Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
“If that’s the case, then what the fuck with you wasting time claiming Nora?” Judge asked.
“I stopped wasting time. We’re together. Get ready to have another stepmom.”
His son’s eyes rounded. “Shit. Really?”
Jamie stood while grinning and confirmed, “Really.”
“Stepmom? That was fast,” Judge muttered.
It wasn’t fast.
It took decades.
“Obviously, we have to work up to that part,” Jamie told him. “That’s important, but it’s not what’s important now. What’s important now is you stop being so damned hard on yourself. Yesterday was terrifying. That was yesterday. Today you have a healthy wife and a beautiful son. Trust me, buddy, life is too damned short to get stuck somewhere you don’t need to be. I’ve learned that twice, the second time very recently, and I learned it the hard way. Don’t turn away from feelings. Feel them. Then get on with it. Yesterday scared you, because it was fucking scary. Admit it. Feel it. I’m here to talk to about it. But in the end, today is today. And you need to get on with it.”
In an agonized voice, Judge shared, “I love her with everything that’s me, and I overheard them talking about the possibility that they’d have to save one or the other.”
Fuck.
Jamie pulled his son to his feet and into his arms, and he held tight.
Judge’s arms went around him, and he grabbed fistfuls of his dad’s shirt.
“I would have picked her,” he said quietly into Jamie’s ear.
“I know,” Jamie murmured.
“She’d never forgive me.”
“I know.”
“And I would have had to live with that decision, but even knowing it was the right one, it would have destroyed me.”
Jamie let out a deep sigh and repeated, “I know.”
Judge pushed his forehead in Jamie’s neck, and Jamie gave him a moment.
“It didn’t happen that way,” his son said.
There it was.
“No. It didn’t,” Jamie confirmed.
He felt Judge nod against his skin.
Then he pushed away, stepped away and finally gave some attention to his dogs.
“Can you take them out while I shower?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” Jamie answered.
“I need you to drive back,” Judge admitted.
“I can do that,” Jamie agreed.
A shaky smile hit his son’s mouth. “Stepmom?”
Jamie’s return smile wasn’t shaky. “Eventually.”
“I guess, once you get your head out of your ass, you don’t mess around.”
“Nope. And stop talking to your father that way,” Jamie mock scolded.
Warmth hit his boy’s brown eyes. “I love you, Dad.”
Damn, he’d been so caught in all he’d lost, he hadn’t taken time to recognize his many blessings.
He was learning.
“Love you too, buddy. Now go shower.”
Judge nodded and headed to the stairs.
Jamie grabbed the leads hanging beside the front door and took the dogs out.
When they got back, he fed them and the cat, Venus.
And when his son came downstairs, they went to get his daughter-in-law a donut.
It was that afternoon.
Duncan and Genny, Tom and Mika, and Jamie and Nora were drinking cocktails in Duncan and Genny’s great room.
Dru, Sasha and Mi were hanging at the hospital in case Chloe needed anything.
Gage had gone to let Chloe and Judge’s dogs out again.
Matt, who was a practicing vet, had been called away on some horse emergency, and Cadence had asked if she could tag along, he’d said yes, so she went with him.
Hale and Elsa were upstairs, taking a nap with Laird, since Laird, in a new place and not feeling it, had made their night last night not very restful.
Alex and Rix had gone home due to the fact that Rix was like Judge’s twin from another mother, and as such, he acutely felt Judge’s pain. Not to mention, Rix loved Chloe like a sister. He was as demolished as Judge had been about what had happened, he was just better at hiding it. But Alex hadn’t missed it, so she was seeing to her man.
Heddy, Genny’s friend, had swung by the hospital to check on Chloe and meet JT.
And now, they were discussing Duncan heading into town to grab copious tapas from some place called El Gato Azul for dinner when Duncan’s first son, Sully prowled in.
“What the fuck are you all doing here?” he demanded in lieu of greeting.
Sully had a job in Texas and hadn’t been able to get on a flight until late that morning. He’d told them not to bother coming to get him, he was renting a car in Phoenix.
“What are you doing here?” Duncan asked his boy.
“I went by the hospital first,” Sully answered. “Coco was sleeping. Judge was out. JT was adorable, but he was also out. I called Gage, and he said he was meeting Sasha, Dru, Mi and Jake at COLT Grill for some barbeque, like serious shit didn’t just go down. And you all are sitting around with cocktails. So again, the fuck?”
Good.
They were all sleeping, with Judge being out.
“That family needed some time without everyone hovering over them,” Duncan explained.
At that, Sully got over his pique and moved further into the room. “What are you drinking?”