Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 75248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
“Get your computer and whatever you need for tonight,” I ordered. “If you have anything else that you think will be of use to us, bring that with you, too.”
Xavier’s eyes went wide.
“Why?”
“Because you’re coming home with me.”
***
“What the hell, Wolf?” Nancy, Nathan’s grandmother, asked as she got out of the car.
I pointed at Xavier. “Stay there.”
“Who’s that?” Nancy asked as she got Nathan’s bag out of the back of the truck.
“That’s a kid I found living by himself today,” I said. “He’s going to be spending the weekend with me until I can find him somewhere to go.”
“Oh,” Nancy said. “I fed Nathan after I picked him up from school.” She handed me a bag of old French fries and nuggets. “I got enough for you, but they’re cold now.”
I grinned and pulled Nancy into a one-armed hug.
“How’re the knees feeling today?” I asked.
Nancy sighed.
“They’ve been better. I have a doctor’s appointment to get a couple of cartilage building shots in them to see if that helps. I have to have three injections before they’ll even consider surgical options.” She winced when she stepped to the side and hoisted up Nathan’s bag.
I took it from her and walked it to my truck, throwing the bag over the side of the bed before turning back to Nancy.
“Let me know if you need me to take you,” I told her. “And I want to know how this weekend goes.”
Nancy grinned.
“I’ll be fine, Wolf,” she smiled. “You’re such a worrywart.”
“I haven’t met your new friend who’s somehow managed to keep himself hidden every time I try to meet him, so excuse my worry.” I pulled her into a short hug.
Nancy giggled.
“You’ll like Frank,” she promised. “I’ll be going to the Texas Rangers’ game. Maybe you can watch and see him there.”
I snorted and let her go.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I told her. “Nathan got his medicine already tonight?”
Nancy nodded her head. “He has. I gave it to him before his dinner.”
I walked around to the opposite side of Nancy’s three quarter ton Dodge and opened the passenger side door.
The first sight of Nathan after such a long time apart hit me straight in the heart just like it always did.
I sure did love the kid like crazy, and it bothered the hell out of me that I needed Nancy’s help.
It helped us both out, though.
We both compromised, and the schedule really worked out well for both of us.
Nancy ran a farm outside of the city and had no trouble keeping Nathan during the week. Fridays through Sundays were a problem for her since her work hands had those three days off. Her granddaughter helped her on the weekends, but it was definitely not something she could do with a small child running underfoot.
Hence, why I got him for those three days.
She was just happy that we could work something out.
When Darren had died, I’d been named as Nathan’s legal guardian, and since that was what Darren wanted, nobody, not even Nancy, had protested it.
“Daddy,” Nathan’s sweet, soft voice filled the cab the moment I started to unlatch him from the car seat.
“Hey, boy,” I said. “You fell asleep.”
“Tired,” Nathan muttered, his voice thick with sleep.
I chuckled under my breath and picked him up.
Nathan automatically curled into my chest and wrapped his arms around my neck.
And everything inside me that’d felt unsettled, instantly calmed.
Nancy’s eyes were happy as she watched me round the car with Nathan.
“He helped me birth a couple of goat kids today,” she smiled. “I remember doing the same thing with Darren. I definitely wore his little hiney out.”
I laughed.
“I was there enough with Darren when goats were born. That is tough work, even if you’re only watching,” I told her, remembering my own experiences.
Goats were cool and all, but they were a hell of a lot of work, and although I had the land for them at my house, I wasn’t ever going to have animals there. Even if they would help me get a tax write off on the land.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Nancy laughed as she went to the passenger side door of my truck and closed it.
“No,” I agreed. “But it sucked.”
Nancy laughed, and continued to laugh about the situation until I waved goodbye to her and pulled out of the parking lot five minutes later.
My first time seeing a goat birthed had traumatized me, and it tickled the hell out of Nancy to know that I got squeamish when it came to birthings of any kind.
I’d, of course, thrown up the moment I’d seen the hooves coming out of the goat’s vagina and that gave Darren material to rag on me for years to come.
He was also with me the first time I’d witnessed a woman giving birth while on patrol during our deployment in Iraq. I’d thrown up then, too.