Page 94 of Lucky Strike

“We won’t let it come to that,” she says. “And yes, I acknowledge the irony of falling for a man who could leave me in the same position my dad left my mom.”

“You’ll never be in that position,” I say firmly. “You’ll always be taken care of. Know that.”

“I’m weaker than I thought,” she whispers, the trust in her eyes slaying me. “Weak for you.”

There’s so much I want to say, but it’s late and I’m tired. The air conditioning cycles back on with a muted hum, and after a minute, Bria stills in my arms, her breathing evening out.

I’m sittingon the patio, reviewing a spreadsheet of Kelly Logistics’ monthly outgoing shipments, when a lone yellow leaf drifts onto my laptop. We’re halfway through October, and every day is cooler than the last. Collecting my paperwork before the wind does away with it, I close my laptop and stand. It’s later than I realized, dusk having leached the last of the sunlight. I’m surprised Liam hasn’t asked about walking the dogs yet.

School started a little over a month ago. He’s excited, the way little kids who don’t have to think about homework and responsibilities tend to be, loves walking to Young Friends with Bria and the dogs every morning. When I enter the kitchen through the back door, I find him on his stepstool between Bria and Nola, helping with dinner.

Chuckling, I close the door and put my stuff on the table. “Smells good in here. What’s cooking?”

Liam looks over his shoulder, brandishing a small knife. "We're making my favorite dinner in the world, Dad," he says. “Lasagna!”

“I don’t know what we’d do without Liam.” Nola picks up Liam’s cutting board and tilts the contents onto an enormous casserole dish.She smiles at me. "He’s an incredible sous chef. Maybe that’s his calling.”

"Maybe it is," I say, peering at the bowls and boards littering the counter. Looks like Bria’s teaching him how to cut zucchini and mushrooms. Nola’s lasagna recipe is a little unconventional, but that’s why we love it so much. Good way to sneak in vegetables, too. “Are you guys almost done?”

Bria nods, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. “Just about. All that’s left is the baking.”

“You wanna take the dogs for a walk, buddy?”

“Yeah!” Liam jumps off the stool and runs to where we keep the dogs’ harnesses. “Let’s go the other way, so we can see the house with the skeletons!”

“You coming?” I ask Bria, resting my hand on her hip. We don’t bother to hide it from Nola anymore. She’s probably known from the start, anyway.

“Sure.” She wipes down her spot on the counter and places her cutting board and knives into the sink. “Nola?—"

“Go on, love. This’ll take about an hour in the oven, so you’ve plenty of time.”

Once Bria and Liam have hoodies on, we head outside. It’s a crisp, cool night, tinged with the nostalgic fall scent of woodsmoke. The days are shorter now, of course, so it’s already getting dark, but that just makes it easier to see the jack-o-lanterns burning from people’s windows.

“He gets so excited about those skeletons.” I laugh when we pass the house Liam loves. He does a little dance, pointing at the giant skeletons towering over us. “Maybe I should get a pair.”

Bria snorts. “I can already hear your mom’s commentary.”

“She’d freak,” I agree, rolling my eyes. “It’s so tacky, Conlan!”

“It kind of is, but that’s part of the charm.” Bria snaps a picture of Liam, backlit by spooky, glowing decorations. “I don’t think anybody takes Halloween as seriously as New England.”

“We’ll go upstate one year. It’s really atmospheric.”

“Did Tristan tell you how, the year after you graduated, Sterling did a Haunted House in the forest? It was bananas!”

“Dad! I wanna be a skeleton!” Liam yells, running back to us.

Bacon strains at his leash, trying to sniff something near the street. “I thought you wanted to be a dinosaur again.”

“I did, I do, but I wanna be a skeleton.” He runs off again. “Maybe I can have two costumes!”

“How’s jiu jitsu going?” I ask. Bria decided to take Tristan up on teaching her after all—they practice at Callaghan’s a few days a week while Liam’s in school. I told him I’d crush his windpipe if he didn’t keep things a hundred. He told me to go fuck myself.

“It’s … going.” She chuckles. “It’ll be a while before I’m at Liam’s level.”

“That’s okay. You’ll get there.” I don’t let on how glad I am that she’s learning to defend herself. The skills she’s learning are invaluable to anyone, but especially if she’s going to be around me and this life.

“Tristan was trying to show me how to use pressure points the other day, but it’s harder than it looks.”

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