Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“Deal.” I wasn’t asking for miracles. “And you’ll ask for reinforcements when dealing with Brady?”
I could almost hear Joel rolling his eyes even though I couldn’t see his face. “Yes, Daddy.”
He was such a brat.
But Tate obviously thought he was a highly entertaining brat.
“I know I’m missing a few other things about your day that I should be commenting on.” And probably telling him to behave about too. “But you’ve had such an interesting day, I’m just going to ask if there’s anything you want to talk about.”
That seemed like the safer way to handle it, but I was slightly surprised when Joel took so long to think.
I shouldn’t have been.
“There’s something else after that, isn’t there, Daddy? Do I have chores? I don’t want to do homework yet. I’m kinda cranky. But if I have to do something terrible, I can keep talking about my day.” Joel didn’t quite say it like it was a threat but it sounded that way to me.
Tate was holding his breath and shaking with silent laughter again…so he knew it’d been a threat too.
“You’re very perceptive.” Giving his butt another pat, I tried to keep my voice light and Daddy-ish. “But I don’t think the way I was going to shift the conversation will be stressful to you and you don’t have to move for it. No chores involved.”
“That’s good.” Rocking his hips up and down, he made a happy sound as Tate gave it a firm smack, since oxygen wasn’t required for it. “That’s very good.”
We were definitely losing him, so I decided not to beat around the bush even though it was painful. “I was telling Tate about our conversation earlier.”
I paused even though I shouldn’t have because it wasn’t a question, but Joel simply made a soft hum. I wasn’t sure if he remembered the conversation at all, so I kept going. “You mentioned that your mom wanted to talk to us about how we’re going to handle the physical stuff when it’s just two of us home at a time. Tate and I were talking about that.”
Kind of.
I wasn’t sure if I’d really understood the conversation to begin with, but I’d done my best to explain the insanity to Tate.
“Oh, that’s right.” Joel sighed and wiggled his ass to beg for another spank. “She worries like you but she’s thinking about all of us this time.”
Great.
I’d gained another mother and this one wanted to help with my sex life.
“We spent some time talking about it and figuring out where we were about it.” Yes, that sounded like a very grown-up way of describing it. “But now we wanted to hear what your thoughts were.”
Joel made a quiet thinking sound that didn’t come across as stressed. If anything, he sounded like he was ready to zone out in subspace or take a nap and my questions were the only thing keeping his brain going. “That makes sense.”
Good.
Yes, that was good.
Was I supposed to be patient for the rest of the answer?
After about thirty seconds where Tate had to press his lips together and was nearly going cross-eyed with the pressure of holding back his laughter, Joel kept going like his brain hadn’t just reset in the middle of the conversation. “I think I might not understand why she’s concerned. I’m willing to admit that this might be a me thing, but I need you to explain it.”
Oh.
Interesting.
Tate’s head cocked and he finally lost his giggles as his brain started to whirl. “So she didn’t explain what she was thinking about?”
Did that mean she thought it was obvious?
Was it actually about jealousy or would it tie into something like board games or who got to drink orange juice?
I was kind of afraid to ask, but Joel didn’t need processing time for the new question. “No. She just made it sound like we were supposed to have already talked about it.”
So she had been working off some kind of poly list she’d found online?
“Our best guess is that she’s thinking…no…our best guess is that the question is about jealousy and what makes people in a relationship like this one worry.” Tate’s answer was the best way I could’ve thought to word it.
We had no idea what that woman was thinking, so I just waited to see if Joel would give us a clue. It was hard being patient.
But I’d learned that I didn’t mind silence as long as I wasn’t waiting for a strange answer to a complicated question.
Eventually I hoped we’d get to that point but we hadn’t.
“Why would any of us be jealous?” Joel’s question had Tate’s head cocking again and I was probably looking just as confused. “We’re special.”
And special meant there was no room for jealousy?
Special meant that we couldn’t get jealous?
There was definitely Joel logic in there somewhere, but I didn’t immediately see it. I knew Tate was in the same boat when his comment made me shake my head. “We were confused about that too. We’re all very special and so we’re not going to worry about it. Sound good?”