Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
“I’m not her, baby,” she said softly. “I don’t get in my head. I’m pretty communicative.”
“I’ve noticed,” he teased.
She smiled at him, and said, “But I promise to let you know.”
“She needed me,” Tom told her.
“Yeah, she did. And she has the excellent timing of an actress to squeeze out every ounce of drama. But I’m happy all of that has happened and it’s behind the both of you, and soon the kids can move on from it too.”
“Agreed. But that wasn’t what I was talking about. I was talking about Susie.”
He felt her hand twitch around his, so this time he held her tightly.
She knew who Susie was.
“She had a shitty life, and a lot of it was her doing,” Tom shared. “We were both in the throes of an identity crisis. I’ve thought a good deal about this, and I realize now I liked how I made her feel when I looked at her. I liked that in all her life, and she’s our age, she’d never been seen, until she met me. I liked that she cared what I thought of her. I liked that she trusted me to lay all her shit on, and she did, and some of it was really ugly, and the ugly part of it was what she’d done. But she gave it to me. She didn’t hold back. She was fully mine when, from the beginning, I was only ever Genny’s. Gen was never really mine. Am I making sense?”
She nodded.
“I’m not making excuses,” he told her. “I’m explaining.”
“I get that,” she said.
“It was wrong, but I honestly thought I might have a relationship with her after Genny and I were done. It wasn’t a fling. I cared about her.”
“I would be shocked as hell if you didn’t.”
“It wouldn’t be right, for her or the family, if I went there. It was Susie who pointed that out to me.”
Mika nodded. “No. I’m sure they would all have found a way, but you and she deserve more.”
His smile to that was broken.
“You do,” she asserted.
“Well, someone in the universe thinks I do, because they gave me you,” he replied.
That bought him a beam and she leaned into him again, fake-lamenting, “Oh my God, you’re being gooey again. I wish I could hate it, but I hate how much I love it.”
Tom chuckled and his gaze wandered to the pool.
“Does it feel strange that it’s now completely over?” she asked quietly.
“It hurts,” he said honestly. “But there’s no going back.” He looked to her again. “And I like what I have in my now and see in my future. The hurt will fade.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Matt likes you,” Tom changed the subject. “I think he’s found a kindred spirit.”
“You noticed that, did you?”
“I don’t know how I didn’t see it before.”
“Sometimes it has to be right in front of our face.”
“Mm.”
As if the universe also knew their focus had changed, a great burst of laughter came from the house.
Tom looked over his shoulder to see inside.
Everyone there was either still laughing or smiling.
He took in a deep breath, and seeing what he saw, let everything else go as he exhaled.
Mika shook his hand, and he turned his attention to her.
“You need to go in there and be with your boy.”
Tom shook his head. “No. Right now, what’s happening is what should be happening. The kids are bonding without us being around. They can be more themselves. We need to give them more time.”
“True, true,” she murmured, then tipped her head. “Do you think Matt would come out for dinner, see the house, let me cook for him before he goes? I know it’s a lot of driving, but it’d be great if Chloe and Judge could come too. They haven’t been out.”
“I’ll talk to him. He knows we’re serious, so he’ll likely want to come. See where you live. Have more time with you and Cadence.”
“Is that what we are? Serious?” she teased.
“Yes,” he stated, not close to teasing.
Her gaze grew sultry. “God, I want to jump you right now.”
“I hope you’re taking care of yourself. I don’t fancy any medical emergencies when we can have sex again.”
“I wish that wasn’t a viable fear. No wait, I don’t.”
Tom burst out laughing.
Mika laughed with him and leaned deep to kiss his neck in the middle of it.
And five sets of eyes watched as five sets of ears listened.
And for the first time in a very long time everyone was happy.
CHAPTER 21
SHE HAS YOUR HAIR
Tom
“You’ll go directly there?” Tom asked into his phone while setting up the gates so the kittens would be contained in his kitchen while he was at Mika’s.
He was getting ready to head out. He was also talking to Matt on the phone.
“Yeah,” Matt replied. “We just passed Black Canyon.”
This meant, if Tom left soon, he’d have a little under an hour with Mika and Cadence before his kids got there.