Page 29 of Penalty Kill

“I didn’t even know Sydney two weeks ago.”

“I’m aware, and we have plenty of proof of that. Sydney wasn’t even in Utah. We can dispel the rumors as they come, but we can’t prevent them from starting.”

“Can we stop Olivia before she says anything?”

She laughed. “As much as I’d love to put a muzzle on that one, we can’t get a gag order without going to court.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I made it a stipulation of the divorce that she couldn’t write a book or publish anything about our marriage. I should have included leaking anything to the press. I’d naively thought she wouldn’t do anything to hurt the boys, but a story like this was exactly the kind of thing she’d use to her advantage.

“We’ll get this under control. Just be patient. Things will blow over.”

She was the master of public relations, so I had to believe her. “Thanks, Chloe.”

My ex had taken enough from me. I stood back and let her have the last word, cast me as the villain, and control the narrative to her followers. I wasn’t going to let her or anyone else hurt Sydney, though. She was an innocent in the battle between Olivia and me.

Hopefully, Chloe would get the truth out and people would lose interest. There wasn’t much to the story. We didn’t get to spend time together, at least not outside of the house. We were too boring for people to care for very long.

The only thing I could do was make sure she and the boys were left alone. I didn’t want this getting anywhere near Milo and Finn. They’d been through enough. I didn’t want to scare them, but if the media became a problem, I wasn’t going to have a choice.

10

Sydney

Four straight days with the boys felt daunting when Brandon left, but it flew by. We called him every day so they could see him and tell them all about their days. Over the weekend we went to the museum, and since the weather was nice, we spent almost ten hours at the zoo.

By the end of the day, I told the boys they were going to go on exhibit if we didn’t leave. Their energy was never on short supply. They ran from one animal to the next, circling back to their favorites until my feet ached. They did sleep in the next morning, so at least I had that small miracle.

I also got my first paycheck in my account. After doing a little happy dance and taking the boys to preschool, I put together everything I needed for a passport and submitted my application. It was the first step toward my dream. In six to eight weeks, I’d be free to go anywhere I wanted. Well, technically I had to wait for my contract to end, but soon I would have options. That was more than I could say for the past ten years.

Since the weather was still nice and warm, I told the boys we were having a pool party after school. I checked to make sure the water was warm enough and was pleasantly surprised to discover it was heated. No wonder it was uncovered in March.

I made popsicles and sandwiches and found the controls for the outdoor speakers so we could have music too. I even found their little swim trunks so all they had to do was change and put on sunscreen before play time. I changed into my most modest swimsuit, a baby blue crochet one piece, and went to pick them up.

They were in such good moods and raced each other to get ready and meet me on the patio to get lathered so their pale skin didn’t burn.

“Are you guys ready?”

They nodded in synchronization. “Yay!”

“Okay, let’s get those floaties on.” I tugged them onto their arms while they wiggled, too anxious to get in the water.

Milo ran to the edge, jumping in without pausing, while Finn waited for his brother to surface. “Watch out!”

He made sure he had plenty of room before jumping in. They took off, swimming toward the waterfall and cave under the slides. They made it to a bench and took turns jumping through the curtain, making funny faces at me each time.

I couldn’t stop smiling. They were so happy and excited to show me all their tricks. They begged me to get in the water with them, so I did a cannonball which earned me a standing ovation and endless giggles.

“You made a super splash!” Finn threw his arms in the air. “It went this high.”

“I want to try!” Milo doggie paddled across the pool to the stairs and hurried to the side of the pool, lining up across from Finn and me.

His eyes locked on mine, and I nodded. “You got this.”

He beamed and jumped, barely reaching around his knees with the floaties in the way. His little splash was precious. I couldn’t stop my laugh from escaping. His head bobbed while he waited for our reactions.

“It was so big, Milo!” Finn threw his arms out wide. “Now it’s my turn!”

He went through the same motions, waiting for me to tell him to go before jumping and tucking his knees. He landed on his back but didn’t seem to mind.