All Consuming (Brotherhood by Fire #3) -Jaci Burton Page 0,95

sure the bathroom door was closed. She heard Oliver and her mother chatting away so she knew he couldn’t hear her.

“Landon showed up at the salon today.”

“Your ex.”

“Yes.”

He didn’t look angry or upset, just concerned. “What did he say?”

She crossed her arms in front of her. “He wanted to see Oliver. At first he wanted to pull him out of school tomorrow to spend the day with him, but I talked him out of that. He’s moving to North Carolina. He has a new job, a new girlfriend. He appears to have his life on track, but I don’t know. That remains to be seen. He agreed with me that it was best not to see Oliver until he gets his life together. But he did say he’d start calling him on a regular basis.”

“Do you believe him?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s made a lot of promises in the past that he hasn’t kept. All I can do is hope.”

“That must have been a tough conversation. I’m sorry, Hannah.”

He pulled her into his arms and at first she resisted, but then she realized how comforting it felt to share the burden. And when Kal rubbed her back, some of that tension she’d been holding on to all day eased.

“You’re not in this alone, you know,” he said. “We’ll figure this out.”

That was the thing. Her relationship with Landon and Landon’s relationship with Oliver wasn’t a thing she could share with Kal or with anyone else.

It was a problem she was going to have to deal with on her own. Maybe Landon really had changed. It would be good for Oliver to get to spend some time with his father. But only if it was quality time, and that it happened on a regular basis. The one thing she could count on with Landon was his inability to be dependable.

So as far as him turning his life around and becoming the ideal father?

That remained to be seen.

In the meantime, it would go back to being life as usual for her and for Oliver. And for the next few weeks she’d wait to see if Landon followed through and actually called Oliver. And if not, then she’d deal with it. By herself. Like she’d always done before.

CHAPTER 29

“I WANTED TO TALK TO BOTH OF YOU ABOUT THE HOUSE.”

Jackson looked up at Kal. “What house? This one?”

“Yeah.”

His brothers had all gotten together to do some painting at the house and had taken a break. They were sitting at the table eating amazing sandwiches that Rafe had brought from their favorite deli, and he figured now was as good a time as any, especially since it was a Saturday and Becks was at work. He wanted this time just with his brothers so they could work this out.

Hannah had been tense and quiet the past few weeks, and Kal wasn’t sure what was going on. She kept telling him everything was fine, but he knew there was a lot on her mind. Maybe it was because the holidays were approaching and she was busier than usual at work. He didn’t really know, but he felt her tension every time they were together, like there was something she wasn’t telling him. They’d go out and she seemed to have a good time, but he knew she was holding back. She wasn’t as relaxed.

He needed to fix that, wanted to do whatever he could to help her and Oliver feel more settled in their lives.

It was time for him to make some plans, and the first part of that plan started here.

“What about the house?” Rafe asked, absently petting the pup while they talked.

“I’m trying to make some plans for the future. I was thinking, Jackson, that after you and Becks get married, you’ll probably want to stay here in the house.”

“Oh.” Jackson scratched the side of his nose. “We’ve actually been talking about that. I was gonna bring it up with you guys.”

Rafe leaned back in his chair. “Go ahead.”

“Becks and I want to foster older kids, around the ages we were when Mom and Dad found us. We’ll probably adopt a few, depending on what the state permits us to do. You know, so kids who wouldn’t normally get a chance for a family would get one. Like we did.”

Kal grinned. “That’s awesome.”

Rafe smiled, too. “Love that idea.”

“Yeah. So we were thinking this house would be ideal for something like that, with all the extra bedrooms and the pool and now that we