Page 75 of Before You Can Blink
Fresh tears filled her eyes, and she held both sides of my face as she pressed her forehead to mine. “Just when I think I can’t love you any more, Jett Sullivan . . .”
“They’ve been dealt a rough hand. One I’m far too familiar with.” Pausing, I choked out, “At least they’ll get a chance to say goodbye.”
“Oh, honey.” Daisy crawled onto my lap, wrapping me up in one of her warm hugs that I swore held the power to ease both physical and emotional pain.
My arms tightened around her, and though today’s news had reopened old wounds, the ache was significantly dulled simply because this woman’s love—her compassion—never wavered.
And I prayed with all my might that there would never come a day when I was forced to live without it.
Chapter 14
Jett
Age 33
September
Ashriekprecededmywife’s sharp reprimand. “Tripp! We don’t lick people!”
My head snapped up to find her hauling our son away from the group of children playing in the church courtyard after service had concluded.
Cheeks pink, eyes cast downward, she was absolutely mortified by Tripp’s inappropriate behavior.
When she reached where I stood with Wade and Caroline, Rose, and my ma, she positioned our son so that he stood facing the trunk of a tree and commanded, “You’re gonna stay right here until it’s time for us to go home, young man.”
He sniffled, offering a weak reply. “Yes, Mama.”
It wasn’t often Daisy was harsh on the boy. In fact, she babied him to the point where I feared he wouldn’t be tough enough to handle taking over the ranch when the time came.
Ma leaned over to address my wife. “If you punish him every time his tongue comes into play, in twenty years some poor girl is gonna be real disappointed in bed because he’s a good boy who always listens to his mama.”
I choked on my own spit, hacking loudly while beating my chest with a fist.
Though it would seem I was the only one appalled by my ma’s lack of filter.
Daisy clasped a hand over her mouth to hide her smile while Wade and Caroline snickered freely. Even the more reserved Rose had the tiniest hint of a smirk teasing onto her lips.
Now that she had a captive audience, Ma kept rolling. “And God willing, that girl is Penny.”
Roughing a hand over my face, I groaned. “Can we give it a rest on that? They’re six.”
Everyone had gotten it into their heads that Tripp and Penny were destined to end up together, as if they were watching some fairy tale where the pair of kids growing up on the ranch together fell in love and would live happily ever after.
Maybe I was jaded because life had knocked me down more times than I could count, but it seemed unlikely that my son would marry the girl next door. Sure, she was the center of his universe right now, but that was only because they spent every waking minute together. I was certain that when he got older and his social circle expanded to include more girls, things would change.
Ma gestured a hand toward the courtyard. “Come on, look at her. She can barely stand being without him while he’s in timeout.”
Sure enough, Penny was no less than fifteen feet away, staring daggers at Daisy for being the one to keep Tripp and her apart.
And because my wife was the ultimate softie, she caved. Heaving a sigh, she bent over to speak to our son. “All right, Tripp. You can go back to playing. But only if you agree to keep your tongueinsideyour mouth until you’re at least sixteen.”
Thankfully, our conversation had gone over his little head, and it bobbed enthusiastically. “Yes, ma’am.”
He took off like a shot toward the blonde little girl, whose face broke into the biggest smile when she saw him coming.
“Make it eighteen!” I called after him.
Beside me, Wade countered, “Twenty-one!”
