Page 152 of Unforgettable

It didn’t help that her parents were ambivalent about the entire situation—there was one phone call at the beginning of the week when she told them what was happening. They told her to tell them if he ended up being arrested and promptly hung up because they were “late for their brunch plans.”

Thankfully she didn’t plan to keep the news from our friends. Back in the city from their vacation at the lake, they were all eager to lend a hand in whatever way they could. Hazel had even offered their guest bedroom, actually their entire second floor, to Amanda for as long as she needed it. Amanda’s brilliant excuse was that her stuff was already at our place, which Hazel argued could easily be moved.

If Hazel didn’t know before about our little trio, she knew after Amanda’s subpar lie.

And then there was the bar. Rhonda had called me on my way to pick up Zach to let me know that she’d accepted an offer from someone else to buy Murphy’s Law. She said the new owner had some new ideas and a fresh perspective she found intriguing. That I would like him.

Although I’d told her that I wasn’t going to be able to come up with the money, my stomach still soured when she finally said out loud my worst fears.

So, I’d reached my limit. Actually, I was so fucking far past my limit that it was a tiny little speck of nothing in the distance.

“Amanda living with us is temporary and will have no impact on my relationship with Zach or my ability to be a good father. Which I am, you know, a good father. There’s a situation with her brother and her apartment, and she feels more comfortable staying with us. If it really bothers you that much, she will stay with Luke and Hazel next weekend while Zach is with me, okay?”

By some miracle, I finished speaking just as I’d begun, with a level, calm voice that didn’t convey the frustration boiling beneath the surface.

One of her blonde eyebrows lifted in defiance as she assessed me. She opened her mouth like she was preparing to lay into me, but thankfully, our blonde-haired, blue-eyed kid came racing around the corner, saving my ass for the millionth time.

“Daddy!” he yelled, and his sneakers squeaked along the tile entryway. His hands were tight on the straps of his backpack, trying to keep it on his shoulders as his little legs carried him to me as quickly as they could. I stooped down just in time to catch him midair when he launched himself toward me.

Fuck, it felt good to hug him again. Every day—I wished I could do that every day for the rest of his life. I wanted to hug him and keep him safe from anything and everything out there.

“I missed you, bud.” My words were muffled with my lips against his hair, but he heard me all the same.

“I missed you more, Dad.”

I laughed and set him down, his little shoes lighting up the moment they touched the brick.

“Where are you taking him?” Sam’s sharp tone caused my smile to fall as it always did.

“Luke and Hazel’s. They haven’t seen him in a while and wanted a visit.”

“Did they buy their pool yet? Aunt Hazel said she wants a pool so she can swim with Sadie!” The exact opposite of his mother, Zach was endlessly excited about the prospect of seeing his aunt and uncle.

“Have him home by six, okay? First day back from school is hard enough.”

“I’ll have him back.” I nodded in her direction and told Zach to hop in the truck. He yanked open the back door and heaved himself up, throwing his backpack down next to him.

Unfortunately, when I climbed in the truck and was greeted by an onslaught of questions and stories, I was already dreading having to leave him again in only a few short hours.

For the second time that day, I pulled into the long driveway leading up to Luke and Hazel’s house. Zach and I spent the day at their place, playing with Sadie and spending time with his aunt and uncle.

Hazel had wholeheartedly taken on the role of Aunt Hazel and enjoyed his company nearly as much as my brother did.

They bought an inflatable pool with the promise that it would only be temporary until they put one in the ground. He made Hazel promise that she would let him watch them put the pool in the ground.

The only thing that would have made the day better would have been having Reed and Amanda with us. The last thing I wanted was for the most important people in my life to be separated. Not being able to share moments with all of us was a new, cruel type of torture.

Like we’d timed it—although we hadn’t—I pulled up as Reed opened the passenger door of his sleek, black SUV for Amanda.

Both of them took my breath away. I hadn’t had time to do more than change out of my swim trunks and throw on dark-blue shorts and a white Henley that was slightly wrinkled from sitting in my bag all day. My hair was unruly from sweat and water and my nose and forehead were a little red.

Amanda’s hair was swept up in a loose bun at the top of her head, and she was fucking glowing. She wore a short red sundress that flirted with the tops of her knees and her feet were clad in small sandals.

Reed’s light-gray shorts hugged his muscled thighs and ass. And he wore a tight white T-shirt that cost more than probably mine and Amanda’s outfits combined. But he looked damn good.

My headlights illuminated their figures and reflected off their twin smiles. I couldn’t get out of the car quick enough. The door slammed behind me, and I found myself jogging up to meet them. Even if it shaved half a second off of my time apart from them, it was worth it.

“God, how do you always look like my surfer boy wet dream?” Amanda confessed with a heat in her voice and behind her eyes that raked unabashedly over me from head to toe.

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