I took my little girl from Mason and Dom took Landon. I let out the longest sigh as I looked at my mother. “Mom, can we have a room or two at the B&B. I’m not in the mood to take them back to a house riddled with bullet holes.”
“Of course.” My Mom picked up my handbag and the small diaper bag Jared packed before the police could process the house. “We can go together in my car. It’s big enough. You really need to consider getting a new car, Rebecca. You want to be able to travel as a family.”
“Grandma.” Dom spoke to my mother. “Do you think I can get my own room? I don’t really want to spend the night with the babies.”
My mother was so stunned that Dom had called her grandma that she stopped her lecture to me immediately. I understood she was only concerned about me and my family but I just couldn't handle it. Dom, my sweet boy, read the situation absolutely correctly and intervened.
I smiled over at my oh so smart kid and mouthed,thank you.
As we walked out of the hospital. Landon looked at me. “We go home?”
“Not today, sweetie.” I rubbed my knuckle along his cheek. “Our house is a little broken.”
Dom stopped. “I don’t want to move though.”
“What?” I’d planned on calling a realtor and ensuring we never needed to go back.
“Bex, that’s our home. It's where Landon started speaking to you. It's where I started to feel like I had a dad again. Not that I can’t think of you as Mom. It's just my dad died a long time ago and Bill never felt right. But Logan does. And so do you. Am I making sense?”
I blinked away the tears. “It makes sense. All of it. You don’t have to worry about me wanting to replace your mom. I’m just happy to have you in my life.”
Chapter Thirty
LOGAN - ONE YEAR LATER
Dominic may have been my son but he was a very different sixteen-year-old to what I was. Since the kid got his drivers permit, he’d been out nearly every weekend. We had the safe sex talk and he assured me he wasn’t having sex. I wasn’t sure if I believed him but I needed to be prepared. Something told me if he wasn’t careful, I would have some sweet girl’s father at my door with a shotgun.
Dom joined me in the kid’s bathroom. “You called?”
Oh yeah, that attitude hadn’t gone anywhere. Most days I got to see the lovely young man he was becoming but there were days when the kid drove me up the wall. “Yes, I wanted to talk about the Sadie Hawkins dance. I believe Tiffany Snow asked you again. She’s the same one who asked you last year, right.”
“Yes.” He rolled his eyes. He’d ended up not going because it was just after the shooting and his friends had all bailed as well.
“So, she asked you again?” I didn’t think Dom had a crush on the girl. He dated around but no one seemed to hold his interest for long. “She must really like you.”
Dom shook his head. “Not really. I don’t think she even remembered asking me last year. She dates around and she’s really mean to my girl friends.”
I frowned at him. “Then why are you going to a dance with her?”
“For the same reason I wanted to go with her last year.” He scowled at me as if I was dumb. “She asked and she’s hot… I mean, she’s pretty.”
“Dom. You cannot be interested in someone just for her looks.”
For a moment I wondered if he could roll those eyes any wider. “Of course, I can. Not everyone falls in love with their soulmate when they’re in kindergarten. Some of us have fun instead.”
I was not going to get into how much fun I actually had as a teenager. What I needed to do was mitigate the consequences of that fun. So instead, I pointed to the very top shelf.
The one that Landon couldn’t reach even if he decided to stack chairs and reach for stuff by himself.
That little incident necessitated a trip to the emergency room. I wasn’t at work at the time since I’d received the promotion and had regular hours. However, no one hesitated as I walked into the ER barking orders with a bloody cloth against Landon’s wound.
No, he wouldn’t even attempt to reach the very top shelf. “There are two boxes up there. I don’t use condoms so you will need to replace them with your allowance. Or I can get more if you can’t buy them. Go to the drugstore out of town. Mrs. Spike likes to gossip and you don’t want the whole town to know you bought condoms. It may not bother you, but it will affect whichever girl you’re dating.”
Dom looked at me with daggers in his eyes. “I am not having sex. Not ye… I’m not having sex.”
I looked at him and looked at the top of the cupboard. “Is there a chance they could expire?”
He let out a sigh. “God, I hope not.”
