Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
“I see that dirty mouth hasn’t changed any,” I said as Rose slid a shot glass full of amber liquid toward me.
“Some things never change,” she murmured, taking her shot.
I gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement, but the statement shook me more than I would have ever admitted. I quickly threw back the shot Rose had given me, some sort of mixture of booze that I couldn’t put my finger on but went down smooth, then turned and walked away. I wasn’t at the clubhouse to catch up with Lily.
I sure as fuck wasn’t going to try and re-start old shit when I wasn’t even sure what my life was going to look like now. Ashley and I had a pretty even split with Gray, even though we’d never made it official. Things changed from week to week, depending on who worked when and if I was going to be out of town, but it always evened out to Gray spending half his time with me and half his time with his mother.
I had no idea what I was going to do now. I’d never had to find a daycare for Gray, or worried about where he’d stay if I was out of town. Ash had worked as a waitress around my schedule at the garage so that we didn’t have to pay for childcare. Now, hell, I had no idea how I was going to make it work. I sure as fuck wasn’t going to leave my boy with strangers.
“Hey, man,” Grease called as I tried to move past his table. “How you doin’?”
“I’m alright,” I said for the millionth time that day.
“Good.” He glanced past me at the bar and grimaced. “How the hell am I old enough to have grown kids?”
“And grandkids,” I pointed out, making him scowl.
“The grandkids are a gift, it’s my own offspring I gotta worry about.”
“Seems like they’re doin’ okay.” I glanced behind me to find Rose high-fiving Lily across the bar top.
“Boys are easy, man,” Grease said with a shake of his head. “It’s the girls you gotta worry about. You send them off to college with their cousin, hopin’ that some of that drive’ll rub off on ’em, and they come back knowing how to tend bar.”
“Good skill to have,” I murmured.
“I’ll remind you of that when you have a little girl.”
“Don’t see that happenin’,” I said, moving away from his table.
“Hell, son, that’s what we all say.”
I just shook my head as I headed to one of the couches against the wall in the back. I’d left a book stuffed behind it earlier in the week, and now seemed like the perfect time to block out the world for a while. As I stretched out on my back on the fringe of the crowd, I couldn’t help but glance at the bar again. Lily was laughing at something her cousin had done, her head tipped back and her mouth wide open with glee.
It was a beautiful sight. I still remembered when she was in high school and had such a tough time dealing with all the shit that was being thrown at her. Losing her sight so young and then suddenly getting it back had thrown her, and I hadn’t blamed her. Everything she’d known over those blind years, even down to the way she’d interacted with other kids her age, had changed in an instant. I should have known back then that starting anything with her, no matter how platonic, wasn’t smart. She’d been adjusting to a world she no longer recognized, and if I was completely honest, I never believed she would have stuck with me. Gray just made the decision easier for her.
Chapter 19
Lily
Before I knew it, my week at home was almost over. I’d spent most of my time watching the lectures I was missing—thank God for the internet—and trying to keep up with my schoolwork between ferrying Charlie around and visiting my dad. They’d sent him home on day five, which seemed way too early to me, but what did I know? He could barely hobble around, so we’d set him up with a bed in the living room, and since the minute he’d gotten home, he’d been making everyone’s life miserable.
I wasn’t surprised when my Uncle Grease showed up to keep him company and my mom ushered me quickly out of the house, flipping off the front door as soon as it closed behind us.
“I love your father,” she said seriously as we moved toward his truck. “But if I had to stay there one more second, I was going to smother him in his sleep.”
I laughed and agreed. He’d been bitching non-stop about anything and everything. He wasn’t comfortable. He was bored. Why the hell was the house so cold? Why was it so hot? He was hungry. He was thirsty. He had to piss. He could walk to the bathroom on his own, goddamnit.