A huge sectional sofa sat in front of the TV mounted on the wall in the family room. The kids were off playing with friends. In a couple of hours, they would come racing into the house with demands for food and attention. The house, a sprawling two-story place with a big backyard, was often loud and chaotic.

Thaddeus looked around, admitting that after years of chasing his business and financial dreams, he was finally ready to make a shift in priorities. This was what he was looking for—home, family. He was finally ready to settle down and because life was a mean bitch with a sense of humor, he couldn’t find anyone he wanted to settle down with. In the past six months he’d been on more first dates than he could count. A few had led to second dates, but none to third dates. He could find a failing business, turn it around and then sell it for five times what he paid, no problem. He could chat up a gorgeous woman at any trendy bar in the area and get laid. But finding someone special, someone he wanted to have kids with and spend the rest of his life adoring, someone he wanted to introduce to his great-aunt Dagmar, was not in his skill set.

Was wanting to find someone special so impossible? He knew part of the problem was separating himself from his success. He wanted a woman who cared about him, not his bank account.

“I can hear you thinking from here,” Freddy said, never taking his gaze from the TV.

“Sorting things through.”

“Should have married young, man. You could have had it all by now.”

“Not my style.”

“Your style has you screwed.” Freddy grinned. “Tell you what. If you end up old and alone, I’ll build you an apartment over the garage.”

Thaddeus sighed. “Sadly, that’s the best offer I’ve had this month.”

Freddy’s humor faded. “Seriously, bro, you’ve got to keep looking. There has to be someone out there hard up enough to want a guy who looks like you.”

“You’re right. You managed to convince Lela to marry you and I’m way better-looking than you.”

“Yeah, maybe, but I have a bigger dick.”

“Your mama.”

Lela carried in the quiche, along with egg rolls and dipping sauce. “Really? Is that what we’re reduced to? Bragging about your penis and talking trash about your mothers?”

Freddy waited until she’d put down the food, then pulled her onto his lap. “You picked me. You could have had any man you wanted and you picked me. Now you have to live with it.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled close. “I know. Sometimes you get lucky.”

Thaddeus turned his attention to the game, ignoring the disquiet inside. Because saying disquiet was easier than saying loneliness, which was really what it was.

He swallowed the last of his beer, then stood. “I’m gonna go.”

Lela slid to her feet. “What? Don’t. Come on, Thaddeus. Stay to dinner.”