Page 84 of One Bride for Three Single Dads

If I don’t think about the bad stuff, then this is just a surprisingly beautiful day, on a flat warm rock, sitting next to the ocean for the very first time, feeling quite appreciated if the truth be told.

Is that heaven?

Alexis suddenly holds the phone out to me.

“Mom wants to talk to you,” she explains.

“Hey Amber, how are you?” I ask brightly, somehow afraid that she’s mad at me for something.

“I’m coming,” she announces.

I’m confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Ireland. I just… Alexis? Is she okay?”

I can hear the pain in her voice, all these thousands of miles away. It must be killing her to know that her daughter is this sad.

“Oh, Amber, it’s okay! Of course she misses you. She loves you so much!”

“I can catch a flight later today. I can be there tomorrow,” she explains in clipped tones.

My mind rushes forward. Amber? Here?

Okay, I don’t want to keep this woman from seeing her child, but I also don’t want her walking into a four-room cottage and figuring out our sleeping arrangements pretty much immediately.

Call me selfish, but that is the truth.

“Amber, we will be home in just a few weeks! Like, two and a half weeks!”

“Jolene, it’s the weekend. It’s not a big deal.”

I swallow uneasily. I know if I say anything else, she will figure it out. She’s brilliant like that.

“Jolene? Are you okay?”

Actually, I am kind of homesick for Amber too, I suddenly realize. Amber would not have overdressed Harmony. Amber never seemed to panic that Cole might spontaneously poison himself or set himself on fire. And Amber definitely would’ve known what to do with those bitches on the beach.

“Amber…” I begin, and my voice cracks.

“Jolene, listen to me,” she says seriously. “I will be there in a day. Everybody just hang on. You got me?”

It’s heaven, I remind myself. It really is.

“Jolene? Hon?”

“Yes?” I finally force myself to say.

“You just hang on, baby,” she tells me reassuringly. “I will be there tomorrow.”

Chapter 36

HARRISON

Ilove coming home to our crazy family.

I know that it sounds totally cliché and boring and whatever. But I love it.

When I walk through the door, Alexis dashes across the floor. She is so excited to see me. It reminds me of when she was a little baby. These days, she is so mature, this moment is the only time she really seems to let loose.

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