Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“You said pressure, and my mind wandered,” he clarified. “If we hire someone to run things in the background, you and I can focus on what we do best. More productions.”
Oh. Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. Technically, we’d already included Haley. Her insight into PR and marketing had given us a huge boost.
“It might be nice to have a coordinator of some sort,” I admitted. “Coordinator slash agent slash manager slash…”
Roe chuckled. “Exactly.”
I smiled and nodded. We could do that.
Then I had to change the topic. The light show above us and the fact that we were slowly making our way toward home made this night feel final in a way. We had two days in northern Finland, and then we were off to Helsinki, their capital, to return to the States.
“Thank you, by the way, for…you know. I feel better.”
He didn’t need me to elaborate. He glanced up at the Lights again. “Don’t get uncomfortable now, Jake, but I love you. You’re my brother. I’m glad I was there. And I’m sorry you had to go through something like that growing up.”
I swallowed hard as a rush of emotions unfurled within me. Sorry, but I did get uncomfortable, though that didn’t mean his affectionate words weren’t welcome. Just unfamiliar. I didn’t know how to react to such a statement—or how to be so close to someone as I was to Roe. That had never existed in my life before. I’d had friends, countless of them, and none of them had been very difficult to say goodbye to. We’d drifted apart. I’d left the service. I’d moved. I’d graduated. I’d closed one chapter and started a new one.
Roe was different. I wanted him in every chapter of the rest of the book that was my life.
“You’re uncomfortable,” he chuckled.
I grinned. That was how easily he broke the ice whenever I froze. “Yeah, but I feel the same too.”
He smirked. “I know you do. Grandma Josephine gave me some helpful pro-tips, and now I’m fluent in Jake Denver. I cracked the code.”
I let out a laugh, feeling so much weight just fall off my shoulders.
*
After a layover in New York, we landed at LAX late in the afternoon on a sunny Friday, and Roe and I only had one thing on our minds. Get to Culver City with Colin and stuff our faces with comfort food. Then sleep.
Right outside the airport, where people were greeting loved ones and hurriedly filling their cars with luggage, Haley climbed out of my truck with Colin in her arms. Fucking hell, talk about a sight for sore eyes. I knew they’d waited a while. One of our bags had ended up on the wrong carousel.
“Dada, Woe! Dada!”
Roe and I pushed our carts faster, and Haley helped Colin down when she deemed it safe. Then I had my boy tumbling toward me, and I swooped him up the second he was within reach.
“Ahhh, Daddy missed you so fuckin’ much.” I hugged him tightly and pressed kisses all over his head. He laugh-cried, struggling with his emotions, and swatted at my beard. He wasn’t used to that.
“Oh no, Daddy and Uncle Roe turned into cavemen, Colin!” Haley faked a gasp.
“The words you’re looking for are ruggedly hot as fuck,” Roe corrected her with a grin. “Hey, hon.”
Haley giggled and hugged Roe. “Hey, scruffy. You can almost pull it off.”
I smiled against Colin’s chubby cheek and kept smooching him. I had no words for how much I’d missed him.
“Almost,” Roe scoffed. “Just because I don’t ooze Neanderthal sex like Jake doesn’t mean I’m not fuckin’ smoking.”
God.
Haley cracked up hard—a little too hard, if you asked me—but I was too tired to join in. I just shook my head in amusement and nuzzled Colin’s neck.
Neanderthal sex, huh?
Well, he was bisexual, so I hoped he was telling the truth. I didn’t mind the ego boost. I’d been out of the dating game so long that a man’s compliment evidently did the trick.
Once we’d loaded up the luggage and equipment, I had to relinquish my death grip on Colin for a while and take the wheel. We dropped everything off at home first, and then headed north, first to take Haley home to Pacific Palisades. Culver City was next, and if it hadn’t been for the mouthwatering smells of the food trucks that greeted us, I would’ve turned back for home. I was so damn tired at that point, I could probably sleep in the truck.
“Yeah, you’re all mine now, little bear.” Roe positioned Colin on his hip and got plenty of hugs too. “Damn, I missed you.”
I smiled and took a picture of them.
It felt amazing to be home.
We were greeted like we were coming home too. Along the two long rows of food trucks, the majority of the people knew us by name, and everyone wanted to know what we’d been up to. Some of them followed our podcast, others watched our show, and some checked in with us on social media too.