Page 127 of Dr. Brandt

“Okay,” I chuckled and laughed, “let’s let Collin, Elena, and Jacks decide whether we keep or ditch that emoji.”

“What are you planning? God, do not tell Collin that that is how I ended things with you.”

I smiled at him as we pulled up to the side of the house next to a bright orange Lamborghini. “Relax,” I said, getting out of the Bronco.

“Relax,” he huffed, opening his door and walking over to me.

“Damn,” Collin said, walking out of the front door as soon as we approached. “I trust everything is kosher between you two? I’m presumably looking at two flames reunited in the fiery combustion of love?”

“Yeah, Dad,” Cameron mocked. “All is fair in love and war.”

“I see it is,” he said.

“Where’s Elena and Jacks?” Cam asked.

“In the kitchen making pizza,” Collin said, turning to walk into their impressive home. “He’s teaching A-man how to make pizza or something.”

“How’s that working for Alex?” I questioned with a laugh, knowing how Collin and Elena’s two-year-old loved Jacks.

“Alex thinks he’s the one teaching Jacks. It’s an entire shit parade, but hell if I care. My son seems to have written the manual on the terrible twos, and whatever works to keep his destructive little butt under control, I’m down.”

“It’s half the reason you were eager to come up with some crazy lie to keep Jacks until this afternoon,” Cam interjected while we walked through the large home.

“It’s the entire reason, my brother,” he said. “It’s the only reason I’m thankful you two needed some alone time. Speaking of which, it’s all good, and no more break-ups, right?” Collin asked with a mischievous smile.

“I think we’re going to survive this one,” I answered as we turned a final corner and walked into the enormous chef’s kitchen.

“And thank the gods for that,” Collin said.

“Who are you, Thor?” Elena laughed as she pulled a hot, fresh-baked pizza from the oven. “The gods!”

“Hey,” Collin walked over to the fridge, pulled out two beers, and then looked at me, “beer or wine, hun? What’s your flavor tonight?”

“I’ll have a beer,” I said, watching Cam meet Collin at the fridge, grabbing his own beer.

“That’s my girl,” Elena said as I walked over to her and hugged her. “How’d it go?”

“Well,” I smiled, but then pulled it back, realizing Jacks wasn’t even in here, “where’s Jacks? We have news.”

“Goddamn right, you do,” Collin said, smacking Cam on the back while he took a sip of beer. “Choke it down because I want to hear all about it.”

“We’d like Jacks to know about it before your ass finds out,” he grinned.

“Oh, dammit,” Elena giggled. “Okay, okay. I get it, but we sort of know.” She squinted with a please tell us expression on her face.

“Okay,” I said, unable to contain my excitement, knowing Jacks wouldn’t be upset. “But where’s Jacks?”

“They’re out back, throwing the ball around,” Collin said, then he looked at Cam. “Before we get into the juicy details, I have to say that Jacks has got a mean left-handed throw. Unlike your dumb ass, he hits his target when he fires one off.”

Cam smiled with pride. Jacks could throw well with his right arm, but the boy didn’t stop until he worked out the left-hand throwing. It’s like he welcomed every challenge thrown his way so that he could conquer them. It’s just who Jacks was, and it was most certainly something he got from his father and, no doubt, from Henry Brandt.

“I’m beyond impressed with his skill. The kid seriously never ceases to amaze me.”

“We’ll go more into that later,” Collin said. “Back to how this lovely lady never ceases to amaze you.”

“How did it all go down?” Elena asked before looking at Cam. “Did you have rose petals all over the room, you know, all that cute romantic stuff?” she said, nudging him as she walked by and put another pizza into the oven.

“Something like that,” Cameron looked at me nervously. I could only laugh because I didn’t consider that we’d have to share our engagement story, and we hadn’t discussed an alternative to the naked, sweaty reality.

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