Page 106 of But For You

“Yeah, but Loudon knows, just like I do, that no one will take better care of them than Sam. He won’t let anything happen to them, and you worry as much as I do.”

“Why do people keep saying that? I don’t worry.”

He gave me a look.

“I don’t,” I insisted.

“Come on, Jory. You’re very protective, and I love that. And Sam’s gonna be like a prison guard, and I like that too. I mean, when all the kids get older and they start to run around wild—because if the curse is true and you get a kid just like you, oh, honey, how out of control will our kids be?”

I shuddered to think. “Just … what’s your point?”

“Sam’s going to be the one we all turn to. He’ll be checking up and ruining parties and putting the fear of God into whomever our kids see and letting those people know that if they mess with them, sell them any drugs, smoke with them, drink with them, he’ll be there to put a bullet in them.”

I nodded because it was very possible. Not the actual killing, but the threatening and the fear that Sam Kage could—and would—inspire.

“And he has all those cop friends, and I’ve met his buddies—Chaz and Pat, right?”

“Right.”

“Yeah, see, and I’ve met their kids, and they’ve got nice ones, so⁠—”

“They have mothers, you know, those kids. It’s not just fathering that’s happening.”

“No, I know. I just mean that they’re law enforcement types, and their kids turned out okay, and since we’re all counting on Sam to watch out for our kids, even peripherally, then for sure, if Loudon and I both go down in a fiery ball or get hit by a crosstown bus, then you and Sam are the ones we’d want to step in for us.”

“But your mom would⁠—”

“She’s older, Jory, and the kids will need hands-on parenting, two people who can keep up physically as well as anything else.”

I studied his face and saw only absolute seriousness.

“I see Hannah and Kola, and they’re weird”—he shrugged—“because you’re weird, but so are mine and for the same exact reason. My boys are going to be messed up a little because Loudon and I are. No way around it. You’re a good father. I always figured you would be.”

“Really?”

“Yes, baby.” He squeezed my knee. “You have the best heart.”

I sighed deeply. “Okay. Sign me up. It would be an honor to be the guardian of your kids.”

He nodded. “You don’t have to ask Sam?”

“Oh, no.” I shook my head, turning to look out at the playground, watching Hannah growl at Robert as she chased him and he laughed and ran. “Sam accepts that kind of responsibility as an honor. It’s the same way he took the news when I told him that Dane and Aja had written us into their will to be Robert and Gentry’s guardians. He was deeply moved. I mean, they’re trusting him with the most precious part of their lives—their kids. He takes that very seriously.”

“I know.” Evan patted my leg, smiling at me. “And you guys will do the very best you know how. Can’t ask for better than that.”

I nodded as he got up to go see what was happening since Dylan was talking to her daughter, who was upside down now, and Micah was holding his breath.

Looking around, I saw Robert on the ground, twitching every time Hannah pretended to dig into his head with what looked like, the way she was holding her hands, an imaginary knife and fork. I stopped Kola as he ran by me with Harper and Tess.

“What is your sister doing?” I asked, pointing her out for him.

“Oh, eating Robert’s brains. She’s a zombie.”

“With utensils?”

“You always tell her not to use her hands,” he said with a straight face.

“Oh, yeah, of course.”