Page 70 of Thick & Thin

“He was no problem. He and Jacob had a blast. They didn’t go to bed until almost ten. Lilly had them wired on sugar from baking cookies all night,” Devin said.

Lilly lifted her brow at him and shook her head. Even I knew he was full of shit. More than likely, he was the one who gave the boys sugar and let them stay up late. Devin was a great dad and an even better uncle. The boys loved him, and I was glad all the men in my family were so close.

“Any information on John’s funeral?” Dad asked, referring to Mr. Black and sending a wave of somberness over the family breakfast.

I shrugged. “Not yet.”

I hadn’t been to see Mrs. Black since Mr. Black passed. I was too scared I would bump into Josh. Telling Caleb about Mr. Black going to heaven had been hard enough. Especially since he didn’t understand and wasn’t handling it very well.

“What do you mean, not yet? When’s the last time you talked to Paula?”

Paula, aka Mrs. Black.

I picked up a piece of bacon and nibbled on it to buy some time. “Not since before,” I mumbled.

Dad’s eyes grew large. “You mean to tell me you ain’t went over there and seen her since he died? That man basically helped raise you. The least you could do is go over there and pay your respects. Hell, they spend just as much time with Caleb as the rest of us.”

My eyes clashed with Lilly’s at his words. She was the only person in the world who knew the truth about Josh being Caleb’s father.

“Dad, I’m sure they’re busy. I didn’t want to go over and bother them.”

Devin snorted. “More like you didn’t want to go over there and run into Josh. You can’t hide from him forever. He’s probably going to stay in town now that his daddy’s dead, so you’re bound to run into him sooner or later.”

I didn’t mention that I had already run into him or how he had basically ripped the flesh from my bones with his mean remark about my weight.

“I’ll go over after the funeral.”

Dad shook his head, clearly not pleased with me, and I looked away and finished my piece of bacon. The room went quiet for a bit. Even the kids remained quiet, somehow sensing how tense the moment was. Thankfully, Devin spoke up and cleared the moment.

“Dad said your car’s doing something funny. Have you figured out what it is?”

“Nope. I have no idea what it is. It’s running fine, but something’s clicking around the rear tire on the passenger side.”

“Want me to look at it?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’d hate to be driving it with Caleb in the car and something happen. I’m pissed I can’t figure it out on my own. It’s probably something stupid that I overlooked.”

An hour later, I was under my car beside Devin checking the rear suspension. It took him no time at all to figure out the problem, leaving me embarrassed that I couldn’t figure it out. Once we fixed the issue, we lowered the car, and I went to work checking the fluids while Devin went over to their SUV and started doing the same.

He wasn’t working long before I heard him drop a tool and cuss.

“What happened?” I asked.

I looked over and noticed him holding his left hand and the blood seeping through his fingers.

I grabbed a rag from the table behind me and went over to him.

“What happened?”

“The wrench slipped. Fucking sliced my hand open on the engine. Damn, this shit hurts.”

I chuckled, handing him the rag.

“Man up, Dev. You have two kids, so we know you have balls.”

“Can we please not discuss my balls right now,” he gritted out as he wrapped his bleeding hand in a rag.

Droplets of blood splattered onto the oil-covered concrete at our feet.

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