Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
I couldn’t stop staring at him.
“Your eyes,” he choked out, and his were suddenly gleaming with unshed tears. “You haven’t even been with my kids for two full weeks, and you’re more worried about them than she was at the end.”
Normally, I led with my brain. That was what had made me an excellent master sergeant, a logical and precise homicide detective, and a tactical fixer. I thought first, felt second. But this was different because I’d felt the pain in his kids and now on him. My heart in full control, I grabbed him, clutching him tight, one hand on his nape, my arm across his back, trying to absorb the hurt and betrayal into my body.
He trembled hard, and I was guessing he hadn’t been held since long before she left. And maybe I was wrong, and he had, and a beautiful, kind woman had hugged him and let him grieve. But when his arms slid around me, and both hands fisted in my henley and held on, I thought no, I was the first one offering physical comfort. And not just leaning or a quick clench, but holding him to my heart.
When I tightened my arm around his back, he gave me some of his weight, letting me support him, and it felt good, like I was exactly where I was supposed to be. We breathed together, and after several moments, I felt him shift, straightening, and I let him go, stepping back.
“I am really sorry you’ve had to shoulder this burden alone and not tell the kids.”
He put the heels of his hands into his eyes and rubbed. “Me too,” he admitted. “I wanted to tell them, you know? There they all were, hating me, the guy who was here, while missing her, the one who didn’t even want them, and it eats you up, and that’s how it happened. I distanced myself from them so my heart wouldn’t eat itself out of jealousy.”
“You were jealous of her?”
“Hell yes,” he said, dropping his hands and looking at me. “She got to go off, have her love and their lovechild, and I was here, taking the blame for something I had no hand in. It sucked. It still does, or did until”—he gestured at me—“you showed up. Fixer is fuckin’ right. I must thank Abel. He’s goddamn brilliant.”
“I think you’re giving me a bit too much credit here.”
“No,” he said, slipping his hand around my wrist, then letting go. “I can feel the air moving in the house again. It’s been stagnating, but now it’s so much better, and their voices and their faces…it’s good.”
I nodded. “I’m glad.”
“It’s weird, you know, but at the end, when she said she was leaving, before she reported what she saw that night from the hotel room, she acted like I didn’t know her. Like I didn’t know who was sleeping in my bed for seventeen years. But when she told me the kids were staying with me, that she wouldn’t fight me for custody, that was the only moment I had no idea who she was.”
“And then everything changed.”
“Yeah. She said goodbye to the kids the day before. We all had to be out of the house while she packed, and then they let us know when we could come back. Weirdly, nothing was missing…none of our mementos. And I know you can’t take pictures or baby books or something obvious like that, but you can take something, some small token to remind you… But all she took was her jewelry, including her wedding ring. At least she left the jade pendant my mother gave her after Griff was born. I asked her to leave that so it could go to Tatum someday when she has a baby.”
“And you’ll be a grandfather.”
“Oh, fuck off,” he groaned.
I laughed, and he joined me, and it sounded good, cathartic.
“Okay, I’m off to see your daughter,” I said, and turned from him.
“Are you married?” he asked, right behind me, keeping pace.
“No.”
“Have you ever been?”
“No, sir. I don’t seem strong and steady like you. Not good husband material.”
“Well, I don’t know about that, but there’s no doubt you’d make an incredible father.”
“Or I could adopt a lot of dogs.”
He chuckled.
Striding into the living room, I scooped up Wink on the way and headed for the stairway, but Griff called for me. Waiting, I watched as he slipped out of the circle he was in, and snaking around others, he reached me.
“Hey,” he rushed out. “Is Wink fine?”
“Yeah, he’s great. I’m just gonna go check on your sister.”
He nodded. “I’ll go with you.”
“You should stay here and talk to everyone, yeah?”
“No, I, uh—no.”
The look on his face, like he was suddenly worn down, changed my mind. “Okay, then, come on,” I said, heading again for the stairs.