Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Not quite three,” Rumi countered, sitting down across from me. “You dealin’?”
“With which part?” I asked sarcastically. “The fact that my high school girlfriend is suddenly back and sleepin’ in my house or that she brought our two-year-old son with her?”
“In your house that used to be her house,” Rumi pointed out. “Rethinkin’ that one yet?”
“No,” I said stubbornly. “I like this house. I’ve done a hell of a lot of work on it. It’s mine.”
“You had to do a hell of a lot of work to it, considering the state it was in when you bought it.”
“You here to bust my balls or what?”
“Nah.” Rumi shook his head. “Just checkin’ in. Knew you’d still be awake. Today was a complete mindfuck.”
“Understatement.” I reached up to rub the back of my neck where a tension headache was starting. “This was not how I’d thought my day would go when I woke up all fired up to paint that Dyna.”
“How’s that goin’?”
“She’s fuckin’ beautiful, man,” I said with a sigh. “Thought I’d deal with rust, but not a speck. It’s been a fuckin’ dream.”
“Can’t wait to see it finished.”
“Should only be another week.” I finished the last of my beer and leaned back in my chair. “Assumin’ I get into the garage.”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“The fuck am I supposed to do with them?” I asked, jerking my chin toward the stairs.
Rumi looked at me like I’d grown two heads. “Well, considering that Emilia is an adult and has been a parent for a couple years already, I’m guessin’ you can just leave them to do their thing?”
“I just go back to normal?” I said incredulously. It didn’t even seem possible.
“You gotta work, man,” Rumi replied with a laugh. “What did you think, that you’d just retire at twenty-one and live off your good looks?”
I threw a bottle cap at him. “Asshole.”
“Not sure your old normal is ever gonna be your normal again,” Rumi said, catching the cap. “But yeah, you’ll find a new normal. You gotta go to work, man.”
I nodded, but the thought made anxiety pool in my gut.
“You got the rest of the weekend to get them settled, yeah?” he said, watching me closely. “By Monday, you’ll be itchin’ to get outta the house like always.”
I nodded again, but I wasn’t so sure about that.
“Mick,” my brother said quietly, almost gently. “She wouldn’t have come all this way if she was just gonna take off again, yeah?”
“Wouldn’t have thought she’d take off the first time,” I replied. “Know her even less now. I got no fuckin’ clue what she’d do.”
“Alright, well take it from me, your younger but smarter brother—”
I scoffed.
“She didn’t come all this way to leave again, and you’re not the eighteen-year-old kid that she left the first time. It’s all good, man. Instead of worryin’ about what could happen, try just enjoyin’ gettin’ to know your son.”
“He looks like me,” I said, a grin pulling at my mouth.
“Fuck,” Rumi said, drawing out the word. “He’s a fuckin’ clone. When I saw him, it was like bein’ transported back in time. Hopefully he won’t be a little asshole like you were.”
“I wasn’t an asshole!”
“You were.”
“I always let you play with me,” I argued. “I was always nice to you.”
“You tolerated me at best,” Rumi said, pointing his beer bottle at me. “And that was only if Mom was watching.”
“Crybaby,” I muttered, making him chuckle.
“He’s got Em’s smile though,” Rumi said. “You notice that?”
“How could I miss it?”
“The rest is all you, though. Kid’s a bruiser. He’s gonna be bigger than me by the time he’s twelve.”
“I can’t believe I have a kid,” I murmured, shaking my head.
I wanted to both punch something and scream the news from the rooftops. I had a son. A two-year-old son. A son that looked just like me and was currently sleeping upstairs. It was wild.
“Unpopular opinion,” Rumi said hesitantly. “But you couldn’t have picked a better mother for him.”
I just looked at him.
“She fucked up, clearly, and I’m seriously fuckin’ pissed.”
I huffed.
“But she’s good with him, man, and he adores her. She’s a good mom, even if she did a shitty thing.”
“Can’t even wrap my head around the fact that she just didn’t say anythin’ for three fuckin’ years.”
“Me either,” Rumi muttered.
“Her parents died.”
“What?” Rumi watched me walk to the fridge, his eyes wide.
“Yep.” I grabbed another beer. “Car accident.”
“Sad for her, but I sure as shit won’t miss ’em,” Rumi said flatly.
“No shit.”
“That’s why she came up here?”
“Part of it,” I confirmed. “Realized she couldn’t support him on her own.”
“She’s here for money?” The look on my brother’s face was a mixture of surprise and disgust.
“I don’t think it’s as mercenary as that,” I said tiredly. “There’s a long ass story, but the CliffsNotes version is that her parents wouldn’t support her if she had any contact with me, and she was afraid to rock the boat. Once they were gone, she tried to do it on her own and finally realized it was time to come home.”