AllFreeNovel
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Not to brag, but Roe and I had made at least seven of them sign up for Instagram. Most of them were already on social, of course, but a few of them were like me. They had to be nudged toward new things. But if we gave shout-outs on Insta, we obviously wanted to provide links.
Colin received the royal treatment as well. While Roe and I shared a fucking fantastic burger as our first meal, the guys at Super-Sized Slider gave my boy a Colin Special—mashed potatoes with cut-up sausage and fixings that were easy for him to chew.
I documented everything, from Colin’s face covered in mashed potatoes and ketchup, to the people around us. The smoke billowing from the trucks, the blue sky, the hollering between workers slinging ingredients to one another, the man coming down the row with an old-school boom box on his shoulder, the mamas and the papas who sat on the benches while their children and grandchildren worked.
The second meal was grander, and we found a bar table where we could eat in peace. Colin sat on the table and leaned back against my chest as I crammed half a taco into my mouth. Fuck me, shrimp tacos with lime, guacamole—
“Sweet mother of tacos, this is good,” Roe groaned with his mouth full.
Colin giggled sleepily, munching on a piece of banana from the Smoothie Sisters’ truck.
“We love food, don’t we, Bear?” I sucked lime juice and spicy shrimp off my thumb. “What do we do before we eat?”
“Wawr!” He growled and showed his claws.
I grinned and took another bite, adding the growl that made him laugh.
*
Over the next couple of months, life was fucking perfect. We hired a well-recommended friend of Ortiz’s to join our production company. We’d crossed paths with Seth before, so we already knew we had good chemistry. Roe was initially on the fence, but they got along great and, step by step, Seth assumed a much-needed role in our business.
Roe and I could finally step back just a bit from the work we didn’t particularly enjoy and focus on what we lived for.
More and more lately, that entailed research for future projects. And, of course, shooting. We wrapped up our third season near the end of July, though we knew we might have to revisit a few places for more flyover footage. Bad weather cost money one way or another, and we chose to go home rather than stay and wait for drone-worthy sunshine.
“Dada!”
“I’m comin’, buddy!” I put the lid back on his sippy cup, grabbed the snacks, and returned outside.
Colin waited at the side of the pool, properly impatient—not to mention too fucking cute in his little swim trunks and Iron Maiden tee—while Roe was in the water. We’d determined we had maybe another half hour or so before we had to get the boy into a new diaper. We didn’t need a number-two surprise in the pool.
Colin jumped in place and reached for his sippy cup, and he drank noisily as soon as I’d handed it over.
Wait. I felt my forehead crease as I registered the song playing. Roe was our resident DJ, so I tuned out most of the time. But this was a blast from my past.
I threw him a look and raised a brow.
He grinned. “I found your old iPod.”
What the hell? I looked toward the patio and could barely believe it. He wasn’t using the stereo in the living room. He’d hooked up my old docking station to the outdoor speakers we’d installed, and he’d placed it on the patio table.
“I can’t believe you like Green Day.”
“I grew up with this,” I said defensively. Don’t talk shit about Green Day. Dookie was their heyday. And it sure as fuck beat the music my parents listened to.
Roe laughed. “Oh my God, please tell me you went to shows in black eyeliner.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed Colin’s sippy cup before he could toss it on the ground. The boy had zero finesse, and he had no fears either. That was why one of us had to be in the pool at all times when Colin was out here. He just jumped right in. Thankfully, Roe was ready and less than two feet away.
Colin squealed happily and wriggled in Roe’s arms, reaching for one of the toys floating around.
I set the cup and the snacks on the side table before I jumped in too.
The water felt damn good in this heat, but I fretted some about Colin’s exposure to the sun. He should be good, though. He was pasty white with sunscreen, and he was wearing a tee and trunks.
I swam over to Roe and Colin and felt the top of his head. He refused to wear the little hat Nikki had bought him, so we just had to be careful.
