4
4
Bryce
Home sweet home and back to reality. Instant tension turned my muscles to steel as I pulled into the driveway. My post-sex, happy endorphins disappeared.
Couldn’t I pretend to be someone else? A successful business owner. A better, involved father to my girls. Free to do anything I wanted, like hook up with a gorgeous woman.
Too bad my once-in-a-lifetime encounter with a ravenous beauty hadn’t made the bad stuff go away. Such was my luck.
Fairy godmothers and wicked queens with magical powers were only in the stories I read to my girls. Tales full of lies and unrealistic situations that damaged two young impressionable minds.
But I slogged through the books my girls loved, so I wasn’t the worst father on the planet.
The gorgeous brunette, Sunshine, hadn’t turned into a fairy godmother or waved a magical wand. My construction business wasn’t in the black and I was still three months behind on my mortgage.
Why couldn’t my money situation be a bad dream? Hell, I’d love for the last four years to be a horrible nightmare instead of my reality.
If I didn’t turn my construction business around and catch up on my mortgage payments, the bank would foreclose on my house, and where would my little girls live?
“Fuck!” I slammed my hand on the steering wheel. “You’re such a loser and failure, Nelson!”
Last month, I’d laid off the last guy on my crew because I couldn’t afford to pay him and provide for my family. Most of the projects I’d gotten were small, ones I could do on my own. I needed a huge job, like building a house or renovating the shopping center I’d bid on in Mankato earlier today.
Yeah, I’d be commuting almost two hours each way. It would suck balls only seeing my babies at bedtime, if I was lucky. But at least I could hire back my men and get caught up on my bills.
I pressed the back of my head against the headrest. God, I hope tonight was the beginning of my luck turning around. Come Monday, maybe I’d get a call that I’d won the bid.
My gaze returned to my home. I thought it would be the place my girls could grow up in and build happy memories they’d never forget.
The modest three-bedroom, two-bath cottage had been a dump when I purchased it. As a newly single dad of twin daughters, I’d been an angry, grumpy man after their mom, Connie, had left us. She’d claimed she couldn’t hack being a mother anymore, after our babies had turned a year old. Fuck, I hated her for abandoning Cat and Tori… and me.
Connie had wanted out of our marriage. We’d been wrong from the start, but she got pregnant. I’d tried to man up and do the right thing, marrying her. It’d been better than her getting an abortion.
I adored my girls, unlike their mother, who’d had no problem walking away from them. No one would ever hurt my girls again. I’d promised they’d always be my number one priority.
With that thought, I killed the engine and dragged my ass out of the truck. My girls were probably up past their bedtime, waiting for me. I never came home so late, and they wouldn’t settle into bed until they got their huggies and kissies. They had to see me with their own eyes before going to sleep. It was like they were afraid they’d never see me again.
It broke my heart how, despite not remembering Connie, they knew they had a mother, and she wasn’t around.
And Nana Bea, my aging grandmother, was a softy with them. If it weren’t for her, I didn’t know what I would’ve done after Connie left. Moving from St. Paul to Bastion Township had been a no-brainer. I needed help with my girls, and my nana was the only family I had. But the move had affected my business more than I had anticipated.
I entered through the kitchen door and crept in quietly.
“Daddy!” my girls squealed and bounded toward me.
I knew it. They were up waiting for me.
“There’s my girls.” I lifted them up, one in each arm, and kissed their sweet faces. “I missed you so much!”
They giggled and hugged my neck. Suddenly I remembered what was most important to me. My girls. My babies. No woman would ever mean more to me than Cat and Tori. I’d been an idiot earlier, getting mixed up with Sunshine. Drowning my sorrows in her tight, exquisite pussy.
“How’s my grandson?”
“All right. How about you, Nana?” Shit. I had to stop thinking nasty thoughts around my nana.
“Just fine.” She waved me off, spunky as always. “How’d it go?”
“No idea. I should hear back on Monday.” I wasn’t a praying man, but I was gonna start, if the big man upstairs would answer my request.
I didn’t want anything for free. I was hardworking, got my hands dirty and paid my own way. Taking handouts wasn’t how I did things.
Just open the door for me to earn my own money. That’s all I ask.
“I have a good feeling about Mankato.” She rose to her feet and went to put on her coat. “Your life is going to get a whole lot better, Bryce Crispy.”
“Nana.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
The girls giggled louder, loving how my nana called me by the nickname she gave me when I was a kid. I hated Bryce Crispy.
“Look how they love your nickname.” She came and kissed the girls on the cheek. “Sweet dreams, my darlings.”
“Good night, Nana Bea,” they replied in sync.
“Thanks for watching the girls so late.”
“Of course.” She made her way to the door.
“I smell perfume.” Cat sniffed my chest. Then Tori followed suit.
“Perfume, you say?” Nana Bea turned around. “Were you on a date?”
“No.” I chuckled and felt my face heat up. “Let’s put you two to bed.”
“I like the perfume, Daddy.” Tori buried her face in my shirt.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Nana said as she went out the front door.
I jiggled the girls playfully as I carried them to their bedroom and put them on their respective twin beds.
A talk wasn’t necessary. There was nothing to discuss.
As if I’d ever tell my nana how I hooked up with a gorgeous stranger—and in my truck, no less. Yeah, not happening.
I’d spend the weekend winterizing the house and yard. Do laundry because I’d worn my last pair of clean underwear, which were wonderfully soiled. I’d sleep commando under my sweats, then put a load to wash first thing in the morning.
Maybe I’d take the girls out to Sugar Bliss Bakery for a treat and cook a pot of chili to eat while I watch the Vikings smash the Packers.
I snorted. Not likely to smash. I’d be happy if they’d just get points on the board.
Monday would be here in the blink of an eye. Hopefully, I’d win the bid for the shopping center.