Page 63 of Rent Free

What would’ve happened to my life had I gotten to spend the last two years with Forest from the moment he was born?

All those questions were useless to ask, though, because there would be no answers.

I would never know how it would feel.

But I did now.

I had him, and I would fight to keep him.

It would take an act of God to get him away from me.

Emory was about to find out what it was like to fight the devil, because I would not stop.

“Hey, bud.” I pointed at the police car. “That’s what I do. Daddy.” I pointed at myself. “I’m a police officer.”

“Peas offer?” he asked, turning his eyes to me.

I nodded, turning my gaze back to the road. “That’s what I do. I’m a police officer.”

He opened and closed his fists, which I watched him do five times.

My heart kind of stalled there in my chest for a few moments as I looked down at my own hand, clenching and unclenching eight times.

Shit.

Had I passed that on to him?

My worries were everywhere as I drove the entire way to Pie Hard contemplating what else I’d shared with him through my genes.

Would he sleepwalk?

Was that even something that could be passed down through genetics?

I parked the truck in the front and was unsurprised when it caught the attention of Maven and Pepper.

Both women beamed as I got out of the truck.

I got Forest out of his seat and walked with him into the shop.

The moment we crossed the threshold, he said, “Down!”

I put him down and he all but ran, putting his face onto the glass.

Both women behind the counter laughed.

His face lifted at the sound, and his eyes snagged on Pepper.

“Peppa!” he cried out exuberantly.

My heart once again stalled in my chest as he all but sprinted around the display cases toward Pepper.

Fuck.

How had I misjudged her so badly?

Generally, I would trust a child’s intuition over an adult’s.

And he liked Pepper from the moment he’d awoken and seen her.

---