Page 65 of In Spades

His fingers teased my skin where my tank top had ridden up. It sent a shiver up my spine.

“You got somethin’ on your mind, sweetheart?”

“A lot,” I admitted, finally ready to tell him everything. “But I, um… I don’t know where to start.”

He brought my hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to the center of my open palm. Tenderly, he asked, “Would it be easier if I ask?”

I knew damn well I could say no, and he wouldn’t question it.

But the time had come. No more hiding.

“That might help.”

He combed his fingers through my hair. The simplest touch from him had me feeling calm.

“Will you tell me about the kids?”

15

WILLIAM

“Will you tell me about the kids?” I asked.

She tensed at the question, though I didn’t think it was because of me. It seemed like a natural reaction to whatever was weighing on her.

Kristin said she didn’t know where to start, so I repeated how Hannah Jane had talked about…them?

Were they Kristin’s kids? How many kids? There had to be at least three. Hannah name-dropped two girls and mentioned Chase had a boy with him. Boys plural?

“I have custody of my four younger siblings,” she said.

Okay, that was something. I tightened my hold on her. I wasn’t running, and I wasn’t giving her a reason to.

I wanted to ask why she had custody of them but held back. “How long have you been responsible for them?”

Kristin sniffed. Her hand left mine, and she wiped away a tear. Something told me that she probably hadn’t cried in a long time.

“Five years,” she said, sucking in a shaky breath. “I got them when I was twenty. It’s why I never finished college.”

She didn’t say they’re why she never finished college. She said it. There was more to the story.

“Tell me about them.”

She looked up at me with surprise painted all over her face. “What?”

“I mean, if you’re okay with it.”

Kristin was quiet for a minute and closed her eyes as we rocked in the night air. Finally, with a calming breath, she began. “Logan’s the next oldest after me. He’s seventeen, and I don’t know what to do with him sometimes. He’s such a good kid, and he was so well adjusted before everything happened. Now his grades are in the toilet, he has no ambition, and no desire to socialize.”

I trailed my fingers up and down her arm as she took a deep breath.

“Kylie’s sixteen and is the Jekyll and Hyde of hormones and being way too responsible for her age. Hunter is twelve, and I can handle him so long as his nose is in a book. If he’s not occupied, he can be more dramatic than Kylie.”

Kristin’s voice softened. “Zoey is six. She doesn’t remember our parents at all. She wasn’t even a year old when everything happened. Up until now, she’s been the easiest because she didn’t know any different. This year, though, she started first grade and is realizing that our family doesn’t look like other families.”

She finished speaking and we laid in silence while tears rolled down her cheeks. I didn’t bother filling the void with conversation. I just held her.

Sometimes life sucked. Often, there wasn’t much to do about the situation except sit with someone in their pain.

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