Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
We stopped short.
“Where have you two been all day?” she demanded, holding up a note. “Working late? I don’t freaking think so. You didn’t answer at your office, Dad,” she told Nate. “Your voice message was switched to your off-hours message, and you…” She addressed me next. “According to Uncle Theo, your work truck was parked at some random site in Mclean before you drove it to your house—which you never do. You always pick up your own truck at work. I checked the security app, and I know you were at the other house. You turned off the alarm. And now you’re here—you arrived together…and…” She frowned. “Dad, you have Paws. Why do you have Paws?”
I blinked.
Nate was quicker to find his words than I was. “Sweetheart, are you trying to tell us you want to become a police officer?”
“She won’t be accepted at the academy.” The words just tumbled out of me. “She’s too smart.”
She rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. “I’m being serious. Why did you arrive together?”
“Hold on now,” Nate cautioned. “Did something happen? I don’t have any missed messages from you.”
I didn’t either.
“Because I called you at work first,” Hallie responded. “You wrote on the note that you were gonna work late, so when you weren’t there, I got suspicious and…” She trailed off.
I cocked my head.
She lowered her voice and gave Nate a pointed look. “I can’t say the rest here.”
Why the fuck—ohh. Because I was the birthday boy tomorrow. She knew about the gift Nate was giving me, didn’t she? And maybe she didn’t think it was an appropriate gift to give an ex either…?
On the off chance that she was suspecting Nathan and I had reunited, that gift had to be something next level. Otherwise, it would be too farfetched to make assumptions based on Nate not being at his office when he’d said he would be there.
Let me put your mind at ease, baby girl.
“I don’t know what you want us to say,” I said, stepping toward her. “That I forgot about returning the work truck because I was busy hunting Nate down? That I finally forced him to come out to the new house?” I came to a stop right in front of her and set down the litter box and the food bag. “That we met up there and confessed how much we missed each other? Loved each other?”
She flushed. “Maybe not, but—”
“Because that’s exactly what happened.”
Her eyes had never found me faster, and her mouth popped open. “Wh-what?”
I grinned and swooped in to hug her. “Dad and I are back together. We’re working things out.”
Nate came up next to me and kissed the top of Hallie’s head. “We will explain everything once the young ones are asleep and we’ve located your big brother. Is he home?”
“Um, yeah. He’s upstairs.” Hallie inched back and peered up at me. “You’re not joking, are you?”
I smirked. “We would be absolute shit parents if we joked about that, baby.”
She let out a nervous laugh, and her eyes turned glassy.
My sweet girl. I squeezed her to me again, while Nathan smiled to himself and headed inside with Paws.
“Just remember that Dad’s a head doctor,” I murmured. “He’s gonna wanna talk about this as much as he did when we separated.”
She giggled tearfully and hugged me back. “I guess I’ll live.”
I pressed my lips to the top of her head.
I was just about to ask what she’d had for dinner when I heard a car pull up, so I looked over and saw Tam’s mom’s minivan. Mikey was home.
“We’re gonna talk to Mikey and Lily too,” I told Hallie. “Just a little something that will explain why Dad and I are gonna be in a better mood going forward. We’ll talk to you and Dylan first, though.”
“Okay.” She nodded, unable to shake the smile.
I knew the feeling.
“Hi, Dad! I’m home!” Mikey jumped out and waved to me. Boy looked sleepy—but in high spirits.
“I’m gonna check on Paws,” Hallie said and went inside.
I trailed back to the driveway.
“Sorry we’re a little late—again,” Kelly said with a tired grin. “It was near impossible to get the boys to turn off the computers.”
I chuckled, knowing full well how that was. “I don’t think we’ve ever dropped Tam off on time either. But I take it they’ve had a fun evening?” I held out an arm as Mikey hurried toward me. “Hey, buddy. Were you Minecraftin’ or Robloxin’ today?”
“We played Minecraft,” he yawned, handing over his backpack.
All right, then.
“They barely wanted to come down for dinner,” Kelly chuckled.
“It was yummy,” Mikey said firmly. “We had chicken and fried rice.”
“That sounds great.” I combed my fingers through his hair. He needed a haircut soon-ish. “Next game night at our place, then?”
He nodded quickly and yawned again.