Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 105398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
She always knew just what to say to get my mind in the right place. She knew if I needed a laugh, if I needed some love, and when I needed it to be real. She just knew me, and I was never more grateful for her presence than now.
“Alright, tell me what I can do. I just can’t sit here. This is driving me fucking nuts.”
“Actually I finished my part of the bike. It’s all yours. You have a week to get it painted.” Jack said to me.
Nodding my head, I contemplated what to do. My head wasn’t in the right place to do anything that had to do with Sidney, I didn’t want anything to go wrong, so painting the bike was probably the best option I had right now. I also knew that the intricacies of painting the bike in memorial of Dougie would put everything in perspective for me. This was when I thought my best, made my best decisions.
I left the room without another word and went to work.
I buffed, primed, taped, and painted for hours. I didn’t stop until my vision started to get blurry from lack of sleep. The clock on the wall told me it was a quarter after three in the morning, and told me I’d been doing this for way too long. I was surprised that Ember let me be on my own for this long, but since she knew me so well, she probably also knew that I needed to think. Being the woman that she was, she knew that if she interrupted me, then I wouldn’t be able to think as I needed to.
I’d worked it all out in my mind, how I wanted tomorrow’s meeting with Sidney to go. I knew what I was going to say to her, I knew what I was going to offer her, and I knew I was about to be in one hell of a fight. That woman didn’t have one reasonable bone in her body when I was with her, and I was sure she hadn’t changed much in the year and a half since I’d last seen her.
Putting all my tools and equipment away, I quietly made my way around the shop and to my front door. No noise came from inside, and so I knew Ember was sleeping already.
I unlocked the door as quietly as I could and was bombarded with the smell of baked goods. Following the scent into the kitchen, I found a pan of brownies and a note.
Everything always looks brighter when you have something sweet to eat. I love you.
Em.
Damn. I love that woman.
Tomorrow I was going to stop by a ring store and find a ring that was perfect for her finger, and then I was going to put it there for the rest of her life. If anything else, today proved how much she meant to me. How well she supported me. How much she loved me.
I ate three brownies with a large glass of milk, and then went to the bedroom and took a shower. I dried off, and then climbed naked into the bed behind Ember. I needed her.
I made love to her slowly, and when we were finished, I held her close the rest of the night, feeling her heartbeat against the palm of my hand. I was one lucky SOB.
Ω
The next morning
“Do you still have this letter?” Martin, my lawyer asked.
It took me a minute to decide where I had left it, but decided I never moved it from its original location. “Yeah. It’s in my rucksack at the bottom of my closet. I felt damn near homicidal after reading it and I wanted to be able to read it later with a little calmer state of mind. I never touched it again though. I just stashed it in a book she’d gotten me and left it there.”
“Good. We need to have that letter on file, and then I want you to put it in a safe deposit box for safekeeping. Now, on to the main event, do you want to have full custody, or do you want to have joint?”
“Full.” I said without hesitation.
“Alright. With everything that’s been discussed today, I will go over it with my associate. We will get these papers filed ASAP. She’ll probably be served with them later this afternoon. Most likely, the trial will be held in a month’s time. Until then, I can assure you we will work out some sort of visitation schedule so you can meet your child. The DNA test will have to be done later this week, as per court order. You’ll have to go provide a sample at your convenience. I’ll have my secretary give you the information on where it is located. I highly advise you to go ahead and start making plans as if she will be coming to live with you. The more you show that you want her, the better it will look in the judge’s eyes.” Martin said.
We made our way to the door, and were just shaking hands when I glanced over and spotted Ember in one of the lobby chairs. She’d come, and I didn’t even ask her to. She smiled when she saw me, and made her way to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and letting her headrest against my chest.
“Ember, this is Martin Barnes, Martin, this is my girlfriend Ember Tremaine.” I said.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Ms. Tremaine. Gabe here tells me you are the one who made the connection.” Martin said.
Ember nodded, but didn’t say anything.
Pleasantries were exchanged, and we made our way out of the building.
“How’d you get here?” I asked.
“Drove.”
“Alone?”
“Yep.”
I stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, turning her to face me.
“Let me get this straight. You drove over here with a hit on you. By yourself? At least tell me that someone knows you came.”
She looked at me guiltily, and I immediately knew that no one was privy to her whereabouts.