Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“Got some scrub brushes,” Dylan announced, walking around the side of the house.
“Where the hell did you find those?” Curt asked, shoving Jess playfully as he turned toward his son.
Shit like that, right there, his way of telling Jess that they were cool—that was why I didn’t feel weird about it.
“They were in a box in the garage,” Dyl said with a shrug.
“They were there when we moved in,” Jess added. “I snooped.”
Curt laughed and waved Finn over when he came back out with the soap.
I swallowed hard, watching as Curt directed Finn to pour the soap over the baking soda and then knelt with him in the driveway to scrub at the stain.
Shit. He was it. The guy. The one.
I hadn’t been looking for him. I’d been happy to do it on my own. I liked our trio. We’d done well as a trio.
But we were better now. With Curt and Dylan, we were better. We fit. Our little group was tight. The kids fought like siblings, but stuck up for each other the same way. When one of Jess’s friends stopped replying to their messages, Dylan spent three days looking at that friend’s social media, pointing out different stuff about them that made them a douchebag—his words. Each of the reasons had been more funny than the last, and by the end of it, Jess’s disappointment had disappeared. At the community pool, when a little shit kept trying to dunk Finn even though the other kid was almost twice his size, Dylan and Jess had stepped in to make sure he kept his hands to himself.
We weren’t building a family. When I wasn’t looking, we’d already become one.
“Teddy,” Curtis called, waving his hand at me. “You might wanna move if you don’t wanna get wet.”
I scrambled to the side with the kids as he sprayed away the mixture. Underneath was clean cement.
“See, told ya,” Curt said to Finn. He smiled and sprayed Finn in the chest with the hose, making my boy squeal in shock.
I quickly moved to put the truck between me and Curt, which had been an excellent decision because Jesse and Dylan got sprayed next.
They yelled and complained, but all of them were laughing by the time he shut the water off.
“No more fightin’,” he ordered, gathering up the hose. “Fuckin’ behave while we’re gone today, all right?”
“I’ll behave,” Finn said immediately. He watched as Dylan pulled his sopping wet T-shirt off and then grabbed his own by the back of the collar and pulled his off the same way.
My throat grew tight as his narrow shoulders straightened and his chest puffed out a little. The difference between Dylan’s nearly grown chest and Finn’s skinny one couldn’t be overstated, but Curtis must’ve noticed that the boys were standing the exact same way because I felt him look at me. When I met his gaze, he shot me a small, knowing smile.
“Okay, everyone back inside,” I ordered, waving them toward the door. “Dry your feet off on the rug and get changed before you sit on anything.”
* * *
Half an hour later, I was slipping on my sandals while Curtis laid out the ground rules for when we were gone.
“We’ll be home around dinner,” he said. “You stay in the house. No playin’ outside, no openin’ the door.”
Unsurprisingly, the older kids didn’t protest. We’d sat them down months ago to let them know that Finn’s grandfather was unpredictable and unhappy with our move to Oregon. I hadn’t really given more information than that, but Jesse already knew what an asshole David was, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if they filled Dylan in later.
Finn, on the other hand, still knew nothing. He was too young to fully understand the situation, and I didn’t want to freak him out. Thankfully, he just wanted to be doing anything the older kids were doing, so he played by the rules we set.
“We know, Dad,” Dylan said, lifting his head from the arm of the couch. “We’ll stay inside until you get back.”
“I say movie marathon,” Jess mused from the other end of the sectional. “We can use this huge ass TV. It’s like being in a theater.”
“With popcorn,” Finn added excitedly. “And candy. And ice cream.”
“We don’t have any ice cream,” Jess replied. “But the rest, we can do.”
“Thank you,” I mouthed in their direction. They nodded back.
“I’ll lock the door behind us,” Curt said, gesturing for me to get off the couch. “Call if you need anythin’.”
“We won’t,” Jesse retorted boredly. “Go. Have fun.”
“I’ll make dinner when we get home,” I told them as I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. “Don’t let your brother get sick on candy.”
“We won’t,” Dylan replied.
“Which brother?” Jess snickered at the same time.
Dylan kicked out at their feet, and they yanked them out of his reach.