21. Brady
CHAPTER 21
Brady
I stand at the stove with the spatula in one hand and my coffee cup in the other, looking at Harmony standing there with a pale face. Maybe, perhaps I should have spoken to her about making plans. “I’m sorry, what?” she asks, as I put down my coffee cup and walk over to grab her a mug.
“Wyatt,” I start to say, pouring her a cup of coffee and placing it on the counter right next to the orange juice Wyatt asked for, “said he’s never been fishing before.”
“Okay.” She doesn’t move from the spot she’s in, and I have to think about how to play this. I could go to her and grab her face in my hands and kiss her, but that will be after Wyatt gets used to me being in their lives.
“I thought you could sleep,” I explain, wondering if I’ll have to carry her over to the stool, “so I’ll take Wyatt out, and we can go fish a bit.”
“Um,” she says, but I turn to flip the pancakes over, “you don’t have to do that.”
“But, Mom,” Wyatt complains.
“I’m going to finish breakfast,” I tell her. “You are going to sit on that stool.” I point at where I left her coffee. “You are going to eat a couple of pancakes unless you want eggs.” I look over my shoulder and take her in for a second. My heart squeezes in my chest. “Then you are going to go take a long overdue nap.”
“But—”
“Do you want me to carry you to that stool?” I ask. She must sense I mean business, so she walks over to it, pulls it out, and sits next to Wyatt.
“Good morning.” She leans in and kisses his head. “Why are you up so early?”
He shrugs and doesn’t answer her. “I had to pee,” he states.
“He’s only been up for ten minutes,” I tell her, and her eyebrows go up.
“It’s a good thing I got back when I did, or else he’d be going to Disney next,” she jokes, grabbing her cup of coffee and making me laugh.
“That’s for next time.” I wink at her, and she just shakes her head as I plate one pancake on each plate and put them down in front of them. “Eat, and then we can go and swing by Charlie’s place to grab some fishing stuff.”
“Okay,” Wyatt agrees before grabbing the maple syrup and pouring so much on it’s a wonder he can even taste the pancake. He ends up eating four pancakes, and Harmony gets up to cut him some fruit. “But I’m full.”
“That will soak up all that sugar,” she tells him, “or else you’ll feel sick at the lake.” He looks at the fruit and then at me.
“Eat up, buddy,” I take her back, “then go wash up.”
“Fine,” he huffs, and then I look back at Harmony, who shares a smile with me. Wyatt finishes his fruit, pushing away from the counter, leaving behind drops of syrup.
“Do not touch anything until you get into the bathroom,” Harmony instructs him as he tries to get all the syrup off his face with his tongue. “You need a shower.”
“Okay,” he says, bouncing out of the room and heading upstairs, and the minute he does, I know what this house has always needed. Him. Him and his mother.
Only when I hear the bathroom door slam do I look over at her. “How was the delivery?” I ask, and she nods.
“No one followed me.” She picks up her cup of coffee, finishing it off. “I dropped off the cakes and got back all in one piece.” I nod at her.
“Are you okay with me taking Wyatt fishing?” I walk around the counter to sit next to her on the other side, where Wyatt sat.
I pull her stool closer to me as she looks at me. “I just don’t want you to feel like you need to take him out.”
“Baby”—every time I call her that, without fail her face goes soft—“you need to rest.” I push her hair off her shoulder toward her back, leaving her neck exposed. “And you aren’t going to do that if we’re home.” She doesn’t argue with me. “Also, you need to call Ryleigh and give her the heads-up.”
“But it’s Sunday,” she reminds me. “I don’t want to interrupt her on a Sunday.”
“Text her,” I counter. “Now.”
“Wow.” She pulls her phone out of her back pocket, typing in something on her phone, her eyes not looking at me. “Were you always this pushy?”
“Nope,” I answer her, “never had the need to be.” I move my head closer to hers, and her eyes come back to meet mine. “Except now.”
Her hand drops her phone on the counter as she puts it on my cheek, bending to kiss my lips. “Thank you.” My tongue slides into her mouth, the sweetness from the pancakes on her tongue. I don’t want the kiss to get out of hand, especially with Wyatt upstairs, but the minute her tongue touches mine, I want to drag her onto my lap and make the kiss last longer.
“You’re going to have to stop that,” I warn her. “The last thing Wyatt needs is to see me with a hard cock.”
Her cheeks turn pink as her eyes widen, and she looks down at my shorts. “Yeah, let’s not do that.” She pushes away from the counter. “Now, I’m going to get everything cleaned here,” she tells me. “You go get dressed.”
“And you call me pushy?” I get up from my stool on my way to her as she turns the water on in the sink. “You have to promise me something.” I’m about to talk to her when her phone rings from the counter.
She walks over to it and looks at me. “It’s Ryleigh,” she whispers and looks up at the ceiling.
“Answer it.” I move to the hallway, but not out of the kitchen, to make sure I stop Wyatt if he comes down.
“Hello,” Harmony answers, putting the phone to her ear. “I’m so sorry to bother you on a Sunday, but I thought you should know.”
“Speaker,” I tell her, and she puts the phone on speaker.
“What the hell happened?” Ryleigh hisses out, and Harmony fills her in.
“I need the report number, and I need any pictures you have sent to me right now. I’m going to ask for a restraining order until we go to court,” she declares, and I can hear how pissed she is. “Also, I’m going to push to get an earlier date.”
“Okay,” Harmony agrees. “Do you think it’s okay to go back to my house?”
“Honestly,” Ryleigh replies, “no.” I fold my arms over my chest. “If he’s the type of man I think he is, he couldn’t care less that he’s not supposed to be near you. He’s going to do it because he’s a spoiled-rotten man-child who has never been told no.”
“Wow.” Harmony laughs, and I almost close my eyes and say a little thank-you that this hasn’t broken her. “It’s like you’ve already met him.”
“I grew up in Hollywood.” She laughs. “They are on every single corner. Get me the things I asked for, and let me know where you are staying.”
“I’m staying at my neighbor’s house,” she says softly. “He’s also my boss.”
“Is there more?” she asks, and I wait for her to answer. “Doesn’t matter, to be honest.”
“I don’t want to drag him into this,” Harmony adds, and now I laugh along with Ryleigh.
“Then you shouldn’t have gone to his house,” Ryleigh replies, almost laughing. “Regardless, I’ll let you know what’s going on.”
“Thank you,” she says and hangs up. “Did you hear that?” She points at the phone.
“I’m right here, baby.” I don’t move from my spot as she walks back over to the sink.
“It’s not a good idea that I’m here,” she says, wiping down the counters. “We should leave.”
“That’s not at all what she said,” I refute. “She said it didn’t matter, and she also said that he’s a douchebag, so he’ll show up at your door.” I look up and hear the bathroom door open. “That said, I’m going to get dressed and take Wyatt fishing.” She inhales. “I’m going to need your keys.”
“For?”
“I’m leaving you here all alone. If he comes back, he’ll see your car is not there and leave. If it’s there, he’ll probably come and find you here,” I fill her in. “I have an alarm system. I’ll show you how to arm it once we leave.”
“Okay.” I can see the exhaustion all over her face.
“Why don’t you do that after and just go lie down,” I suggest, and she shakes her head.
“It’ll take me the same amount of time to clean up that it takes you to get dressed.” I nod, turning and walking back up the stairs to the bedroom. I slip on jeans and a T-shirt before going to brush my teeth. She is not lying. When I get back downstairs, the kitchen is spotless, as if she didn’t bake a million cakes today.
Wyatt is standing by the door, bouncing off the walls. “Ready?” I ask. He jumps up and down, and I can’t help but smile.
“Here,” she says, handing me a wrapped cake. “It’s a new flavor. Give it to Autumn.” She smiles. “Just don’t, you know.”
“I know.” I am about to bend and kiss her lips but remember Wyatt is here, so I look over my shoulder. “Come and say bye to your mom,” I tell him, and he comes over, gives her a hug, and runs out of the house.
“See you later.” I kiss her lips and point at the alarm panel. “Two, four, one, seven, stay.” She nods at me. “At all times, I’ll disarm it when I come back.”
“Okay,” she agrees, closing the door but watching through the window as I walk to her car. I stop at Charlie’s place with Wyatt, give Autumn the cake, and then grab a couple of the kids’ fishing poles he has for his nieces and nephews when they come to visit.
We get to the spot my father always took me to, seeing a couple of people out and trying to catch something. We walk over to the edge. “Careful not to get too close,” I warn him. “Do you know how to swim?” I ask, and he nods.
“Mom taught me this summer,” he informs me as I set down the tackle box. I look at him and smile.
“She’s pretty cool,” I say, and he smiles at me. “Which one do you want?” I ask of the poles I have.
“This one.” He picks up a blue-and-green one as I grab the bucket of earthworms that Charlie also had.
“So first thing is make sure you don’t stab yourself in the finger while you put the worm on the hook,” I instruct him, and he watches me with all his attention. I pick up a worm. “When I was younger, my father would make me stab the worm, and the guts would fly out.” I laugh. “But when I got older, I learned from my friends that there was a better way. Grab a hook and follow me.” He grabs a hook and then grabs a worm without being squeamish. “You stab the bottom of the worm.” I do it and watch him do it right away. “Push it up to the top of the hook.” I show him. “Now wrap the worm around the hook until a little is left, and stab it again.” I show him, and he slips the first time but gets it the second time. “Good job,” I praise him, and he smiles at me and everything, and I mean everything, in my body shifts. The smile is one that I will always, always remember. It’s also a smile I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure he has on his face. “Now we fish.”
He nods at me. “Now we fish.” He stands next to me, and I show him how to cast into the water.
“Nice and slow,” I tell him, reeling mine in. We do that for about two hours before he gets a nibble on his line.
“Brady!” he shouts my name, reeling it in slowly. “Brady, I think I have something.” His excitement is everything. I watch as he brings it even closer, and the fishing rod curves a bit.
I step behind him to offer him help if he needs it. “You let me know if you need help,” I say as he reels it in faster and faster, the anticipation too much for him. The minute the fish is out of the water, he is so excited he almost drops the rod.
I catch it right before it slides into the water. “Sorry, Brady,” he says, his voice soft. I see him start to get nervous and my stomach goes tight. “I didn’t mean it.” His voice is shaking,
“Hey.” I laugh, trying to get him to see it’s not a big deal. “I did the same thing my first time,” I share with him, reeling in the line. “Except my rod is stuck down there somewhere.” He looks at me, then I hand him back the rod. “Take it out of the water, buddy.”
I watch him reel it in seeing a small fish on his hook. His eyes light up. “I did it.”
I get down beside him and take the fish off the hook. “You did,” I say, holding the fish in my hand, trying not to drop it as it flops. “You want a picture with it?” I ask him and he nods his head.
“You have to be gentle with it,” I say softly as he holds out his hands for the fish. Transferring it from my hand to his, I keep my hands under his just in case he drops it from being too slimy. Once I see he has it safely in his hand, I pull my phone out of my back pocket and aim it at him. “Say cheese,” I tell him and he smiles at me. “Okay, you ready to release it?” I ask him and he nods his head. “We are going to have to do it gently so he doesn’t hurt himself.” Holding his hand in mine, I lower it until it’s under the water. “Okay, let him go,” I tell him and he opens his hand and the fish surges forward. “You did it.”
“I did it,” he repeats my words with pride, “even though I almost lost your rod.”
I put my hands on his shoulders. “Mistakes happen,” he looks up at me, “accidents happen.”
“That’s what Mom says,” he mumbles, “but…”
“I can promise you this, I will never fault you for making a mistake. I will never hurt you because there was an accident.” I stop from saying I’m not like your father. “You’re safe with me,” is the only thing that I think to say. “Your mom is safe with me too.” Just so he knows that they are both safe with me.
“My dad,” he starts to say and I shake my head.
“He’s not going to get to her.” I squeeze his shoulder again, trying to give him courage. “He’s not going to hurt either of you again.” The words come out almost as a hiss. “Now let's see if we can catch another one, yeah.” I wait for him to look up at me, giving me a smile before I let him go and grab my own rod. “So far, it’s Wyatt one and Brady zero.” I cast my rod. “Let’s see if I can tie it up.”
“Or it’s Brady zero Wyatt two.” He follows my lead, casting his rod like we’ve been doing this forever. I can’t help the smile that forms on my face, happy today that I taught him something I hope he’ll one day teach his own son.