Page 63 of Everlasting Promises

“When I told him I was having dinner with you guys, he invited you both along.”

“Cool. What are we gonna do? Are we going to a bar for a drink?” Evan asks, as he moves to the edge of his seat, his eyes wide with excitement.

I chuckle. “Would you be disappointed if I said we sometimes play mini golf?”

His eyes widen further, and he leaps from his seat. “Mom, say we can go. Please!” He holds up his hands like he’s begging.

She chuckles at his excitement. “It’s a school night, Ev. And you haven’t done your homework yet.”

“I’ll get up early and do it before school.” He shakes his hands to emphasize his request. “Please say yes.”

“You’d be home and in bed by nine, if that helps,” I offer.

Her shoulders drop, and she blows out a long breath. Pointing her fork at Evan, she looks at him sternly. “You’d better do your homework in the morn?—”

“Yeah!” He throws his hands up. “I’m gonna kick your ass, Ben!”

“Evan Wyatt Sullivan. Watch your mouth!”

Woah, triple named!

He drops his head with apology. “Sorry, Mom.”

“It’s not me you need to apologize to.”

He lifts his brown eyes to me. “Sorry, Ben.”

I dip my chin. “So, should I tell Seb to meet us there?”

Hope nods. “Sure. We’ll just finish dinner and we can go.”

“We’ll have to drop Rex at my place.”

Hope drops her eyes to Rex, who’s stretched out on the floor beside Evan. “He can stay here, if you think he’ll be okay on his own.”

“He should be. He’s used to being in different environments and he’s grown quite comfortable here.”

She nods and I walk back into the living room. “You there?”

“Yeah. Evan sounds excited.”

I chuckle. “He is. Thinks he’ll kick my ass.”

Seb laughs. “Get in line, kid. That’s my job.” He pauses for a moment. “I’m looking forward to meeting the duo that has you tied in knots.”

We make the arrangements to meet, and I step back into the kitchen to finish my now cold dinner. But I don’t care, because I’ll be spending the next couple of hours with all of my favorite people.

29

HOPE

I standwith my hands on my hips as I survey the mini golf course.

It’s literally an entire golf course shrunk down to miniature, complete with greens and bunkers. None of this crappy fake turf BS on a flat concrete surface with metal bars surrounding the edge. This is a state-of-the art quality golf course right here.

I didn’t even know this place existed. Huge overhead lights make it feel like daytime, and the guys are enjoying a beer while Evan and I each drink a soda as we make our way around the course.

“All right, Ev. I need you to get a hole in one this round to knock Ben out of first place,” Sebastian urges.

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