Page 102 of Secrets That Bind Us
The bell rings behind our daughter, blue eyes looking up at the ceiling. “I gotta go. Bye Mom! Bye Dean!” she hangs up on us without a second thought.
I turn to Verity. “So, what do you say? Will you go to Homecoming with me?”
She pushes her glasses up her nose in that Verity way and grins. “I dunno… I heard you got kids,plural…”
I grab her by the ass and haul her up to me which makes her yelp my name. “Fuck yeah I do. I got the hottest woman alive pregnanttwice.” I say proudly, dipping low to kiss my woman. “Going for a third.”
“God, y’all are so hot.” Jake says from behind us, causing Verity to groan and pull away. “Trish needs you.”
She sighs. “Of course. Has anyone seen Zoey?”
“She’s with Evan on the patio.” He replies. She saunters off, and I watch her walk away– biting my lip, thinking of every disgusting position I’m gonna put her in later.
Jake stays with me, helping with the sign as I grab some screws that came in the box and Will’s drill, then drill it where my daughter told me it would look best. “About tonight…”
“All things ready to go?” I ask over the noise.
“I have one more thing coming in, but everything is set.”
“Thank you, Jake. I really appreciate you helping with this.” I reply, moving to the other side.
“I always knew it was you for her, by the way.”
I look over at him before drilling the last screw into the wood. “I always knew it was me for her, too. I just wish we could’ve all worked this hard to get us back togethera lotsooner.” I retort. “Oh, Sav wants you to help us when we go shopping for her Homecoming dress tomorrow. You down?”
“Am I down to help my favorite niece shop for her first date? Absolutely.”
I laugh, step away from the display and grab the wire to plug it into the wall. It lights up neon pink. He helps me move the small loveseat in front of it. I hear Jason and Eli’s voices coming back and we all stand around the thing, heads tilted to the side. “Sav’s right. It needs glitter.”
“Ohhhh, Ilovethat idea!” Jake claps. “I can go to O’Flannigan’s. I need to grab a few things for tonight, anyway.”
“What time do the book influencers get here?” I ask Eli.
“A little after five-thirty. We want to get video of them standing outside in a line via drone.”
I look down at my watch again. “And they’re leaving before eight, right?”
Eli sighs, obviously annoyed with me. “Yes. Why are you so nervous? Are you having second thoughts?” He growls at me, stepping closer– dark eyes getting a little wild.
“What?No. I just want everything to be perfect. I don’t want to fuck this up, you know? I want the kids to see me do it right. One day Sav is gonna get proposed to, and– ah, shit. I know Micah proposed in front of, like, forty people and–”
“Dean, man, I was there. There were sixty people she didn’t know with cameras everywhere.” Jake interrupts my spiral. “You have fifteen. And every single one of us are people she not only knows, but trusts, too.”
I take in a shaky breath. “I’ve fucked a lot of things up. I just want this to be a night she’ll never forget.” I shake my wrist to peek at my watch. “Shit. Okay. I need to go pick up my nana’s ring from the jeweler. You swear she’s a size six?”
Jake laughs. “You know, I’d probably be more worried if you weren’t this nervous. Are you gonna cry?”
I roll my eyes. “Fuck yeah, I am!”
“Then let's get this show on the road.”
I poke Jake in the shoulder. “Glitter spray.”
“I got it.”
I look over at Jason. “You ready, Chief?”
He nods. “Let’s roll, Sheriff.”
