Page 2 of What A Croc
Rubbing a hand along my unmarred neck, a small sigh escaped my lips. Long ago dreams of a true mate–a fated mate–slipped back into a drawer where they needed to stay. Jane had never claimed me. She had had various sound reasons for it at the time, and I had given in and gone along with them, not voicing how her refusal to mate mark me had made me feel unworthy and inadequate. Though, during our divorce proceedings, I had been thankful more than once that we had never claimed one another, and I didn’t have to go through the painful, and expensive, procedure of breaking a mate bond.
Putting my thoughts of would have, could have, and what if’s away, I concentrated on the life I had now. More than happy to spend the rest of my days with my son and granddaughter. Besides, I was way too old to meet someone now, or to have fantasies about finding my fated mate. Not everyone had one, and it was painfully obvious that I did not.
Honestly, I really hadn’t put much stock in the whole fated mates nonsense, until moving to Sweet Alps. My son, and all of the close friends he had made here, had met their fated mates in the Northern California town. There was definitely something in the air here, or the water, but that was for the younger omegas to dream and gossip about, and not one well past the first blush of youth.
Nope, I was perfectly fine with my new, single life. Honestly, I didn’t even mind being alone most days. Inever felt lonely, and sometimes I even craved the quietness of my two bedroom cabin in the woods, especially after spending all day in a building with rambunctious kids.
“Speaking of work,” I commented, interrupting Wyatt and Becks as they stared lovingly at each other. “I’d better get to it.”
Julianna lunged towards me, hands outstretched, and Becks had to make a mad grab to catch her.
“Hops! Hops! Go!” she demanded.
Laughing, I asked Wyatt, “Want me to take her with me?”
He nodded, shaking the wild mane of light brown curls that he had inherited from me. Though I kept my hair cut much shorter than his and brushed back from my forehead. As I’d gotten older, my hair had darkened some, the brown strands now heavily laced with gray and white.
“Please, if you don’t mind. I need to get payroll done this morning, and Ryan and I need to go over schedules. And we have a new enrollment starting this morning, Aiden Sobek. He’s not quite five yet, so he’ll be in your group.”
Taking Julianna from Becks, I settled her on my hip, smacking a loud kiss on her cheek that set her to giggling. “Ryan mentioned I’d have a new addition last week. Aiden’s dad is working for Brendan at the department store?”
Wyatt nodded. “Jackson Sobek will be acting CFO of Sinclair’s department store and the Sweet Alps Mall. He’ll be at Sinclair’s on the days Brendan is home with Charlie, and at the mall when Brendan’s in the store offices, from what he explained. Really nice guy, at least when he did his tour. Ryan likes him a lot. He and Brendan have had him over for dinner a few times since he moved here. Jackson’s a widower and a single dad. They moved from Connecticut, so Sweet Alps is a bit of a change for him.”
Becks raised a brow, “You have more tea than I do on the guy.”
Wyatt smirked, “Ryan can be a chatterbox. He’s been all over our chat group, plus gabbing at work.”
“Still, I’ll–”
Wyatt pointed a finger at his mate. “Grayson Beckett you will not run a background check on the man, dig up dirt, or whatever other nonsense you and Jamie Sinclair get up to when you’re bored. I’ve run the standard background I use for the daycare, and everything checked out. Like I said, he’s a nice man. Leave it be.”
Waving at them both, I settled Julianna into the extra car seat I kept in my car for her, and got my day started.
Chapter Two
Jackson
“Daddy?”
The small, quiet voice of my son from the backseat had my eyes straying from the road to the rearview mirror. Catching him solemnly looking at me in the mirror, I smiled. Even if he couldn’t see it, I hoped the gesture would reach my eyes. He was frowning, his little brow furrowed in a way I had seen way too much on his almost five-year-old face.
“What’s up, kiddo?” It still made my heart clench a little how much Aiden resembled Levi. The same shape of his eyes, cute button nose, the curve of his mouth. Even the way he stuck out his chin when he was trying to be brave, or stubborn, or wanted to ask something really important. Exactly like he was doing now.
“What if they don’t like me?” Aiden’s small voice held the tiniest tremor to it.
Well…fuck.
Wishing Levi was here for these moments did me no good, but he’d been so much better at this than I was. Or he would have been, had he been able to be here for these moments. He’d had way too short of a time being a father, but I knew he would have handled all of it so much better than me.
If you’re up there watching, love, I could use some whispered words of how to navigate this.
My silent…plea, because I had stopped praying or believing in a higher power of anything when I had watched Levi’s casket be lowered into the ground, went unanswered. Much like it usually did.
I was well and truly on my own, navigating single parenthood more than I ever had since my husband’s passing. In those early days, I was so thankful for my large family, who lived close. And Levi’s mom had been able to step in to help, watching Aiden for me so I could work and taking on the burden of a baby and beyond. Unfortunately, lately she had been stepping in just a little too much for my liking. It wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful for her help, because I was doubtful I would have made it on my own had she not offered her help.
Man up,my croc snapped his teeth sharply, his scales rippling beneath my skin,you got this.
I very much don’t have a damn thing, but I appreciate the vote of confidence.
