Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
I sipped my coffee and texted Nikki.
He’s there now. I’m parked a street over by a playground. Are you at the hair place yet? How’s Sam doing?
That girl hated getting her hair cut. But she hated having her hair brushed even more, so that was Nikki’s rule. If she was gonna scream every time any of us approached her with a hairbrush, she would have to settle for shoulder-length.
Casper fucking loved going to the hairdresser. Nikki used to work there back in the day, in Santa Monica, and it was two of her friends who took care of all our kids. Mariah was Cas’s favorite, and as soon as she put her fingers in his messy mop to shampoo his hair, he was in heaven.
Plus, all kids got a sticker and a lollipop afterward. What’s not to love?
Nikki responded a minute later.
She survived!
A video appeared, and I pressed play. Sam was grinning and holding her lollipop in a tight grip—and it was just perfect because her tears had barely dried. Her cheeks were still flushed from a cry-fest.
“Uncle Roe, we’re getting pancakes for breakfast!”
I smiled and went to my camera and put it in selfie mode for a quick video.
“Pancakes sound amazing, princess. And you look too cute with those bows in your hair.”
I sent it off and was grateful for the brief distraction. How long had Jake been in hostile territory now—twenty minutes? Give or take?
I took a swig of my coffee and watched a woman walk her dog across from the playground.
I checked my watch for the tenth time.
11:40 AM
It started drizzling outside.
I dicked around on my phone some more. I confirmed with Sandra I could have the kids on my birthday. March was a ways to go, but Jake and I thought we could take the kids someplace this year. Our birthdays were only four days apart, and we’d never vacationed together with the kids, not counting a handful of overnighters in Southern California. We were thinking Mexico or Florida this time. Maybe Disney? Stop by and visit Grandma Jo-Jo? She had a birthday coming up as well. The lady was turning ninety-two. Talk about impressive.
I should text her too. She wasn’t happy with her son, to put it mildly. And she’d never been happy with Jake’s mom.
Just as I found Grandma Jo-Jo’s number in my phone, I got a message from Nikki.
We’re still at the salon. Haley just stepped outside because their dad called. You might wanna get ready to intervene. She doesn’t look pleased. She’s gesturing like a New Yorker (like you) and scaring people on the sidewalk.
What the fuck? Why would their dad call her while he was with Jake? What was going on?
I returned my coffee to the cupholder and grabbed the car key. Should I walk closer to the house? And what, lurk in the fucking backyard? Christ. Frustration built up, and I typed a quick reply to Nikki.
Can you go out and ask her what it’s about? I don’t care what you interrupt. I don’t wanna knock down the door if everything’s gravy, but I won’t have him alone a second too long if they’re hurting him.
In all the years I’d known Jake, I’d never seen him flinch at a physical injury. Not counting our lovely experience with the Coast Guard. Other than that…? He’d sprained an ankle or two, he’d hurt his wrist once when he’d constructed a wooden organizer for all his flower seeds, he’d banged his head on the asphalt when he’d caught Colin falling off his new bike, shit like that. It just wasn’t the way to hurt Jake. To do that, you had to go after his sense of responsibility, loyalty, everything that mattered to him on a deeper level.
I opened the door and had a foot on the pavement as I watched Nikki type.
All of a sudden, it stopped.
Come the fuck on!
A beat later, it was Haley who was calling me.
I answered right away. “What’s going on?”
“Go over there! Mom’s fucking lost it!” She was losing it too; she could barely talk, she was crying so hard.
Adrenaline shot through me, and I was out of the car before I knew it. I locked up and started running across the playground.
“Tell me what happened,” I demanded.
“Dad c-called and wondered why we were bringing a bunch of drama.” She choked up. “Jake told them about y’all and asked why Grandpa left back in the day—and I don’t know. I mean, I know Mom—she won’t just dive into a fight. Maybe they went back and forth awhile—whatever. She lost it. I heard her fucking screaming in the background that—that—”
“Haley,” I growled. I couldn’t fucking take it. I sped up and reached the beginning of their street, and I hit the sidewalk in a sprint.
The rain was coming down heavier.