Page 71 of No Second Chances

I don’t want to, but I give her to her mom, but not before pressing the tiniest of kisses to her forehead. “I love you, Cassie.”

I start crying as I say it and don’t even pretend like I’m not. “I’m so frickin’ glad your momma named you Cassie, do you know that? Your auntie is gonna look after you forever too, you know that?”

She goes to her mother, completely oblivious to what I’ve said as she grabs and grunts. But it is true. That little girl won’t ever worry about anything.

“Moooom,” Nox groans as he walks into the room with Linc at his back. “Do you have to pull your boob out now?”

He covers his eyes and plops down in the chair on the other side of the room.

“You can come with me if you want, Nox.” I grab my purse, ready to head home and get some sleep finally.

“No.” He shakes his head with a smile. “I don’t wanna leave little Cassie. She needs me now. I’m her brother.”

Damn if I don’t burst into tears again at that.

“Are you okay, Auntie Kenny?”

“I’m fine,” I choke out around the sobs. “You’re just so cute, Nox. So responsible.”

He jumps out of his seat and hugs me hard. “Maybe you just need some tacos, Auntie. That always makes you feel better when you’re sad.”

“I think you’re right,” Linc says from my side with his hand on my back, rubbing in small circles. “Taco Bell on the way home?”

I sniffle, nodding. “Yeah. Tacos sound good.” Which sounds ridiculous since I’m still crying.

When I finally leave, after another two hugs from Nox and a super awkward kiss for Cassie that results in me almost being squirted by Parker’s boob, I climb into Linc’s truck and close my eyes.

I meant what I said when I promised him that he is what I want. I don’t need children to be happy. But sometimes I dream about them. Little girls with Linc’s blue eyes, clinging to their father’s leg while he tries to move around the house. Or a boy who calls me momma.

Linc pulls into the Taco Bell drive-thru and orders for me, making sure to get all of my favorites, and I look down at the diamond on my hand.

“Oh, hey, Officer Hayes.” Henley Moore, the teenager who actually may have saved my life, greets Linc in the drive-thru window. “How’s Kennedy doing?”

I stick my head forward. “I’m doing good. How are you? Did the insurance stuff get worked out? I told my insurance that I was the one at fault in the accident. I’m old, I can handle a little bit of an insurance hike.”

“Oh, yeah, it did. They just called me the other day, actually. Thank you so much for that. It’s hard enough trying to save for college and stuff, but they were going to slap on like over a hundred dollars a month for insurance after that.”

“Good,” I tell him. “You swerved to miss a moose in the road. That’s not on you.”

“Thanks, Kennedy.” Henley completely ignores Linc. “Your tacos are on me today, okay?” He holds out the bags. “Have a good one.”

“I like that kid,” I tell Linc when he pulls out into traffic. “He’s a good one.”

Linc nods. “Yeah, he is.”

He tells me everything that happened. Everything Henley did that resulted in them being able to break down the door, which is what bought me the seconds I needed to get the bat.

These tacos are the best thing I’ve had to eat in a week, and they aren’t even good. It is Taco Bell, after all. But they hit the spot, filling a hole in my stomach I didn’t realize I had.

“You ready for bed?”

I look up from my lap to see Linc standing there in pajamas a few hours later. I must have completely spaced out. Holding out my empty plate for him to take, I slide the blanket off my lap and get up.

“Yeah.” I yawn. “I don’t even remember eating dinner.”

“It’s okay.” He kisses my forehead. “I got some work done while you just sat there. It’s been a long few days with the baby getting here.”

“Yeah.” I follow him into the kitchen. “Any word on a date for Royal’s trial yet?”

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