AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We both laughed, but I knew he was serious. Sports lawyers, good ones, weren’t cheap and they didn’t work gratis. “I have the same accountant. You can send the bill there. I’ll let him know to expect it.”
Feeling satisfied, I headed over to my storage unit and grabbed the cardboard envelope containing the marriage certificate and accompanying paperwork, proving it was valid, then grabbed takeout fromNan’s Dinerwhere Sadie worked. The meal wasn’t exactly rife with romance, but our friend knew exactly what Bristol liked on the current lunch menu.
“Hi, baby,” I greeted Bristol when I leaned on the circulation desk at the library at one minute before her break time. She’d likely thought I would text or call, but her smile told me she was thrilled to see me in the flesh.
”Hey, hot stuff. Aren’t you that famous guy…?” She waved her hand as if she were thinking. “One of the Andrettis?”
“Ha-ha,” I deadpanned. “Ready for lunch, funny girl? I brought us food. It’s in the truck.”
“Can’t wait. Let me grab my coat. It finally decided to be winter, and it’s freezing!”
“Truck’s nice and warm, and at least, it’s not snowing.” I couldn’t help thinking how much warmer it would be if we were down in Daytona.
Another life, Axel. Let it go.
It was difficult, though.
While I waited for her to grab her jacket, I glanced around the children’s section of the library where Bristol worked. Knowing what I did now, I wondered if it had been difficult for her. Clearly, she adored children and working with them, though. The decorations had her hand on them, and she’d setup cozy reading nooks with baskets of board books for little ones and racks of recommended early reader books for those who were a little older.
“You love kids,” I commented when she came back in her thick peacoat.
“What?”
I indicated around us. “Kids. You love them, making reading fun and accessible for them.”
A soft smile curled her lips. I’d seen it before, but this time, I recognized the longing in her eyes. “Yeah. I love them. Seeing their little eyes light up when a story touches them, when they realize the joy of books… There’s nothing like it. Not as a librarian.”
“We’ll have our own. Soon. And I will cover you in bubble wrap and hover over you every step of the way to keep both of you safe.”
Her eyes widened, and I could tell she didn’t really know what to say. That longing in her gaze slipped away, though.
“How many do you want?” I asked when we got to the truck.
“A couple. Maybe three.”
“Nah, baby,” I said, opening her door and helping her up onto the seat. She looked up at me in confusion since I’djustsaid I wanted kids. “If we have more than two, we gotta go for four. Keep things even.”
“What about three kids and a dog?” she countered when I slid behind the wheel.
“Four kids and a couple dogs.”
“You say this like you’re the one who’s going to carry them.”
“We can adopt,” I offered as I drove down the block and around the corner to the carpark overlooking the lake.
“As long as we have more than one,” she conceded. “I always wanted a brother or sister or both. I mean, I have a ton of cousins, and some of them like Sutton are really close to me, but I always wanted my own siblings.”
I nodded. “I wouldn’t trade my brothers—now. If you would have asked me when I was a teenager… Well, you could have had them both in exchange for a half-eaten candy bar.”
“Nah, you loved them. You would have kicked the asses of anyone messing with them.”
“You’re right. I still would,” I conceded.
Reaching to the backseat, I grabbed our lunches then handed Bristol hers, along with a cardboard envelope.
“What’s this?” she asked, fingering the edge.
“Open it.”
