her eyes went wide when she realized that I was throwing her under the bus by making her say the idea.

She groaned silently, but put on a smile anyway, "Dad and I think that Ain could stay on your apartment on his own..."

Another long pause came about as everyone shifted their gaze between me and Tilisia.