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Chapter 17
Liam
William.Never Liam.Always William.
The way he’d pissed me off hadn’t faded overnight.
Fuck my dad.I’d offered the suggestions of the names Eli and Owen to Payton because they couldn’t be shortened.She’d agreed.Her warped way of thinking that would encourage me to stay with her.
The irony was that my mom had named me William Barron to coax Cameron away from his wife, to prove that I was his, but growing up the spitting image of the man had done that.
Fucking William.That was Cameron’s middle name.
No one called me William.Kenny occasionally used my full name, but the times she did were the only moments I didn’t mind being William Robert Barron.
I wasn’t going to let the run-in from yesterday sour my holiday.I was with Kennedy and the kids at a small lake outside Mandan.My kids splashed in the water.Each wore a little life vest that puffed behind their heads and around their little arms.Kenny had come armed with plastic pails and small plastic shovels.They were piled at the edge of the water.The boys alternated between digging to the middle of the earth and playing in the water.
Kenny reclined next to me on a blanket.I was out of my jeans and in blue trunks and desperately trying to ignore how short Kenny’s black boy-cut swim shorts were.It was as impossible as keeping my gaze off her swim top.It was like a tight-fitting tank top, but the point was that it was tight fitting.And lower cut than anything Kenny normally wore.
She scanned the beach.“It’s getting really full.”
The stark blue man-made lake was tucked into rolling hills.The sandy beach wasn’t large and was flanked by a boating dock on one side and a reedy fishing area on the other.We’d gotten here before the after-lunch crowd had arrived.The beach had been half full, but now it was filling back to the grassy slope that led up to the parking lot.Boats idled quietly on the no-wake lake, and kayaks crisscrossed in the distance.
“Wanna go into the water before it gets packed with people?”I’d already been in the water, but Kenny’d stayed behind to set up our little picnic area.
“Well, I don’t know… Race you!”She jumped up and sprinted to the water, her laughter trailing behind.
I grinned and chased her down.She let out a squeal, and the boys cheered as I swooped her into my arms and carried her into the water.I didn’t dump her in, though.She gasped as I sank until we were in up to our waists.I let her go.
There was a chance someone we knew was here, but Kenny hadn’t stiffened in my arms.Encouraging.
“It’s cold, but it’s not.”She didn’t float far, but held her arms out to Eli.
He paddled to her, and Owen paddled to me.
Playing in the water with my family was the most carefree I’d been for years.Since ever.This was perfect.Having Kenny be a part of us was perfect.
A floating station popped up not far from where we were.An inflatable yellow monstrosity with anchors to keep it in place, a puffy slide, and at least two ladders.
I didn’t see any kids playing around it and ignored it until I heard my name.
Holden was half rolled on his side.“Hey, I thought that was you.”He pointed to Owen, who was clinging to my back.“Owen, right?”His brows shot up when he spotted Eli on Kenny’s back.“Hey, Kennedy.”
“Hi, Holden.”Kenny smiled, but her shoulders were tense.After our run-in with Bruce and Cameron, we were both edgy.I would call the school when the holiday was over and deal with Mrs.Z.Kenny said I could ask for the boys to be transferred to the other kindergarten teacher.
Did Kenny hold her breath like me waiting for Holden’s reaction?This could be written off as just friends, but no one could deny that a day at the lake out of town was more than a quick lunch in Coal Haven.
Holden blinked, but he recovered quickly.“And there’s little Eli.Hey, big guy.”
“Can we play?”Eli asked.
Holden cocked his head.He either couldn’t hear or didn’t understand Eli.Speech therapy was working, but Eli’s new verbal skills hadn’t crossed into everyday speech yet.
“No, hon,” Kenny said, sensing the impending awkwardness.“They have their own group.”
Holden must’ve heard that.“Nah, we got plenty of room.Get on over here.”
I hesitated, but Holden beckoned us over.“It’s just going to be me and Nora and some of her friends from college.”His smile turned wry.“They needed me to haul and set up everything.”
