And I’m going to be having some serious words with Tom, telling him to keep his kid in line. No way is my girl marrying a Carter—well, any male—ever. Belle’s going to be a nun when she’s older. I’m not even kidding.
“How exactly did you get married, Beauty?” I ask her.
She gives me a look that clearly says she thinks I’m stupid for not already knowing. “Dada, I held his hand, of cwouse.”
I bite back the laughter wanting to burst from me. “And does Creed know that you’re married, baby?”
She rolls her eyes at me. “’Cwouse he does. I told him so.”
Yep, she’s definitely entering the nunnery when she’s older.
I press my lips together, the tears in my eyes now from humor.
“I love you, Beauty.”
“Wuv you, too, Dada. Bye.” She kisses the screen, leaving wet lip marks on it.
Belle drops the phone, and the next thing I see through those lip marks is my bedroom ceiling.
“Um, Belle?” I call. “Tru? Anyone?”
“Hey.” Tru’s smiling face appears as she picks the up phone.
“Belle just dumped me and ran off,” I tell her. “And she just told me about her marriage to Creed.” I give Tru a look, raising my brow.
“Oh, yeah.” Tru laughs. “No need to worry there. Poor Creed. He went white when she told him that they were married. He definitely doesn’t have Tom’s scent for women.”
“Oh, give him time.” I chuckle. “Where’s Billy?”
“He’s in his room, sulking.” She looks like she’s holding back a smile.
“Why’s he sulking?”
“He got in trouble at school today.”
My boys aren’t bad boys, but it’s not totally unusual for them to get into trouble from time to time. They have my naughty streak.
“What happened?”
“I’ll let him tell you. Hang on.”
She starts to move with the phone, heading for Billy’s room. “Billy, your dad’s on the phone.”
I hear him grunt.
“I don’t want to talk to him.”
Um, thanks, Billy.
“Billy, your dad misses you, and he wants to talk to you.”
“Fine. Whatever.”
Billy’s face appears on the screen, and a real scowl is etched there.
“Hey, bud. What’s up?” I say softly.
“Nothin’.”
“Mom said there was a problem at school today. You okay?”
His eyes flash up from the phone—at Tru, I’m guessing—his frown deepening. “Mom, you promised you wouldn’t say anything.”
“I didn’t say anything, I swear,” she says.
“B, your mom just told me that there was a problem at school, not what happened,” I tell him, bringing his eyes to me. “You wanna talk to me about it?”
“No.”
Um, okay.
“Anything else you wanna tell me about what happened today?”
He pauses for a minute, biting his lip. “Well…I did sign up for…guitar lessons at school.”
“You did? That’s awesome news!”
Finally, one of my kids is showing an interest in music. JJ is all about sports, and Belle is obsessed with princesses and apparently getting married.
A shy smile creeps across Billy’s face.
“I can help show you some of the basics before your lessons start, if you want. Put you ahead of the class,” I offer, wanting that smile to stay.
His eyes brighten, his smile getting wider. “Sure. That’d be cool, Dad.”
“Okay, we’ll do that tomorrow night when I get home. You and me, guitar lesson in my studio.”
“Can’t wait,” he beams.
My heart elevates.
I made him happy, and that makes me beyond happy.
Look at me, total expert at fixing my kid’s problem.
“Put your mom back on for me,” I tell him. “And, B? I love you.”
He pauses and smiles again. “Love you, too, Dad.”
Seriously, there is nothing like hearing your kids tell you they love you. Nothing.
Tru’s beautiful face appears back on the screen.
I can tell she’s walking, so I ask quietly, “You out of earshot, babe?”
“Gimme one sec.” I hear a door shut, and then she says, “Okay, go ahead.”
“What did Billy do at school? I’m dying to know.”
Her eyes fill with mirth, and she bites her lip. “Don’t tell him I told you.”
“I swear, I won’t. Now, tell me.”
“Well, he…accidentally killed the class goldfish,” she whispers, humor in her voice.
I hold back a laugh. “And how did he manage that?”
“He fed it his lunch ’cause he thought it looked hungry.”
I can’t contain the laughter anymore, and it bursts from me. “How in the hell does a goldfish look hungry?”
Tru’s eyes are shining, her lips trembling. “He said it was…skinny!”
Laughter erupts from her. By this point, I’m belly-laughing.
God, I fucking love my kids.
“Ah, fuck.” I press my hand to my stomach. “I miss you guys.”
“We miss you, too.” She wipes the tears of humor from her face. “But you’ll be home tomorrow, yeah?”
“Yeah. If all goes well, I’ll be home tomorrow—hopefully, with good news that Storm’s gonna come live with us.” And that right there brings me back to the now.
Her face softens, all traces of playfulness gone. “It’ll be fine, Jake. He’ll just need time to adjust to the idea. But who wouldn’t want to come live with us? We’re awesome.” She smiles.