Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 110278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 441(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 441(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
“Just wondering. I think the group is talking about renting a house on the Jersey Shore, if you guys want to come with?”
“We’d like that. Are we taking the kids or leaving them with the grandparents?” I ask her.
“We haven’t figured that out. We kind of thought about bringing all the grands so they could vacation and maybe watch them a night or two.” Giana has a glimmer in her eye.
“Count us in,” Leo responds for us.
We settle in for the afternoon, all of us sitting around talking about the vacation and what we’ll do. This life we’ve created is amazing, that’s for sure, and we’re all lucky to have one another.
THE END
BONUS EPILOGUE
LEO
I’m sitting behind my desk, running through a few emails, looking at a couple of leads, deep in my own thoughts when the sound of footsteps hit my open door in the office at Nighthawk Security. Lately all of us have been pulling double duty, no one’s the exception even the new hires, we’re that swamped. It’s not a bad thing but it’s not a great thing either when it comes to having a family.
“Daddy, lunch?” Hallie’s little voice greets me, face lit up in excitement. I watch as Tinsley leans against the door, Hallie on her other hip, eyes like mine, about the only thing she received in the looks department, the curls framing her face is all Tinsley, the freckles crossing the bridge of her nose, Tinsley again, and the soft-spoken way she talks, making sure Hallie has your full attention, it’s just like my wife. Both of my girls are showstoppers and if they came here asking for me to take a much-needed break, well I’m more than willing to work through lunch tomorrow to make up for it.
“Hey,” I push away from my desk, a few strokes on my keyboard and my computer is shut down.
“What do you say, feel like grabbing a couple of tacos from the food truck, taking Hallie to the P-O-N-D?” She has to spell out the last word because anywhere there’s water involved along with ducks or birds, Hallie’s eyes light up, ready to feed them, and God forbid it doesn’t happen, our little princess well she turns into a not so nice toddler.
“I don’t see a problem with that,” I make it to Tinsley, my arms wrapping around both my girls, lips going to my wife’s, Hallie’s little hands trying to spread us apart. Tinsley jokes that she doesn’t like that I give her attention when Hallie’s around, secretly I just think it’s our daughter’s little game seeing as her squeals of laughter are echoing through the office when we pull apart.
“Daddy me, me,” Hallie’s hands are slapping at my side to get my attention, I hold my arms out and she dives into my body. There’s something to be said about having two women in my life, it settles something deep inside of you, even if the worrying is nonstop every day of my life.
“Do you want a kiss too?” I ask her, pretending like I’m none the wiser when Hallie nods her head, reminiscent of a bubble head that the head moves with one small touch of it.
“Yes!” I kiss her cheek, she lays a wet one right back on my cheek, and if you even think about wiping off the excess, well let’s just say Hallie will pout and insist on doing it all over again.
“Well let’s go then, pizza or hot dogs?” I ask Tinsley, we’ve learned our lesson with a toddler, giving them options will have Hallie picking one thing only to not eat it. Now we get what we want and let her eat some of ours since half the time she can’t sit still long enough when it comes to being near the ducks.
“Pizza, without a doubt,” my hand goes to the base of Tinsley’s back, grazing the top of her ass as we make our way through the hall and towards the front door. Kellie waves at us, too busy to talk because she’s on the phone. The way things have been lately everyone’s been pulling their weight around here, Kellie at the front desk, Taylor managing the schedule and paperwork. Giana brings in food for lunch or dinner when we’re spread thin. Then there’s Tinsley with her background, sometimes she can see certain areas a higher end client needs before any of us. We’re more of a family than ever these days, everyone brings in their children to give us all a much-needed break. Especially when we’re busier than normal. Days like today where hours are long, we still take time to stop and enjoy the moments with our family as well as the others when they do the same.
“I don’t know how Kellie does it, I have my hands full with Hallie, yet they have more than us and she’s still full steam ahead,” Tinsley says once we’re outside walking towards the pizza truck.