Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Declan walks up, and I raise my brows at him. “You been letting my niece watch Dirty Dancing?” I ask him.
“What?” His face pales.
“Relax.” Kennedy joins us, a smile lighting up her face. “The movie, you know, with Patrick Swayze.”
“He’s dreamy, right, Mommy? And he’s gots the arm porn like Uncle Archer.”
We don’t even try to hide our laughter from this kid anymore. We draw looks from others in the room, but that’s nothing new when my niece Blakely is involved. “I’ll show you arm porn.” I flex and she tilts her head to the side to study my arm.
Is it possible to get a complex from the scrutiny of a seven-year-old?
“Meh,” she says, and I tickle her sides. She giggles, reaching out for her dad to save her.
“You did this to yourself, sweetheart.” Declan sniggers.
“Mommy!” Blakely squirms as she laughs, and points her arms toward Kennedy, who takes her from me.
“We ladies have to stick together.” Kennedy drops a kiss to Blakely’s cheek, then her husband’s before the two of them saunter off, still smiling.
“Lucky bastard,” I say, knocking my elbow into Declan’s stomach.
He stares after his wife and daughter with a dopey grin on his face and eventually turns to face me. “Yeah,” he agrees. His face sobers. “You good?”
“Yep. Why wouldn’t I be?”
He gives me a pointed look, and I don’t bother to hide the roll of my eyes. “I swear, eight brothers and you assholes gossip worse than sixteen sisters,” I grouse.
He shrugs. “All a part of being a Kincaid.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumble good-naturedly.
“So, Jordyn?”
“Wait!” I look up to see Orrin and Brooks headed our way. They’re both wearing shit-eating grins, proud of themselves for butting in to our conversation. Into my life. “Proceed,” Brooks continues, bouncing his two-year-old daughter, Remi, on his hip.
I reach out for my niece, and she comes willingly. “Tell your daddy and your uncles to behave,” I say, kissing the top of her nose.
“Have.” Remi points at her dad, and I grin.
“Daddy loves you,” Brooks tells her.
“Wuv you,” Remi replies immediately.
“What did we miss?” Orrin asks.
“Nothing,” I say.
“Yet,” Declan adds.
“Nothing to tell.”
“She’s back?” Orrin asks. It’s not like he doesn’t already know. This is just his way of butting in to the conversation.
“That’s what her message said,” I confirm.
“Did you text her back?” Brooks asks.
“Nope. I was a little busy watching our brother get married.”
“And now?” Declan asks. He raises his eyebrows, and he reminds me so much of Dad when we were younger and being grilled on some kind of trouble the nine of us were getting into.
“Family first.” A pang of sadness fills my chest because I always thought that Jordyn would be my family. In fact, I still think of her that way, and I’ll be damned if that doesn’t make me feel pathetic.
Brooks reaches over and places his hands over Remi’s ears. “Bullshit.” He releases her and she giggles.
“Daddy.” She reaches for him, and I release my hold on her. I was using my niece as a buffer from my brothers, and now I feel even more emotionally raw and exposed. Not that Remi could mask any of that. No matter the stair-stepped age difference between all of us, I’m close with all of my brothers.
Orrin is the oldest at thirty-six. At twenty-four, I’m second to youngest, next to the twins, who just turned twenty-two. Every two years, my parents had another boy until they got to the last. The twins, Maverick and Merrick, were double the trouble, and they stopped there. It’s a running joke. That’s not the reason, but growing up, we teased the twins about it. All in good fun.
“She can wait,” I finally say. “It’s been two years with minimal communication on her end. She picks today of all days to text me and tell me that she’s back? I should have known before her plane touched down. Instead, I get a text that she’s back, and that’s it. She. Can. Wait.”
Alyssa, Sterling’s wife, steps next to us. She places her hands on my arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. Alyssa has been in all our lives for as long as I can remember. She and Sterling grew up as best friends. We could all see that they both wanted more. It took them a little longer to confess, but once they did, it was full speed ahead. My brother married her as soon as he could, and now she’s our sister.
“You boys look pretty intense. How about I take Rem over to see Mommy?”
“Mommy?” Remi reaches out to Alyssa, who takes her into her arms, settling her on her hip.
“You need one of those.” Orrin points toward Remi.
Alyssa’s eyes light up. “Yeah, I think you might be right.” With a wink, and a bomb dropped, she walks away.
“I’m surprised she’s not already,” I say, as we watch her walk over to where her husband, our brother Sterling, is sitting at a table. He pushes back, and she doesn’t hesitate to take a seat on his lap. Alyssa is tiny compared to Sterling, but somehow they just fit. It’s always been them, and I couldn’t imagine my brother with anyone else. Good thing since they’re married and madly in love.