Page 43 of Quiet Chaos

Seth rises and lets out a breath. “I told her where you live.”

My eyes widen at the revelation he knew my address.

“She said she’s going to visit you.”

“I didn’t ask for either of you to come back into my life. Charlie died this year and now you’re showing up?”

He walks around the table toward the door. A foot away, he says, “Obviously, you have a lot of anger against us. Hopefully, you’ll work it out.” Seth locks eyes with me. “Julia is a good woman. She deserves respect. I’m sure Christine taught—”

“Don’t fucking talk about her. Get out!”

Seth disappears and I’m in my office, elbows resting on the desk, with my hands holding my head. I can’t believe it. I don’tneed them. My life is good. I have Sky, my brothers, the club, and business is great. There’s no room for them.

Time got away from me. Unfortunately, I made little headway at work, and now I’m heading home for a dinner out with Sky, Reed, and Patsy. Armstrong greets me before the door is closed. Music comes from Sky’s room. I yell to her, but nothing. Instead of bothering her, I take a shower to wash away the aggravation.

With a towel around my waist, I check out Sky coming down the stairs. I cover my mouth to stop from laughing as she walks around taking videos and selfies. She’s talking to the phone like it’s a friend. She’s adorable. I snatch her around the waist, and she screams and giggles while I spin her around. When she notices I only have a towel on, her face reddens, and she tries to avoid glancing down. I kiss her. The annoyance I had earlier melts away. This sweet woman is a good thing for me. I hug her, burying my face in her neck, smelling her hair.

“Did you have a good day, Cade?”

“No. But it just got better.” Her one hand rubs my arm while the other runs through my hair. I close my eyes, rocking her in my arms. Her body tick tocks back and forth. Sky’s touch is doing more to me than she would like, so I put her down.

“Can I get you anything?” I shake my head, spraying water at her. She giggles and waits for me in the living room.

Reed and Patsy are already at the restaurant. It’s a casual family dining. The owner comes over to shake my hand when we arrive.

“Cade. It’s so nice you came to eat here.”

“Nico, I love your food.” I turn to Sky. “Sky meet Nico. I’m his bourbon distributor.” My body shifts to him. “Nico, this is….” I don’t even know how to refer to her.

She pipes in and says, “Sky.”

He takes her hand. “It’s a pleasure, Sky.”

Nico escorts us to Reed and Patsy’s table. He pulls out Sky’s chair before I can and pushes it in as she sits.

He claps his hands. “What can I get you all to drink?” We place our drink orders with him.

When he’s gone, Reed asks how work was today.

“Shitty. And I don’t want to talk about it. What about you?”

He gives me a chin nod. “Got it. We’ll talk later.” Reed needs all the details. He’ll get it out of me some way. “Right now, work is slow. Nothing new in construction.”

We look over our menus. Sky asks me about items on the menu she isn’t familiar with, so I move closer to explain. Afterwards, I kiss her temple without thinking, and Reed and Patsy are staring at us, mouths open.

Being Patsy, she says, “Are you two…” her finger moves between me and Sky. “Together? Like romantically together?”

Sky’s nodding hard. It looks like her head might fall off. She takes my hand in hers and kisses the back of it. I wipe down my face to hide the discomfort.

“Yes. Cade and I had an amazing weekend. We laughed, listened to music, went to the Antelope Island National Park, and it...” Her eyes lock on mine with a tenderness, and her face softens. There’s so much adoration in her expression that I feel my face warm. My parents looked at each other the same way. “It was magical.”

Nico returns with our drinks. Reed takes one gulp, requesting another bourbon, and Patsy’s attention is stuck on us. Sky returns to her menu while I kick Reed under the table.

Patsy’s daze breaks, and she asks, “Sky’s your Old Lady now?”

Sky shakes her head and says, “Uh, we didn’t get that far.” She turns to me, but I ignore her.

Everyone’s eyes move around while we eat in peace. I know Patsy and Reed are full of questions, but I don’t want to discussit here. To get everyone to relax, I tell them to stop over after dinner so we can talk some more. This satisfies them.

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