Page 77 of Embracing the Change

She knew him, and when he was like this, she knew she wouldn’t get away with hiding anything from him.

So she rolled her eyes and said, “I just felt like a third wheel.” She glanced back at the house and her lips quirked. “Or in this case, a sixth.”

“You’re not, you know.”

“Ugh!”

And there was his Dru.

Jamie grinned.

“I already told you I don’t feel like that anymore, Dad,” she finished.

“Just making sure,” he muttered, his lips still tipped up.

They heard footsteps on the deck and looked up the stairs to see Judge coming down.

He sat behind Dru and mussed her hair while she batted irritably at his hands.

Judge did this saying, “No fair you two squeezing out the older child and giving him a complex by whispering secrets to each other on the deck steps.”

“We were talking about Dad and Nora,” Dru didn’t quite lie.

“I think JT really cramped Dad’s style,” Judge announced.

He definitely did.

“Eww! Gross, Judge!” Dru cried.

“He’s just a man,” Judge kept at her.

Dru made a mock-gagging face.

Jamie started chuckling.

“So, I’m asking for an island to get over my possible-new-stepmom woes,” Judge stated. “You should ask for a car,” he advised Dru.

“Why do you get an island, and I only get a car?” Dru asked in return.

“Because I’m the eldest so I get special treatment,” Judge razzed.

Dru blew a raspberry at him.

“Neither of you are getting gifts because I found someone special,” Jamie stated.

“You ruined it.” Judge immediately fake-blamed Dru.

“Like Dad was ever gonna buy you an island,” she retorted.

“I think he was close,” Judge muttered, shooting a smile Jamie’s way.

“You understand now,” Jamie said to him. He turned to Dru. “And if it’s your choice, you’ll someday get it. But trust me, right now, sitting here with you two, I feel like the luckiest man alive.”

“Dad!” Dru cried and threw herself in his arms.

He held her close and looked over her shoulder to Judge.

“I’d say you suck, because you ended all the fun, but you don’t, which also sucks,” Judge said.

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