The weirdest thing about dating someone who worked with his baby’s mother was that, instead of the phone call from Evie that Kyle expected from the Synergy return number, it was Nic on the other end when he answered.

“Hey, Evie. Is it Kevin?” Kyle asked as he answered the phone.

“A hit and a miss. Want to try again?” The warm voice bubbled with perfectly-restrained laughter.

“Huh?” was his eloquent response.

“Nic,” his live-in lover teased. “Or have you forgotten where I go when I’m off to the office?”

“I—I just—what’s up?” Kyle rubbed his face, then frowned. “Wait. A hit and a miss?”

“Yeah, it’s about Kevin. Evie got the call right before when she got pulled into an urgent meeting. He needs to be picked up from preschool.”

“Shit,” Kyle breathed out. Thank God he’d swallowed his pride and let Nic pick up his car for him a couple of days ago. It was intact and functioning, making him feel stupid for putting it off for all this time. He only had to stop at Evie’s to pick up Kevin’s booster seat. “Why?”

Nic hesitated for a second. “Um, for fighting.”

“God.” Kevin had been getting more irritable over the last couple months, but he hadn’t gotten into this much trouble before. Kyle would attribute it to preschool stress, but Kevin had handled the first months of preschool very well. The only new factors in his life were Dana and Nic.

Or it could be something else—a kid at preschool bullying him. Over the last few months, he’d been wearing more dresses. Evie and Kyle weren’t letting him wear makeup in public until he was a little older, and he didn’t seem interested in it anyway, but it could be that.

“Kyle?” Nic prompted.

“Yeah. Sorry. Um, jeez. You didn’t sign on for parental duties,” Kyle sighed.

There was a weird moment of silence from Nic’s end.

Oops. I think I stepped in something there. But Kyle didn’t have time to worry about it, if Kevin was waiting to be picked up.

“Okay. I gotta go pick Kevin up,” Kyle told Nic, “but we’ll talk about that later.”

Nic let out a quick breath. “Yeah, of course. See you after work, baby. Text me if you’re out with Kevin, and I’ll have dinner ready. Good luck.”

“Thanks,” was all Kyle could say. “Just… thanks. Bye.”

He hung up and cleared his throat, then hurried for his shoes and car keys. No time to think about Nic’s easy acceptance of parental duties. He had to face another unscheduled parent-teacher meeting and hope he could figure out what was troubling his kid.

* * *

“Daddy!” Kevin stayed sitting on the plastic chair near the principal’s office of the small preschool, but he bounced up and down on his hands. He looked delighted.

Kyle hated to break his heart, but he also had to show disappointment, or Kevin would learn that causing trouble helped him see his parents sooner.

“Hi, Kevin. Why are you sitting there?”

“The teacher told me I had to.”

“Okay.” Kyle crouched by his chair, bracing his wrists on his knees. “Why?”

Kevin’s face fell and he looked down. “I’m in trouble. That’s… why you’re here,” he concluded, the sadness on his face actually kind of sweet. He was taking it hard, but he wasn’t in tears yet.

Kyle straightened up at the sight of Mrs. Green from the corner of his eye. “Yes, it is, buddy. All right. I have to talk to your teacher, and I’ll be right back.”

Kevin didn’t answer, just kicked his heels and nodded.

Once they were in Mrs. Green’s office, Kyle sighed and closed the door, then took a seat opposite her desk. “I’m sorry for the trouble, ma’am.”

“Oh, no ma’aming me,” Mrs. Green laughed. They were around the same age, after all. “Thank you for coming in so promptly.”

Kyle nodded. “I’ve got this week off work, so it’s good timing.”

“All right. I was about to ask.” Shit. He isn’t getting the week off, is he? Kyle’s panic must have registered on his face, because she quickly added, “Only about today, don’t worry. We’d like him to take the afternoon off and think about his behavior.”

“Right.” Kyle steeled himself. “I heard it was for fighting?”

“He did start a fight,” Mrs. Green frowned. “It’s very out of character for him. Has he been going through any…?”

“Life upheavals? I’ve been racking my brain,” Kyle confessed, leaning in. So often, this anxiety struck him: that he and Evie didn’t know anything about being good parents, that they were somehow screwing up their kid and they wouldn’t find out until it was too late. “I don’t know.”

“Well,” Mrs. Green said, nodding, “I’d like you to talk about this with him and see what can be done. Something must be on his mind, and I’ve been watching the kids closely. Especially because of his progressive fashion sense.”

Kyle chuckled at that way of putting it. “Of course. Thank you for keeping an eye on him. That was my first thought.”

“Mine, too. But the other children involved have never shown signs of bullying. Nobody who’s still enrolled here has,” she added firmly.

Kyle’s heart lifted, then sank. If it wasn’t something happening at preschool, it was something at home, and that raised a million questions and fears. “Okay. I’ll talk to him today.” He rose to his feet. “I’m sorry, again. Has he apologized?”

“He did,” Mrs. Green nodded. “Promptly, with that enviable vocabulary.”

That went some way toward mitigating Kyle’s disappointment in his son. He smiled his appreciation and nodded. “Great. Okay. We’d better get going, then. Thank you for your time.”

“Thank you,” Mrs. Green echoed, letting him head out and collect Kevin.

Kyle didn’t say much to Kevin, who was much quieter than his usual chatty, bubbly self as they headed out to the car.

How the heck am I going to break through to him? There isn’t a manual for this. And why would Nic want to sign up for this, anyway? No, that can wait until later.

“In you go, buddy,” Kyle told him, hoisting his son into the back and making sure he was buckled in securely.

He leaned against the car for a moment before he got inside.

At least he had one failsafe question: What would my dad do? Whatever the answer, as long as he avoided that, things would work out okay.