Page 214 of Smooth Sailing

My “Honey” this time was trembling.

He rubbed his nose against mine before he said, “I think you get, if I had a shot at havin’ my mom back, I’d take it.”

Yeah, I got that.

“And you just got your dad back,” he continued. “No way in fuck I’m takin’ that away from you…or him.”

“It’s not the same thing,” I pointed out.

“No, not entirely, but it still kinda is.”

I couldn’t argue that, so I repeated, “And you just figured out what the Club really means to you.”

“My Club, my family, they’re not goin’ anywhere, Di. They’ll always be there. Another thing I learned recently ’cause Pete put it up in my face, and then Dutch did, and finally Tack did…they want me to be happy.” His arms tightened around me. “You said it earlier, babe, but I don’t think you get it. It’s you that makes me happy, Di, and they want that for me. They’ve all said it, about you, direct. Even Tack, and he hasn’t even met you. Just told me to get you up to meet the family.”

“He did?”

“Yup.”

“Whoa.”

“Yup.”

“Does Big Petey have a big mouth?” I asked suspiciously.

“Yup.”

I didn’t find this surprising.

“Okay,” I stated.

“Okay what?”

“Okay, I’ll go up to Denver. I want to see it. I want to meet everyone. I’ll talk to Annie about scheduling a vacation, sometime really soon, spend a week up there. I still have a week of vacation left. I’ll go up there, get a really good look around so we can decide. I might love it. Who knows? But I want the experience I’ll need to make an informed decision. If it doesn’t seem for me, then we can do it your way.”

His lips started to spread into a grin.

I put a finger to them before it fully formed.

“But I want you to promise to communicate with me,” I demanded. “If the heat gets too much. Or you don’t like working at a home improvement store. Or you just miss your family.”

He pulled my hand from his mouth and said, “I can promise that.”

“And I don’t want any long-distance stuff.”

“Come again?”

“You need to go up there to deal with whatever you have to deal with, laying your issues with your biological father to rest, okay. But when you come back, you bring your truck, haul your bike, fill your truck with your stuff, and we’re doing this.”

He rolled further into me so he was totally on top of me.

And man, oh man, I freaking loved the look he had on his amazing face.

“We’re doing this?” he asked.

“All in,” I declared.

“You totally fucked out?” he asked.

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