Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
“I did that,” Atlas agreed. “I just hope he actually remembers.”
“What happens when you have to be at work early in the morning?” Gable asked. “What’ll y’all do then?”
Atlas looked slightly green for a long moment before I said, “I have a solution for that. I have to be at the bakery at five to get the baked goods cooking. Maven usually meets me around eight or nine. However, she’s been going on and on about opening later so we don’t have to be there as early. I can talk to her about that. If we opened at eight or nine, I could get there at seven or eight. Then I could take him to daycare… as long as it’s close.”
“Or I could take him on my way into work in the morning,” Atlas said. “What ones did you find?”
I pulled my laptop open and showed him my spreadsheet.
He pulled out his phone, as did Gable, and the three of us carefully marked a few of the daycares off the list.
“This one allows drop off at four in the morning,” Gable said. “And all have really excellent reviews.”
“I like this one, too. Drop off is at five.” Atlas pointed at the third on the list.
“I’m partial to this one,” I said as I showed him the one I’d secretly chosen. “Drop off is at six. I could technically do drop off before I head into the bakery to start morning prep. Then they’ll bus him to the station after school lets out. It’s Montessori…”
We ate tacos—I only ate two and a half—and talked about the good and bad of each facility.
In the end, they both chose my pick.
When we were done, I started to clean up, while the men slowly talked about the day, relaying everything that’d been decided with Sage.
“She’ll get no severance since she was fired,” Atlas finished. “Tomorrow, we expect to hear from her lawyers because she screamed it at anyone that would listen as we locked her up in the cells.”
“That must be why I got the phone call ordering me to bail her out again,” I said. “I blocked the call.”
“Good,” Gable said as he headed to the front door. “Stay the fuck away from her.”
“Trust me,” I said as I followed behind him, Atlas at my side. “I do everything I can to stay away from her. The woman is nuts.”
Gable looked at Atlas with a frown. “Maybe that’s DPD’s issues. They keep hiring women.”
I gasped. “You did not just say that!”
Gable cackled as he backed away from my ire.
“It’s the crazy gene.” He giggled. “It only shows up in females.”
I threw a pillow from the couch at his head, which he easily caught.
He tossed it back at me, twice as hard, a lecherous grin on his face.
“You’re going to hell…o. Hello.” I quickly changed my words as I saw Forest standing in the living room staring at us.
Forest flashed me a cute grin.
A grin that looked a lot like the man who was now crouching down in front of him.
Forest was a smart kid.
Now that he wasn’t worried about getting yelled at by us, he was coming out of his shell.
And he was also learning new words.
I’d made it my new mission not to say anything bad around him, but it was hard when the kid was quiet and sneaky like his father.
Gable went to Forest, held out his hand for a high five—which he received—and headed out the door.
I set the alarm and watched out of the corner of my eye as Atlas picked Forest up and disappeared into his bedroom.
I went to my own bedroom, took a shower, and was getting dressed in a large t-shirt—one I’d pilfered from the laundry room the day before—when there was a soft knock at the door.
I walked to it, very aware I was in the man’s t-shirt, and opened it.
He leaned on the door with one shoulder, crossing his feet at the ankle, and regarded me for a few long moments.
So long that I started to squirm and, to cover my discomfort, I turned to look out the window.
“I misspoke yesterday,” he said after long moments.
I looked up from my contemplation of the large backyard that the brothers shared to the man who’d come in while I wasn’t paying attention.
“Huh?” I asked, sitting up straighter.
“I misspoke yesterday,” he repeated.
“You misspoke about what?” I asked carefully.
He swallowed hard, his throat bobbing, and said, “A year ago, I hated that I wanted you so much.”
I gritted my teeth.
“And when I finally broke, when I had you for the first time, I realized that maybe I was a dumbass,” he continued.
A laugh burst free from my lips.
His grin was soft as he said, “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
I took a seat on the bed, my toes curling in the carpet.