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Julian jumped, and I caught him. I guessed it was my turn with the little monkey.
“How you doin’, champ?” I kissed his cheek and positioned him on my hip.
“Beep, beep,” he said with a grin.
My little clown. “I think you can saygood.” I’d heard him say both no and hi to Nicky and Mattie; he was just shy and working his way through months of anxiety. And what the head doctor had theorized: having been ordered to keep quiet, whether it was by Keith or the motherfuckers who’d held him hostage.
Julian’s sheepish grin said it all. He was plenty relaxed, maybe a littletoorelaxed, with that one thing. Saying beep was comfortable.
I bumped my forehead to his, and he giggled.
“Good,” he said.
There we go.
Christ, it was insane how proud I suddenly felt. A warmth enveloped my chest, and I had half a mind to get up on the table and tell everyone what he’d just said.
“Great job, sweetheart. That was really great.” I pressed my lips to the side of his head, and he beamed.
“What, no red carpet for us?” And welcome to the stage, Danny Payne.
“There he is!” Reese went over to greet the new arrivals, and that included Emerson and Coach.
Tariq should’ve been here. Damn, I missed him.
Dante wassupposedto be here, but he couldn’t get away from work. Same with Cullen—and Greer was in Europe with his family, according to Crew.
I signaled to Emerson that I’d greet them later with a gesture at Julian. I didn’t wanna overwhelm him.
Despite that we all wanted this do-over, a celebration of what we’d accomplished, a moment to finally smoke that cigar, everyone knew tonight was different. Shay glanced around the patio and up the hill every now and then, no doubt thinking back on the last time he’d been here.
Crew was extra fussy with Madison. River had already asked about my upgraded security system. I’d pointed out the cameras, I’d shown him the setup in my office, I’d mentioned what alarm system it was. And Blake, much like Julian, never strayed far from Joel or me.
By the time the food was done, everyone was here—well, those who could make it—and Julian had skipped over to Joel again. We’d told the kids they could eat in the living room if they wanted, but so far, they wanted to stick around.
Danny came over and threw an arm around my shoulders. “Good to see you, Daddy Jones.”
I chuckled and gave him an elbow.
“Ouch—such violence.” He sucked his teeth. “Now I don’t feel bad that Em and I fucked in your pool. Twice.”
I let out a loud laugh. As if he’d felt bad before!
“Thank you so much for letting me know, dick.” I shook my head and plated the last of the sausages.There’s an image. Steaks, sausage, hamburgers, chicken, ribs, and pork chops filled three platters, so hopefully everyone would slip into a nice food coma.
Danny and I carried the meat to the table, and Gray, Crew, and Jayden came out with the rest. Potato skins, potato salad, condiments, and bread.
It was loud as fuck with everyone busy catching up, and I kept seeking out the kids to make sure they were all right.
Children are resilient, Elliott.
As Dr. Holm had told me more than once.
I pushed through some more greetings, not wanting to be an ass, and I wished Ortega and Marisa could’ve made it too. She was thankfully making progress, but she wasn’t ready for big gatherings.
What felt like half an eternity later, I planted my ass on the grass, just off the patio, where Joel was stuffing his face and talking to Crew and Mercier. His boy, Jack, was here somewhere too. I couldn’t keep track of them all.
“Where’s Julian?” I asked Joel quietly.
