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I smiled. “Do you have another one?”
He sighed. “No. But I have some rubber bands by the sink in the kitchen. They’re those little black ones. I know it’s not really a hair tie, but that’s all that I have.”
I smiled as I walked toward the kitchen, punching my brother in the side so he’d move over.
When he did, it revealed the junk drawer of all junk drawers.
The weird thing was, it wasn’t even messy like most junk drawers. It was organized.
“Should be in the back left most corner,” he said. “Next to all my loose keys.” He hesitated. “Speaking of, take one of those keys. You’re gonna need it to lock up the cabin. You know the code to the alarm, right?”
I did. Which I told him in the next moment.
“Good,” he said. “Keep the key. Use it. Call me if you need me. I gotta go though, okay? Everyone’s pissed that I answered the phone in the middle of this meeting.”
Snickering, I hung up the phone, handed my brother his phone back, and then wrapped the rubber band around the end of my hair.
It was a little loose, but I could tell that by the end of the day it’d be the pretty, loose type of braid that allowed stray hairs to come out as if it was planned that way.
My dad’s braids normally were always like that. And my hair, being so thin and straight, meant that it came out of things a lot easier than normal hair that tended to be more coarse or curly.
“What’s with that stupid smile on your face?” Adam asked as he looked at me curiously.
I shrugged. “I’m happy.”
He tilted his head, studying me. “You’re happy that you haven’t met my kid yet?”
I rolled my eyes. “No, I’m not happy about that, dummy. Just in general, I’m happy. I know that’s weird and all since I just met him not too long ago, but I swear, he’s beginning to mean a lot to me.”
“It’s not weird,” Dad said. “When you know, you know.”
I turned to find him sipping yet another cup of coffee.
I smiled. “Like you did with Mom?”
“I knew your mother was the one from the moment I saw her sitting at the bar bitching about something. Hell, I don’t even remember what it was at this point, but I remember the way your mother’s face looked. God, she was pissed as hell. Mad as fuck about whatever it was, she was mad at, and her face was just so animated. I don’t even know what it was, exactly, that drew me in. But I knew that if I went another day without her, I’d surely be the stupidest man on Earth.”
I snorted.
My mother and father didn’t have the fairy tale relationship that everyone dreamed of.
Far from it, in fact.
When my dad was deployed, something happened to my mother and she lost her memory. My dad spent the next few years of his life thinking that she was dead. My mother spent that time thinking that something was missing from hers.
Something was.
My father.
And when she ran into trouble a little while later, my father’s name was the first thing out of her mouth.
Fast forward thirty years later, and they were still going just as strong now as they were when they first met. Or when they re-met.
I placed my hand over my belly, the butterflies that took flight at the thought of spending the rest of my life with Laric making me feel utterly… excited.
Super, duper, excited.
I wasn’t sure if Laric’s mind was at that point. Not yet, anyway.
But one day, maybe it would be?
I may or may not have crossed my fingers… and my toes.
• • •
I knew the moment he walked into the restaurant. And it wasn’t because I saw him.
It was the entire atmosphere of the restaurant changing.
I first clocked him as the door to the restaurant opened and the voices inside the entire place went… soft. There was no other word for it. The people inside were loud and boisterous at first, talking normally, enjoying themselves. But then everything went quiet.
My eyes went to the front door, and my breath hitched at the sight of him.
There were dangerous men sitting at the table with me.
But they weren’t Laric.
Laric was in a black pair of jeans, black dirty boots that had what looked to be red mud caked on them, and a red t-shirt that had at least a few holes in it.
I wasn’t sure if those holes were there this morning, but they were definitely there now.
I could see the tanned skin covering his abs poking out from each hole.
The leather jacket he was wearing was new, however.
I’d never seen it before.
I assumed it was covering his cut, but I wasn’t too sure seeing as my eyes were so focused on his body.
