Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
We both walked in the door together and barely missed taking a ball to the face.
“Boston Leigh.”
“Sorry!” she squeaked.
“You’re about to have no ball in the house at all,” I growled.
“I didn’t mean to, I swear.”
“Yeah, Dad,” Eddy teased. “She didn’t mean to.”
I leveled her with a look that could peel paint.
She batted those beautiful eyes.
“Not helping,” I pointed out.
She winked at me.
“You ready to go, darlin’?” Romeo asked Mable.
“I am!” She stood up with a quickness that had me laughing. “I’m dying for that crockpot meal we put on earlier.” She turned to me. “We put on an elk roast. Mississippi style.”
“Yum,” Boston said. “Grandma and Grandpa used to do that with venison. Do you like elk better than deer?”
“It’s a bit gamier,” Mable conceded. “But the flavor just pops so perfectly.”
Romeo hooked his arm around Mable’s neck and turned to me. “You need me anytime, I’m here.”
I offered him my hand, and he shook it.
Walking them to the door while Mable and Eddy continued to chat, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing when they never slowed down.
“All right,” Romeo said as he picked up his wife bridal-style. “Let’s go, babe.”
“Bye!” Mable called out over Romeo’s shoulder.
Boston waved.
Eddy called out after her friend.
When the door shut behind them, it was Boston who said, “Start cooking, all right, Dad? I’m dying over here.”
“You’re not dying.” Eddy snickered. “You totally ate your body weight in snacks before he got here.”
“Semantics.”
“You don’t even know what semantics means,” Eddy teased.
She and Boston had a really good laugh at that, and it made my heart incredibly happy to see the two of them laughing together.
I liked that they liked each other.
“Speaking of things you don’t know…” I said as I gestured toward the kitchen table. “You changed your name?”
“Yep.” Bossy grinned and held out her hand to me. “Berkley Winn Grant, nice to formally meet ya.”
I grinned back. “Berkley?”
“I don’t know, I just kind of like it.”
“How’d you know that was what I originally wanted to name you?” I asked as I took her hand, but not to shake, to enclose in my own and pull her toward me.
“Grandma told me,” she admitted. “I was feeling pretty down and out after you were sentenced to prison, and she thought of this story when she saw a bank named Berkley. She told me that you and Mom really fought hard over the names, but Mom won. You named me Boston.”
“I had a great friend named Berkley in the Navy,” I said quietly. “He was a great dude. Died when we were on a mission.”
“I know,” she said softly. “I went with Winn as my middle name for you. Or the old you.”
I squeezed her just a little bit tighter. “Is that huge packet by the door all the information that Apollo said that was heading Bossy’s way?”
“It is,” I confirmed as I let Boston go. “This is going to be a weird transition, calling you Berkley. But maybe we should start doing that sooner rather than later, just to get everything ironed out before you start school next week.”
“How are you going to explain the nickname, though?” Bossy tapped her lip.
“Well,” I said. “We could just tell them that you’re incredibly bossy and that’s how you got the nickname.”
“She kind of is.” Eddy laughed. “She did force me to take a shower today.”
“You kind of smelled,” Bossy teased.
“I did not!” Eddy snickered.
“You didn’t, but you looked like you could use a cold shower after Dad left…”
Eddy’s face flamed.
I turned to survey Eddy. “Is that right?”
Eddy’s face went even redder.
I fucking loved it.
“On that note,” Boston said. “Y’all get dinner going, and I’m going to go and shower. Dad, we really need to talk about the fact that you didn’t put an en suite bathroom in the guest bedroom. It’s incredibly awkward to walk down the hall naked at fifteen.”
“Uhhh.” I hesitated, unsure what to say.
Boston laughed as she made her way toward the guest bathroom.
Eddy leaned her hips on the counter and watched her go.
When the door closed behind Bossy, I turned to survey Eddy.
“You have a good kid,” Eddy said as she finally looked at me. “One of the best people I’ve ever met.” She studied me for a long moment before saying, “I’m jealous.”
That warmed my heart.
As well as soothed some invisible fear that I hadn’t been acknowledging until now.
I wanted Eddy to love Boston. I wanted her to be just as important to her as I was.
And I knew that I was important to Eddy.
I didn’t miss the way her eyes would light up when I entered the room. Or when she would say “thank you for everything” and give me the tightest hug she could manage. I didn’t miss the way her eyes lingered on my mouth, or the way they followed me around a room.