Page 101 of Alec’s Dream

“Thanks for helping me sort my head.”

“That’s what friends do. Now that all this crap is done, you and the kids are safe and free to resume your normal life. We’re all getting together next weekend.”

“Perfect. My parents will be home and I know they’ll be dying for some Caleb and Rory time.”

“Whatever you want to do, but your kids are always welcome.”

God, she was sweet.

“Thanks. Means a lot.”

We fell into a comfortable silence and watched Rory roll around with Tank as the boys continued to toss the ball.

It was after dinner. The kitchen was clean, Jocelyn was down for the night, and both kids were settled on Alec’s couch for some TV time before bed.

Aurora’s eyes were drooping, exhausted after running around with Tank for hours. Caleb not the slightest bit tired even though he and Alec had been outside playing football for the entirety of my visit with Kennedy.

Alec didn’t look worse for the wear and he’d had a day packed with police, bad guys, and body slams.

I was emotionally spent. I needed to sleep for a week but didn’t have that option, I needed to go back to work, needed to sort my house which Rory had declared she never wanted to go back to—which I agreed, I didn’t either. What’s more, I didn’t ever want my kids there again. That meant I also needed to figure out how I was going to afford to fix it to sell, or just list it as is. Then I had to make plans for all the living room furniture to be hauled away, because no way in hell my children were ever going to sit on a couch with bullet holes.

“Baby?” Alec wrapped his arms around me from behind, one over my shoulder, one tight around my waist. “What’s got you in knots?”

Damn. I really needed to work on not being so obvious.

“I’m just tired,” I semi-lied.

“After the kids go to bed, we’ll talk. Get it all out of the way.”

I thought about Kennedy’s advice. It was sound, emotions were high and I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to make any decisions. But I knew I’d never get to sleep with all the shit swirling in my head.

So I nodded my agreement.

“I want a dog like Tank,” Rory announced.

This was not a surprise. Actually, the proclamation took longer than I expected. I figured Tank would be the topic of dinner discussion.

It hadn’t been mainly because Alec had told Caleb and Rory that the “bad guy” who’d hurt me had been caught. At the news, Caleb smiled huge and he did it aimed at Alec like he was the Second Coming. Rory was so excited she’d jumped out of her chair and hugged Alec. My guess was their reactions had nothing to do with Josh Malone being behind bars, therefore, we were safe from bullets, beatings, and threats. The last of which they didn’t know about. But because Alec had made a promise and kept it. Something neither of them was used to when it came to a father.

Doug made tons of promises and never followed through.

“Know you do, baby girl. Let's wait until after winter than we’ll talk about it,” I told her.

“But—”

“Rory, honey. If we get a puppy now, that means you’re going to have to walk it in the snow. And it’s gonna be too cold for it to go outside and run around. We’ll talk in the spring.”

My daughter may’ve only been six but she was her mother’s daughter and did not like the snow. Not even a cute, cuddly German Shepherd puppy would make her bundle up and go out in it longer than needed to walk through it to get to where she wanted to go.

“When we get our puppy, he and Tank are gonna be best friends,” Rory continued. “And now that we live here, when it’s not too cold I can run over to Miss Kennedy’s and play with Tank. That way I’ll know all about how to take care of our German Dog.”

I heard Alec’s chuckle in my ear, felt his body shaking with mirth, both filling me with happiness. Too bad I couldn’t enjoy his warm breath fanning across my neck, or the way his arms had banded around me, pressing my back to his chest. I couldn’t appreciate the heat, the safety, or the thrill.

Because I wasn’t breathing—not since my daughter had declared: now that we live here.

That was when my lungs seized and the rest of me turned to granite.

“It’s a German Shepherd,” Caleb corrected.