Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 64910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
I thought about it. “Yes, right now. My wife is in the hospital in ICU and I’m fairly sure that she’s not going to make it.”
What I didn’t say was, ‘I’m not going to make it if she doesn’t make it,’ but the implications were quite clear.
“Okay,” she said in that quiet tone of hers. “Let me go get my papers. I’ll write down everything. Get it typed up, and you can look it over before you go. My brother can witness it and notarize it.”
So that was what we did. I gave information, she wrote it down, I gave her more.
Up until she asked me the most important question of all.
“Who do you want to have your son if you both die?” she asked.
I swallowed hard.
That was the worst question I’d ever been given in my life.
“Um,” I hesitated. “One of my brothers. Haggard is the oldest. But he’s the least likely to want a second baby in his life. Then there’s Price. But he has a problem listening to people chew. Then there’s Tide, but he’s a doctor, and he really doesn’t need to be adding my son to the mix when he has his own problems to deal with.” I hesitated again. “I could always give him to my uncle, who’d take him in a heartbeat, but his own wife has had a setback lately. So I really don’t want to add to their burdens.” I squinted my eyes. “My gut would say Shine. Let’s go with him.”
She paused. “Is Shine his real name?”
My brain was too foggy to remember correctly.
“Um, no.” I stopped. “That’s his club name. His real name is…” I stall. “Let me call him and find out.”
She waited patiently for me to do just that.
The first ring went unanswered. The second didn’t.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Shine snarled.
I smiled.
God, I loved my brother.
“I’m at the lawyer’s office drawing up my will and drinking myself into an unfeeling coma while I’m at it.” I hesitated. “What is your name?”
There was a long second of silence before Shine said, “What do you mean, what’s my name? Are you sure you’re okay? Where are you? I’ll come get you.”
I looked over at the lawyer who was smiling.
Could she hear what he was saying?
“You have it on speakerphone,” she explained.
Was I speaking aloud, too?
“Yes,” she answered.
“Bram, where the fuck are you?” Shine snapped.
“I already told you, I’m at a bar,” I answered. “Well, a lawyer’s office. A lawyer that is working out of a bar.”
“Legitimate lawyers don’t do that,” Shine snapped again. “Tell me where the fuck you are, before I ask Mom to Life 360 you.”
I rolled my eyes.
My mom just had to know where we were at all times. She had Life 360 on all of us. The funny thing was, if Shine was curious, he could look up where I was himself.
“I’ll tell you where I am if you just tell me your damn name,” I grit out. “I gotta get this last will and testament done today. I just have this gut feeling. You’re okay with taking care of my son, right?”
There was an even longer pause this time and then Shine said, “Jesus Christ. You don’t even have to ask. I’d raise him like my own. But that’s not going to happen. You’re not going anywhere, and neither is your wife. You’ll both make it out of this just fine. We’re looking for Travis right now.”
It didn’t matter if they found him or not.
I didn’t tell him that, though.
The only thing that mattered was whether Dory made it.
“Shine. Name,” I said softly.
“Callum.” Shine gave me his name, I gave it to the lawyer, and then told them where I was.
The only problem was my phone died about halfway through the explanation.
“Whoops,” I said as I placed the phone down on the counter. “You got the name?”
The lawyer was too busy taking notes to look up. “I do. The last question I have is do you have any money that you would like to go to anyone. Assets, too. You tell me where you want it all to go, and I’ll get that down in the will.”
“Why do you work out of a bar?” I all but slurred.
The brother put another shot down beside me, but before I could reach for it, Birdie slid it away.
“My first case,” she said as she wrote. “I lost. I felt so bad about it that I’ve spent my life savings doing research and making sure that I can fix where I went wrong. That means I don’t have the time nor the desire to look legit. My whole life goal at this point is to pay my bills and fund my research so I can get the man out of prison that I had a hand in putting there for life.”