face a stunned Kody. “You were there one time when he asked. Do you remember? And what did I say?”
“‘No way, man. The business is taking up too much time,’” Kody quotes me almost verbatim before his own legs give out and he collapses in the chair behind him.
“That.” I throw my thumb back where Kody was standing and face a still-standing Nick. “That’s what I said to the man who was likely bound by a vow to his husband, his sister-in-law, and the mother of my child!” I roar at Nick. “He kept trying to get me to come and see. And if it weren’t for Jed dying, and a promise that he elicited from Kara, I may still never know I had a son.” And I don’t care if it’s a sign of weakness, my knees give out beneath me. I fall right where I stand.
I’m rocking back and forth on my knees amid all of the “Dear Jennings” letters Kara sent to a freaking free email account I’ve barely glanced at for anything more than a coupon in more than sixteen years, when I feel a steel hand clamp down on my shoulder.
Nick’s face is so close to mine, I can’t see anything beyond it. His voice is a soft rumble when he says, “We’ll help you however we can, Jennings. I swear, we will. Yeah?” He adds on the last the same way he did when we were both on Team Canada hamming it up for the crowds in the Lumberjack Show. Back before we had lives that kept us apart more than we were together. Back before we only saw each other once a year at a reunion, that Jed, I remember painfully, didn’t attend the last year.
Dragging me off my knees, Nick waits for my response. I have to swallow to get the moisture back in my mouth before I can give it. “Yeah.”
He slaps my back. I stumble forward, skidding on the printouts. When I turn to glare at Nick, all he does is tap his jaw and smirk.
I roll my eyes. “I still got the punch in, asshole.”
“All right, children.” Brad claps his hands together. “Before you do any more damage against each other, I think we need to bring reinforcements into this discussion.”
“Who?” Kody asks.
But I already know. “Rainey?” I guess.
“Rainey,” Brad confirms. Sliding his phone out of his pocket, he calls his wife. It takes a moment for the call to connect. “Honey, would it be a problem if I brought the guys home to eat? No? Good. Also, how hard would it be to find a sitter?” A longer pause. “Yeah, we’re probably going to need more than a few drinks.”
“Forget probably,” I call out.
Brad laughs. “Yes, that was Jennings. No, I’m not telling you more over the phone. See you in a few hours. Love you too.” Hanging up, he advises us, “You guys better brace, because Rainey said the kids are going to climb you like monkeys.”
“It’s too bad Jennings can’t get practice for his with yours,” Nick says. “But based on the size of his kid, I don’t think there will be any daddy/son tree climbing going on.”
I glare at my friend, who merely quirks a brow before asking, “What? Too soon?”
“Way, way too soon.”
“Okay, before we go to Brad’s, let’s talk everything through. Because the minute Rainey knows, she’s going to want to call Kara for a girls’ night out. And we all know how well that’s going to go over.” God bless Kody for reminding us of everything practical because he’s absolutely right.
“Yeah.” I let out a sigh. “Let me tell you guys what happened.”
After we pick up the letters, I proceed to tell the guys everything that happened when I met Kara at the cemetery. They ask a lot of questions, but at the end they come to the same conclusion I do.
I have nothing to do but wait.
Life at the Meyerses’ household is sheer chaos. Like Brad predicted, his kids began to use us as indoor jungle gyms the instant we stepped through the door. Rainey, on the other hand, merely grins.
“What do you have cooking?” I ask her as I lean down to brush a kiss on her smooth cheek.
She wraps her arms around me to give me a much-needed hug before she answers. “Chili, which I made mild so I can send some to my sister’s. This way she can use it to feed her two kids plus ours so