I felt my lunch start to rise and managed to get my window down just in time to let my own stomach contents fly.
“Oh, boy,” I heard Dillan say. “I’ll be right over.”
Then she hung up, without once giving me the chance to tell her that I didn’t need her.
I just closed my eyes and prayed that I made it home without puking all over the truck’s cab.
Which I did.
Barely.
If ‘by the skin of your teeth’ was a thing, that would’ve been how close I’d come to puking everywhere.
Because right as we pulled into the driveway, Asa had declared he was about to puke again.
And just as I got the tub back on his lap, he’d thrown up into it… all over my hand.
Warm puke slid down my arm and coated my hand, and that’s when I started to dry heave.
The only thing that saved me, literally, was that my window was still down.
Finally able to stand it long enough to get out, I made sure that Asa had a good hold on the tub, and quickly bailed out of the truck.
I made it to the water hose and closed my eyes as I sprayed my hand clean.
Only when I could feel it all gone did I open my eyes to make sure that I got it all.
“Daddy, I need to go potty!” Asa cried.
Sometimes being a parent was hard.
So hard.
Because all I wanted to do right then was put a cold compress on my face.
But I couldn’t leave my kid to fend for himself.
Pulling up my big boy underwear, I flicked off the hose and jogged back to my truck.
I found Asa already out of his seat, holding his tub of cheese balls.
After grabbing my kid around the waist, I gently put him on the grass beside my truck.
“Can you get in by yourself?” I asked, glancing back at the truck to make sure that I didn’t have a mess to clean up.
“Yes,” Asa said. “I’m hungry.”
I closed my eyes, tilted my head back on my shoulders, and started to laugh.
Which was how Dillan found us when she pulled up to the curb in front of my duplex.
She got out, staring at me warily.
Her eyes went from me to Asa and back as if she was looking for something.
“You’re both clean,” she said as she stared.
I snorted.
“We are,” I agreed. “Asa managed to puke all in his cheese balls.” I pointed at the tub. “Don’t look in it.”
She grinned as she walked up to us.
“Do you need help?” she asked.
I gestured to the car. “I’m going to find the lid for that and toss it into the trash. I was okay until he practically puked on me. And the smell… it’s bad.”
Asa picked up his cheese balls tub, and I shook my head.
“No, buddy,” I said. “Leave that. We’ll find you a bowl once we get inside.”
He reluctantly put it back down again.
“I really wanted those cheese balls.” He sighed.
Then he and Dillan walked together to the front door, Asa talking quietly to my girl.
My girl?
When had I started thinking of her like that?
It definitely was within the last couple of days.
Then again, a lot had changed.
At least on my end, anyway.
There was no more denying anything.
Dillan, in all her stubborn glory, was mine. She always had been. Ever since the first time that I saw her.
Obstacle after obstacle was tossed in our way, only for us to claw our way over every single one.
We were now whole on the other side, and I was going to make it to where we didn’t have to fight like that ever again.
After making a cursory cleanup of my truck with a package of baby wipes that I kept in the truck just in case, I rolled all of the windows down to air it out, and headed inside.
I found Asa and Dillan on the couch, cuddled up.
Asa had a bowl in his hands, and he was leaning heavily into Dillan as they watched something on the television.
When I walked through the threshold and glanced up at the television, I was unsurprised to see Asa watching Avatar The Last Airbender. He was in love with anime.
I honestly wasn’t sure where he got his love for it, since I didn’t watch it, but I couldn’t exactly fault him for his viewing choices.
I still liked to watch the Disney Channel at times.
Then, as I walked into the room farther and Dillan said, “Oh, this is one of my favorite parts,” I realized who it was that Asa got his joy for anime from.
Dillan.
Grinning, I walked into the room and stopped by the edge of the couch.
“I’m going to go take a shower,” I said, picking up a lock of Dillan’s hair and gently twisting it around my finger.
I’d always wanted to touch her hair.
Dillan was average height and build. She had beautiful blue eyes, great, plump red lips, and a smile that showed off some blindingly white, straight teeth.
Her skin was soft and milky white, and her breasts were perky and would fill my hand just right.
Her tummy was slightly rounded, and her hips were generous.
And those thighs? They weren’t big, but they weren’t small, either. I always dreamed about wrapping them around my waist.
But the one thing that I’d always dreamed about touching was her hair.
It was long, icy, nearly white blonde, and almost to her waist.
I’d always, and I do mean always, wanted to touch it.
Yet, with all of our rocky encounters, the opportunity had never presented itself.
Until now.
Her hair felt like silk. Soft and smooth.
She didn’t have it down today.
It was up in a high ponytail, all of it hanging down the length of her back.
Even in such tight confines high on her head, the tail still hung past her bra strap.
She purred at the touch of her hair and leaned sideways, urging me on.
So I took the entire ponytail in my hand and wrapped it around my fist three times before letting it loose and allowing it to flow through my fingers.
She sighed. “I love getting my hair played with. You’re almost as good as Asa.”
I chuckled. “I’ll be back.”
Reluctantly I allowed her hair to fall from my hand and backed away slowly.
When I peered at Asa on my way out, it was to find him asleep.
I had the irrational urge to call her into the bathroom with me.
Then stopped halfway through the door that would lead to my bedroom and thought, why was it an irrational urge?
I wanted her.
There was no reason that I couldn’t have her.
Not if she was willing, and I was willing.
I turned so that I could see her.
“If you can pull yourself away, come talk to me,” I ordered.
Her eyes, which had been on my ass, flicked up to my face.
“O-okay,” she stuttered.
Grinning like a fool, I headed for my shower.
My brand new—just washed today clothes—immediately got thrown into the laundry basket once they were stripped from my body.
Then, I cranked on the shower and brushed my teeth while I waited for it to warm up.
Once it was ready, I stepped inside, and immediately felt ten times better.
If there was one thing that I didn’t handle all that well when it came to the parenthood thing, it was bodily fluids. Mainly, throw up and phlegm.
There was one time, when Asa was smaller and I was home on leave that he’d gotten really sick.
After I’d taken him to the doctor, I’d found out that he had a bacterial infection.
One of the ways the doctor told me that I could help Asa find relief was by sucking his nose out with a bulb. Or, wha
t she called a Nose Frieda.
After buying one on Amazon and having it over-nighted to my place, I then went about finding out what the most disgusting thing in the world was to do.
This ‘Nose Frieda’ was a parent-made device that helped you suck out your child’s boogers.
And, to be honest, it was one of the most effective tools I’d ever used in my life.
The only problem was—using it.
The thing was simple. There was a tube that came to a point with a small hole in it that was pressed into your child’s nose, and that tube had a cap with a filter that was attached to a long hose. The end of the hose had a small mouthpiece on it, and that was where you sucked.
Yes.
You used this device, kid’s nose to your mouth, and literally sucked the snot out.
It was vile.
And when you actually started getting phlegm and boogers out? It became even more disgusting.
Honestly, I was more than happy to send that disgusting thing home with Delanie when she’d come to pick up Asa three days later.
Sadly, I’d had to use it two more times. And each of those times I could remember quite vividly.
It was a nightmare.
One that I hoped that I never had to repeat.
Shuddering, I grabbed the bar of soap off the top rail of the shower and got to work scrubbing my body down.
Just as I was about to wash my feet, there was a soft, hesitant, “Booth?”
“Come in,” I called out over the shower.
I wasn’t worried about her seeing me.
Even if I was shy—which I wasn’t—I wanted this woman to see me.
Sadly, the shower’s opaqueness made it impossible.
Honestly, she could only see me from about chest height up.
“Hey,” I said as I saw her. She looked hesitant. “Come in. Pull up a seat.”
I gestured to the toilet, and she snickered.
Though, the moment she sat down, her eyes went distant and she stared at the wall blankly as the smile fell off of her face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
She scrunched up her nose. “Nothing.”
Yeah, that was a lie.
There was no way that there wasn’t anything wrong.
I’d heard what she was about to say in the car.
She was about to cancel on me.
I wasn’t stupid.
“What’s wrong?” I repeated, turning fully toward her as I started to shampoo my hair.
She sighed and scrubbed her hands down her face in a rough manner.
“I…” She blew out a breath. “Kerrie was there when I arrived last night.”
My brows didn’t rise.
I knew that Kerrie was there.
The officer that had responded to the call was one of my friends.
I’d called into dispatch to see who was working the call and had been informed that it was one of my buddies, Trane Jones.
After Trane had finished with the call, he’d called me and informed me of what he’d found, and who was there.
It hadn’t made me happy to hear that Kerrie was there when I wanted to be the one to assist her.
But the parenting gig wasn’t just a whenever I wanted to do it kind of job.
It was full-time, and I had to put my kid first no matter how frustrating life got.
I flicked off the shower once all the shampoo was out of my hair, then grabbed the towel that I’d left hanging over the top of the rail and wrapped it around my hips before stepping out.
The bathroom mat sank underneath my feet, but I didn’t pay it any attention at all as I looked at Dillan.
She looked… heartbroken.
And so freakin’ sad.
How had I not seen that before?
“Please tell me,” I said.
She looked up at me with tears in her eyes.
“I spoke with Kerrie,” she said softly. “I… it’s all my fault.”
Her shoulders drooped the moment that those words were out of her mouth.
I wanted to pick her up off of the toilet seat and yank her into my arms, but I wouldn’t get the answers that I needed like that.
I frowned. “What’s all your fault?”
She stood up and started to pace, her hands going to her hair as she roughly pulled at the ends.
“You. Delanie. Asa,” she answered quickly. “It’s all my fault.”
I stood up and caught her hand, leading her into the guest bedroom which was the farthest room away from where Asa was asleep on the couch.
“What are you talking about, Dillan?” I asked. “You’re not making any sense.”
She turned to me, her eyes now filled with tears.
“Kerrie,” she started rambling. “You remember Kerrie from high school? How he always used to be around? He was one of my father’s best friend’s son. He was around all the time. And I counted him as a friend.”
I nodded, remembering that.
I honestly hadn’t always felt that Kerrie was all that great of a guy, but he’d always been with Dillan and Delanie, and I knew that they were childhood friends. Not to mention any time I got even close to looking like I was going to approach Dillan, Kerrie would maneuver himself so that I couldn’t without going through him.
It was kind of awkward trying to get with a girl—i.e. Dillan—when Kerrie was always blocking my path.
“Yes, I remember,” I said, not pointing out that it would be kind of hard to forget the man when he was always around. Even now. “What about him?”
“You told me last night that your last memory was of Kerrie handing you a beer, remember?” she said softly.
I blinked and nodded. I had said that.
“That’s Delanie’s last thought, too,” she whispered.
Then she went into what she’d learned from him yesterday at her donut shop.
“I kind of knew that he had a thing for you. It was obvious,” I said. “I didn’t realize that he was that obsessed over you, though.”
She shook her head.
“I didn’t have any clue, either,” she admitted, walking into the bathroom to splash water onto her face. “I mean, after I told my dad I wasn’t interested, and he saw the lengths I was willing to go to avoid it, Kerrie and I kind of had a falling out. And I was busy with Delanie. Then there was Asa. Then I started my business. And Kerrie was always put on the back burner. Until last year or so when he started to show his impatience with it. Not to mention the fact that I told him I wasn’t interested in him in that way when he brought it up a few times.”
“So you’re thinking that he drugged us?” I asked, following her. “That’s why neither one of us can remember?”
She sighed and stood up, pacing the short confines of my bathroom.
“I don’t know what to think,” she admitted, turning to go the other way. “I just… what else am I to think? He didn’t out and out say it, but why else would neither one of you remember? Delanie had one beer, and one beer only. And I’d seen you at parties. Not to mention I watched you that entire night. You didn’t have any more than you usually drank. And now that I think about it, Kerrie was the one to pull me away. Tried to convince me to watch Bourne battling it out with those college boys. Do you remember that?”
Vaguely.
“The fight?” I asked. “I know that there was supposed to be one… but yeah. I don’t remember there actually being one.”
Bourne had scheduled a fight with some rich prick college kid that fancied himself a badass. From what I understood, he’d put his pink slip to his car up, and so had Bourne.
Bourne, at the time, had a 1967 Camaro that was not very restored. But what it did have was a badass engine. An engine in a piece of shit that had beat that kid’s car, and he wanted a rematch, only Bourne hadn’t been willing to give it to him.
What Bourne had been willing to give him was a fight, because Bourne was a fuckin’ ni
nja, and knew that he could win against the college prick.
I’d known that he fought because the next morning when I’d finally dragged myself home from the party, I’d found the car in the driveway and Bourne had explained.
Only, I hadn’t been there to witness the fight.
“Kerrie knows that I don’t like watching fights,” she said. “I hate them. They’re boring. Yet, every time there’s a fight, he wants me there to watch it with him. As if that kind of thing is something I enjoy. When I pitched a fit, he’d begged me to stay because he didn’t know anybody.” She stopped directly in front of me and poked me in the chest with her finger. I didn’t bother to tell her that it hurt, because I didn’t want to interrupt her train of thought. And I didn’t want her to feel bad. “He did it for a reason. There’s no other explanation. He made sure that I wasn’t around you and Delanie. Because he knew that something was going to happen. The only thing is, how would he have managed it? He had to have help.”
I sighed.
As much as I didn’t like how it’d all gone down, there was nothing I could do about it now.
Except confront Kerrie about it, and for some reason, I almost felt that it was divine justice that in the end, despite his meddling and scheming, I’d still ended up with the girl.
Before she could take a full step away from me, I caught her by the finger and tugged her until I was pressed up against her.
“I’ll look into it,” I told her. “Or, actually, I’ll have Bourne look into it. He’s better at creeping in the shadows than I am. I’m more of a bull in a china shop. He’s that sleuthing panther that can get places that I can’t.”
She licked her lips, her eyes on mine, as she said, “It’s still my fault.”
I tilted her head up by placing my knuckle underneath her chin.
“The actions of others is not your fault,” I said. “Does it suck that your father made decisions for you? Yes. Does it suck that Kerrie was a piece of shit and likely did something that changed all of our lives? Doubly yes. For you. For me. For Delanie. For Bourne. He changed the course of four lives that day with his actions. But, since I can’t prove it, right now, we’re going to let it go.”
She narrowed her eyes. “We’re not letting this go.”
I snorted. “We are.”
“Why?” She all but threw her arms up in annoyance.
Joke's On You- To beta Page 7
