Page 57 of Beacon

I miss this girl, and the bossy one yelling at her sister, along with their mother and her men.

“Your secret is safe with me, Bridge. But want to know something?”

Her eyes, so much like her father’s, widen. “What? You gots to tell me.”

“It’s snowing here, too, honey. They say we may be snowed in for a while.”

“Oh, shucks, I want to be snowed in with you.”

“Little Bird, Mommy wants her iPad back so she can talk to your Aunt Sandra.” Miles stands behind Bridget, taking up the rest of the screen. “Say bye-bye to her, baby.”

“I got to go, Aunt San San. I love you.” In the screen she runs away, yelling for Maggie, something about living in York New.

“You doing okay, Sandra?” Miles asks, making small talk as he carries me to my sister. “I heard things ended with you and Dom.” He pauses in order for me to elaborate, and I don’t know how to answer him.

“I’m good, Miles, thanks for asking. And yeah, Dom and I decided to end things.” Okay, so I don’t know what to say, and I won’t give details. What does he want from me? To admit I’m so miserable that I crawl into bed as soon as I get home from work?

“Okay,” he drawls out.Don’t say it, Miles,I think to myself. “Hang in there, here’s Cami.”

And he fucking said it. If I have one more fucker tell me to hang in there, I’ll haul off and left hook their asses.

“Sorry, San, Miles and Dane are just concerned.”

I don’t expect my sister to keep things from her partners, but I’d asked her to leave the whole no children thing between us. I don’t know why, but when a woman decides against having children, we’re looked upon as monsters.

She moves around the maze of their New York condo, almost five thousand square feet, and into her new office for her perfume and soap-based business she’s in the middle of launching.

“I haven’t told them anything, only that the breakup was mutual so they don’t kill him.”

She has more to say, and I wait for it.

“I’ve known for some time you don’t want kids, but is it different with Dom? I mean, could you see him as the father of your child?”

“Yes, and that’s the problem. He’d be a great father, and if we’d got together when I was younger, I’d have a couple and this would be a moot point. But at my age…” I pause, because my sister is pregnant and we’re the same age. “You know what I mean, by the time I were to have babies, I’d be forty-one, maybe even forty-two.”

“You do realize that we are the same age, right? And I’m pregnant. Is it hard when you’re pregnant at an older age. Abso-fucking-lutely. But there’s better options for older soon-to-be mamas. Plus, pregnant sex is the best. Oh, maybe...”

She looks down at her watch on her wrist, yelling out, “Early bedtime for the girls tonight, guys!” She turns back to me. “Don’t think I’m pushing you; children are a lot, but they’re worth it. I love you.” I’m glad she’s ending the call. I can’t talk about it any further.

One quick peek outside, and I see the streets are virtually empty and snow is sticking. Yeah, this native Chicago woman knows what a snowstorm looks like, and this one will be a doozy.

Moving to the side window, I get a little peek at the snowfall. It’s coming down faster than it had been when I walked home from work just an hour ago. I’ve not gone next door to get my baby boy. I open the door, and Mrs. Winslow is in front of me. “Hey, honey. I was getting worried about you. I think we’re going to be stuck for the weekend. All of Chicago is about to come to a standstill.”

I don’t know what I would have done without Mrs. Winslow. She’s a gem, and I adore her. We look out for one another. “You’re not going anywhere, are you, Mrs. W?”

“Hell, no. But he was getting antsy. This special little boy knows when to be worried about his mommy, and in the last month, he’s been especially intuitive when it comes to you, sweetheart.”

I know. He’s been velcro-ed to me more than is typical.

“I think Otis misses him too,” Mrs. Winslow says out of nowhere, but she’s not wrong.

“I know he does.” Otis is standing on his rear feet, using my legs to stretch. “I should take you to the bathroom before we’re stuck for several days,” I say to his sweet face.

“I just did. So, get snuggled in your apartment and put onFast and the Furiousfor your good boy.”

“Mrs. Winslow, you spoil this guy so much.” I bend over and pick him up.

“Oh, and I spoil you too, sweetheart.” She hands me a grocery bag. “I found them this morning at a local market and bought them all out.”

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