Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92180 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92180 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“Eyes on me.” They all turn my way, and Kiera walks in.
“Like a troupe of trained monkeys,” she says with admiration.
I ignore her and squat to gather the boys in. “I know you each want that top bunk, so here’s what we’re going to do. Each week, we’re going to rotate.”
“What’s rotate?” Colby asks.
“It means to take turns,” Jake says, his chin lifted in the air.
“Smarty pants.” I ruffle his hair fondly. “Yes, it means you will take turns. But Jake is the oldest, so he gets top bunk first. Then Tanner, you’re older than Colby by sixteen minutes, so you go next. Then Colby gets the top. Whoever starts at the top, the next week goes to the bottom and the other two move up. Make sense?”
All three boys nod.
“And,” I drawl, looking at them seriously, “if you Wild Things cause any trouble for Aunt Kiera, she’s going to take away the top bunk privileges for the offender.”
“You mean it’s a consequence?” Jake asks.
“That’s exactly what I mean.” I stand up, pointing toward the doorway that leads to the bonus room. “Now, who wants to see where all the toys are?”
“Me!” they shriek and stampede off like a herd of bison.
Kiera laughs. “Well played on the bunk bed.”
I grin at her. “I’ve had a lot of time to think the last three weeks.”
“And you missed the hectic, fast-paced life of single fatherhood more than you could ever put into words?” she guesses.
“That’s the fucking truth,” I mutter. “Come on… let’s have a beer. How was Mom when you left?”
“Crying bitterly and threatening to move to Pittsburgh,” she says as we head back down the stairs.
“I’ve told her to come. I’ll set her up in her own house, or we can get a bigger one for all of us.”
Kiera takes a seat at the kitchen table while I grab two beers from the fridge. “I didn’t think she’d ever want to leave Red Wing because of her church friends, but I don’t think she was kidding.”
“Good,” I say, uncapping and handing a bottle to my sister. “I’d love to have her here.”
I settle into the adjacent chair, taking a sip of my brew. “You look tired.”
“I am,” she says with a soft sigh.
“Well, I’ve got the boys covered all weekend outside of tomorrow’s game and practices. I’m leaving for Boston Tuesday morning.”
And… Brienne is back in my thoughts. I got my STD test today and should have the results by Monday. I expect it to be negative because I’m incredibly careful and never have unprotected sex.
Not since Crystal, at any rate, and honestly, I’ve not wanted to since I resumed the life of a single man.
Not until Brienne.
“Have you heard from Crystal?” Kiera asks, and that effectively banishes the blond siren from my brain.
I shake my head, picking at the label on the bottle. “Nope. You?”
“Not a word. Mom hasn’t heard anything either.”
“Still trying to figure out if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” I muse, pulling off a strip of wet paper.
“A good thing,” Kiera says acidly. She hates Crystal. Same as me, it’s not because of what she did to me, but what she’s doing to our boys.
“Did she ever reply to you when you told her you were moving to Pittsburgh?” Kiera asks.
“Not a peep.” I tip the bottle back, take a deep swallow. I left messages on her phone, with her mom, her attorney, and she never replied. “The boys say anything about her the last few weeks? They haven’t mentioned her to me during our FaceTime calls.”
Kiera shakes her head. “No. Which is why I’m glad she’s not in the picture. The longer she stays away, the better they can move on.”
That’s a struggle for me. Those kids loved Crystal—at least when she was a present mom. Hell, maybe they still do, but they don’t talk about her anymore. It didn’t take them long to not necessarily forget her, but to latch on to who was left behind. Between me, Kiera, and my mom, they were getting a shit ton of love and stability. When Crystal pops back up, she causes ripples in that security, and that’s not something I will tolerate.
And when she does come to see them, she’s not the mom they remembered. She knows the rule that she can’t come to see them if she’s high, so when she does show, she’s twitchy and doesn’t stay long, constantly looking at her watch until she can get her next fix. The boys see very clearly their mom wants to be somewhere else, and it breaks my heart.
So yeah… maybe it’s best if she stays away for now.
“What’s the social scene like around here?” Kiera asks. At twenty-six and single, and quite the serial dater back home, this is not a surprising question.