Page 132 of Coach
He nodded at that, then watched Este move past the door.
“You love her, huh?”
“More than I thought I was capable.”
“And the kids?”
“Yeah, we’re loving being parents. Want a bunch more.”
“She got a sister?”
“Only child. Don’t worry. After we eat and find you your art supplies, the guys and I will drag you to the bar and get you laid.”
“What guys?”
“Right. Yeah. About that. I didn’t exactly leave the criminal world behind me,” I admitted. “When I got out, I was offered an opportunity to join the local MC.”
“Bikers?”
“Bikers.”
“Weekend warriors or…”
“Or.”
“Huh.”
“Been one of the best decisions of my life,” I admitted.
“Yeah? They taking applications?”
“Maybe. But first, can you get that shoe out of my kid’s mouth?”
So, yeah, that was how Deacon became a part of the family too.
Este - 15 years
“Breathe,” Saul said, pressing a hand into my lower back as I just barely resisted the urge to leap forward and yank my baby away from the saw. “He knows what he’s doing.”
“This was a child I once saw using a butter knife to cut through a two-by-four.”
“When he was five.”
“He’s barely older than that now.”
“He’s a teenager,” he reminded me.
“Don’t say that. He’s a little boy.”
“He’s got facial hair. And he stinks. All the time. And he now calls us ‘dude’ instead of Ma or Papá.”
“Ugh. Why does he smell so bad? Did you smell that bad? Did all the boys I went to school with smell so bad, but I was too overcome with my own hormones to notice?”
“Think they all go through a stink phase.”
“Not me,” our daughter, a very girly eleven-year-old, declared with a lift of her chin. “I took two showers yesterday.”
“Yeah, about that,” I said, running a hand down her hair. “Our water bill is going to be insane.”
