Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 269(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 269(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Not a chance in hell, Jared thought. Dakota was like an elephant. She forgot nothing. And if Dylan didn’t bring it up again, her twin would. But he was relieved they’d both accepted he’d be around more and as he’d gotten ready to leave, Dakota pronounced him Daddy Jared. Because he was the baby’s daddy, she’d explained.
Despite her reasoning, the name affected him on an emotional level. This little family called to him in ways he still didn’t understand.
Chapter Fourteen
The rest of the weekend was exceptionally busy with him playing catchup with work obligations. Still, he’d tried to stop by Charlotte’s apartment as much as he could and she seemed to understand work was pulling at him. Which made her different than any of the other women who’d passed through his life.
He appreciated her good-natured acceptance of his job, though he’d assured her things would lighten up when Aiden came home and helped him out.
He came by on Monday morning, fixing up punch list type items in the apartment, then he decided to stop by his father’s house after work.
After seeing the twins’ room filled with stuffed animals and other items important to them, he had the idea of going home. The basement was full of things from all his siblings, labeled by kid and pressure-sealed in boxes. He wanted to see what was in his mementos from childhood and what he could pick up for his kid.
His kid.
The thought was still surreal.
Not for the first time, he wished his mom were here to meet her first grandchild. A lump swelled in his throat and he swallowed over it, pushing it down.
After he arrived, he spent some time with Lizzie who was cleaning up from dinner, then headed to his dad’s home office to visit before he hit up the basement.
He knocked once and walked inside. To find his father smoking with the window wide-open, puffing smoke out the screen.
“Goddammit, Dad!”
“Jared! What are you doing here?” Alex rose from his seat, the cigar dangling between two fingers.
“Never mind that. What are you doing with that thing in your mouth? Again? The doctors told you to cut that shit out for good. I’ve been working my ass off to keep you healthy and you’re still sneaking around behind my back?”
To Alex’s credit, he dipped his head in shame. “I quit. I swear. And then when we had that problem with Randalls and the scandal and plunging stock. I took one puff to relax… and I was hooked again. It’s hard.”
Jared snapped. “You know what’s hard? Me, working my ass off to take your place so you stay healthy. Me, giving up a life, dating, women, to dedicate myself to this business so I can take over from you one day and make you proud because I’ll never know if I could have made Mom proud.”
Now, where the fuck had that come from? He shook his head, attempting to dislodge the thought from his brain.
“Oh, son.” Alex stubbed out the cigar, rose from his seat, walked toward him, and slung an arm around his neck. “Your mother loved you. She loved all of you and you all make her proud.” He drew a breath. “But especially you,” he said in a gruff voice. “Because you’re taking care of me.”
He didn’t know how his father knew but… “I needed to hear that. And I need you to quit smoking and drinking. And coming to work too early and staying too late.” He paused, then admitted, “Because I can’t lose you, too.”
His father’s face crumbled, tears in the older man’s eyes. “I never thought of things that way, through my kids’ eyes.” He dipped his head. “Okay. I finally hear you.”
“I hope so dad, because I love you. We all do.”
Father and son hugged it out and Jared pulled himself back together emotionally. Clearing his throat, he said, “I came here to go to the basement. I wanted to look through my old boxes of stuff.”
His dad nodded. “Want me to join you?”
Jared shook his head. “I’ll be down there awhile.”
He left his father and walked the hall leading to the basement, then down the long flight of stairs. His father had the walkout finished when they moved here and he knew exactly where to go. In the large square closet with white shelving sat the labeled boxes.
He pulled down the one he remembered looking through as a kid and opened the sealed top. He sorted through comic books and baseball cards, baseball trophies, a mitt, and other various objects he remembered from his childhood. He could definitely give his boy… or girl a mitt and teach them to throw and catch.
He lifted a piece of cardboard and underneath was the one thing he never admitted to anyone that he’d kept. Only his mom knew his secret. A light green stuffed alligator with little white teeth.