Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
“Let’s go,” I said, looking away from the photo. “With this, I might be able to get shit done and remain out of jail. But I don’t think this is the end. This is only the beginning.”
***
Four hours later, I walked into the house.
Hannah and her daughter, Reggie, from a previous relationship, were on the floor putting a large puzzle together.
The second I came through the door, Reggie was up and running at my legs.
“Hey there, girly girl,” I murmured to the little tot that looked so much like her mother that it hurt. “How are you doing tonight?”
Reggie was an eight-year-old bundle of energy that was the absolute cutest thing that I’d ever seen in my life. And that was saying something because I had some cute kids.
TJ was all me, from the top of his curly-haired head to the bottom of his long toes. My other daughter, Alexandra, from my first marriage, was also my mini-me, only in female form. She had beautiful long curly hair, piercing eyes exactly like mine, and skin the color of mocha chocolate, thanks to her Puerto Rican mother’s heritage.
But Reggie?
God, she was all Hannah. Long, curly blonde hair, bright blue eyes, skin that always had a slight tan. She was literally what you would think about when you thought of a beautiful child.
There was no doubt in my mind that she would grow up to be a breathtaking adult.
And when that day came, my heart would literally ache.
“I made a one hundred on my sight words,” she declared. “And I can read like Mama!”
I looked over to Hannah, who was staring down at the puzzle instead of looking at me, and my heart squeezed.
God, I was ruining everyone’s lives.
I didn’t know what to do!
I was stuck…and it was all Allegra Levaux’s fault.
“Maybe you can read to me instead of me reading to you tonight.”
Reggie’s face lit up with wonder. “I can do that?”
I started to chuckle and then dropped a kiss onto her head.
“Yeah, baby. We can do that.” I winked at her, and she giggled.
“Come help me and Mama finish this puzzle,” she ordered. “It’s a five hundred piece one of Elsa. Mama says she hates them.”
I knew she hated puzzles.
I was a puzzle.
One she couldn’t figure out.
The only problem was that there was no puzzle to figure out. I knew what was wrong with me.
She knew what was wrong with me.
It was something that I couldn’t fix…not and continue seeing my other kid.
Allegra, my other child’s mother, was a vindictive bitch.
The moment I met Hannah, she’d started turning Alex against me.
What had once been my baby girl, my mini-me in everything that I did, now hated my guts.
And there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Either I left Hannah and TJ, or I didn’t get to see Alex.
It was a lose-lose situation. One that I wasn’t sure that I could ever possibly win.
“I can help,” I offered, walking to the back of the couch and placing my hand on the back to steady myself. “Just let me get my boots off.”
They were covered in grease and grime from the shop.
One of our new trucks had been damaged during a call, and I’d had to help fix it up to get it back into service.
It’d taken an hour out of my approved time with Alex, and at this point, I couldn’t say that it was bothering me.
There was only so much you could take of your daughter saying she hated you before you believed her.
Walking into Reggie’s warming embrace was like summer compared to Alex’s winter.
You’d never be able to tell that Alex and Reggie were the same age.
Alex was quiet, withdrawn, and quick to rile.
Reggie was loud, rambunctious, and never met a stranger.
They were both eight years old, and neither one of them had their father in their lives.
Though, that wasn’t my doing on Alex’s part.
I tried to have a place in her life. Even though the last year Alex had done nothing but spew nasty words at me the entire time she was with me, I still picked her up on Wednesdays and took her out to eat. I still picked her up on the weekends and took her to Dante’s place to spend the weekend with her.
I couldn’t take her home, though.
Hannah, Reggie, and TJ were in my home.
We may not be together, Hannah and I, but we were a family.
I wanted Hannah more than my next breath, but with Allegra’s threats, and Alex’s proof that she wasn’t threatening me, I didn’t have much I could do.
So Hannah was just my roommate.
Hell, I was barely ever here.
TJ was now two months old, and in daycare because both of his parents worked.
I wanted to be able to give my child the time and devotion I’d shown Alex when she’d been a baby, but at this point in my life, it just wasn’t feasible.