Page 30 of Alfie: Part Two

We’d been to two places down there, but I had a feeling he meant the one outside Greenville.

“We can discuss vacations soon,” West promised. “I just wanna make sure everyone’s okay with this. Adventures aside—Ellie, princess, how do you feel about all of us living together again?”

Our girl smiled, though I could detect some lingering confusion about the whole thing, and that wasn’t surprising. She was still so young.

“I want us together all the time,” she said with a soft shrug.

“Yeah.” Trip nodded.

I smiled and swallowed, feeling like shit for the instability we’d subjected them to. I mean, parents divorced all the time, and sometimes for the better. But it still hurt to be a root of pain and insecurity for a child.

Ellie sat forward and clasped her hands on the table, and she eyed us in the way she did when she wanted to push. She had something on her mind. Our little sneak.

“Can we get a dog now?” she asked. There it was. Christ. She looked to West. “Daddy, you said we don’t have time cuz you work so much, but now you will both be here…?”

That one’s all yours, papi.

I coughed to hide a chuckle.

West let out a sigh and smiled ruefully. “You work fast, don’t you?” He scrubbed a hand over his face, flicked me a quick glance, then looked back to Ellie. “I’m supposed to be discussing this with Daddy first, but the truth of the matter is, I’ve given this some great thought. A dog isn’t an option for us, so what would you say about a cat?”

A fucking what?

Ellie gasped and sat up straight. “I can get a kitten?!” she almost screamed. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Never mind, definitelyscreaming. And suddenly, jumping around. “I’m getting a kitten! Thank you, Daddy! Thank you, Daddy!”

In the commotion of our acid trip’s yelling and shaking us—or hugging us—I raised a brow at West.

“For real?”

“I’ll explain later, but it’s the right move,” he chuckled. “You did say once that a cat wasn’t the worst idea, yes?”

Uh, sure, but…neither was a goldfish.

“I’m getting a caaaaaat!” Arms up and flailing, Ellie ran a victory lap around the kitchen island. “I gots to call Lizzie R! I’m getting a cat! Oh my gosh!”

Fuck me, she better not try drugs when she grew up. No military in the world could defend itself against Ellie Scott on crack.

Kidding aside, she was goddamn adorable.

It was impossible not to smile, and I even caught Colby grinning.

He noticed my watching him, and he composed himself with a quiet chuckle. “So this is how mature grown-ups handle problems. Good to know.”

Was I mature? I wasn’t sure. Although, compared to the adults he’d been around growing up, I was hella fucking mature.

“Consider yourself invited to every family meeting from here on out,” West told him. “Now more than ever, you need to be around good family values and, well, me. Not this one.” He jerked his thumb at me, to which I cracked up. “I willnevergive up on you, Colby,” he finished vehemently.

Colby tried to go the cocky smirk route, though his bashfulness shone through a bit.

I leaned in with a grin and kissed West’s cheek. “But you’ll accept him, no matter what, am I right?”

That earned me a sharp, narrowed-eyed look.

I cranked up the innocence.

He wasn’t very impressed, but I was too cute for him to withhold a smile. “No matter what,” he echoed.

Excellent! I knew his boundaries, and I was going to honor them. I’d extend that to Colby too, something I’d tell West as soon as we had privacy. Truth be told, I had grown to care for the kid too, and I didn’t want him too close to danger. Luckily, as a future hacker, he was extremely good already at covering his digital footprints. He’d taught me a thing or two as well.

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