Chapter Twenty-Eight
“I’m fine, Dad,” Morgan huffs. “I’m good enough to go back down to my cabin, see?
” She does an awkward, hopping twirl thing—which actually does nothing to allay my fear that she’s ready to go down and join the ranks again after just three weeks.
“Honestly, I’m getting tired of doing stairs with these. ” She shows me one of her crutches.
“Alright, fine,” I concede, “but you’re still on light duty. No overdoing it.”
She mock salutes me with a smirk. “Yes, sir.”
“I mean it, Morgan Marie.”
“Ooh, whipping out the middle name. I’m quaking in my fiberglass boot.”
“Hey, stop giving Mr. G a hard time!” Colton scolds her, coming to take her duffle off her hands for her, and shooting me a grin.
“What he said,” I tell her.
“What’s that? Can’t hear you! I’m hopping away now! I’m a deaf kangaroo!” Morgan giggles as she hobbles down over the hill.
I sigh and plunk my behind down on one of the porch rocking chairs, next to Evan. He hands me my coffee. He even put it in my ‘Proud Cat Dad’ mug that Morgs got me one year for Father’s Day.
“What are we going to do when they fly the coop for real?” I hum, staring off into space.
He snorts. “You act like we’re eighty. I imagine we’ll still have jobs to do, bills to pay, and be up to our ears in responsibilities. This place obviously cannot run itself,” he notes.
Glad he recognizes that, because Kai never could.
That’s what sets him so far apart from my ex.
Since Morgan has been recovering, Evan has taken on so much in addition to the maintenance tasks.
He’s really gotten down there and interacted with the campers, and it’s been fun to watch him play and participate in activities with them.
Just yesterday, he led them on a kayak expedition around the lake.
Several of them have also gotten to go for rides on his Harley with him, since he made an overnight trip back out to get it recently.
I got a little nervous one morning, when I woke up and Evan's side of the bed was cold and empty.
The surge of relief I felt when I heard the rumble of his motorcycle coming down the driveway nearly leveled me.
One of the campers begged him to take them out for a ride, which quickly turned into several other kiddos all begging for rides.
He told me he was so ecstatic at the prospect that he couldn't sleep.
Then he made up for scaring me, thinking he'd left again with no warning, by jerking us both off in the shower.
I swing my head over to look at him. “Can we still make time for motorcycle rides?”
He grins. “We can still make time for motorcycle rides, but we'd better hurry.
Summer's ending soon. Speaking of, I need to go back to Ternbay at some point and swap my bike back out for my truck.
I've got all Colt and Petro's shit I need to drag back. You want to come with me, maybe meet my parents? Damn, I feel lame for asking that…”
I chuckle. “Yes, I’d love to meet your parents. And Gannett, he sounds like quite a character.”
“He’s something,” Evan grunts.
“Did those hurt?” I ask, pointing at his knuckle tattoos.
“No. Why, you thinking about getting some?”
I smirk. I am, but it’s a surprise. So I tease, “I’m not sure I’m allowed entry into motorcycle clubs without ‘em. What’s the policy on leather chaps?”
He chuckles. “I’m not a member of a motorcycle club, so I wouldn’t know. I know my own stance on leather chaps, though.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“You’d look fuckin’ hot in them,” he hums, taking a sip of his coffee and giving me a salacious side-eye.
“Perv.” I snort.
His lips thin into a small smile, but he doesn’t deny it as he strokes a hand through his beard. “Been called that before.”
“Yeah, by me!”
He nods. “Yep,” he agrees, popping the ‘p.’ “Not going to sit here and lie and say you didn’t give me impure thoughts in that corset thing the other night.
Also, I know I mentioned it before, but it’s worth mentioning again: lace jocks and that fuckin’ ass of yours are a hell of a combination.
Move over PB and J, you’ve just been outed from your top spot in the rankings. ”
I roll my eyes.
“Aw cripes, no,” he gripes, looking down at his lap. I shoot up thinking he’s just spilled some hot coffee on himself, but then he laughs. “Look what fuckin’ happened again. Popped another boner just thinking about how you screamed my name as I ate out that pussy of yours while wearing it.”
One activity that we’ve really found we enjoy the heck out of is sixty-nining.
He gives me epic rim jobs, like his tongue is propelled by a Power Stroke engine, and I suck him off like the deep-throat diva that I am.
Having his dick gagging me has been a magnificent thing, because I can’t fathom how else I’d be able to remain quiet enough for us not to get caught by more than just Snarf.
“Oh my god, Evan! You are the worst!” I huff, setting down my mug on the side table.
He sets his down next to mine before hauling me sideways onto his lap. “Been called that too,” he hums, this time taking on a slightly darker tone.
“Yeah, well, I don’t mean it,” I tell him, tugging his beard a little, so he tilts his face up. I press a kiss to his lips. “And anyone else who says it is a liar.”
He wrangles me back for another kiss, deepening it this time.
“Dad and Evan, up in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” I hear Morgan holler from somewhere in the yard. “Get a room!”
Well, with her now back in her cabin, we have the house all to ourselves again. Winning.
“I’ve got a better idea. After we get done working today, meet me down by the abandoned tent platform on the east side of the property. Oh, and wear that outfit we just talked about, underneath your clothes,” Evan hums, before licking his lips and letting his eyes wander down my sweats-clad body.
“What? Why?”
“You’ll see.” He winks at me, before prodding me up. “No more tempting me, beautiful. Boss man will be pissed if I’m late for work.”
I roll my eyes again.
“Keep practicing. You’re getting better at that ‘you’re sick of me’ look,” he teases. “By the way, what’s your middle name?”
“Uriah, why?”
“Just curious. Seems like something someone should know about their partner.”
Odd, but okay. On that, he drains his coffee and lopes on down the hill to start mowing the lawn.
I head back up to my room to get changed before I start my sessions with the kiddos today. When I get up there, the letter Kai left for Morgan is still sitting, discarded on my nightstand. I just kind of buried it under things and forgot about it, still too bitter at Kai for what he did.
Taking a deep breath, I slip it out from under my journal and open it.
Curious, I type in the address he scrawled at the end of the letter into a search engine on my phone, hoping to see where it leads me.
Ocean’s Edge Recovery Center, a residential drug and alcohol addiction treatment facility.
Then I translate the Hawaiian. He calls her ‘daughter’ and at the end writes ‘love you always.’
And I frickin’ lose it, right here on the spot. I break down in a mass of tears, because now I see that Kai didn’t come here to ‘protect his investment’ or even to try to win me back. He came here because he needed help.
He needed help and I totally missed it. I missed every single sign I knew, from Ryann, to look out for when someone is struggling with addiction. He needed me, but didn’t know how to ask.
I. Fucking. Missed. It.
I allow myself to wallow in that realization for a bit, but then I have a lightbulb moment of clarity.
He left this note three weeks ago, so there’s no way he’s going to answer me if he’s truly in treatment, but I send him a text anyway, hoping that when he does see it, he accepts my sincere apology for lashing out and saying what I said to him during our big blow up, the day Morgan’s ankle was broken.
However, what I noticeably don’t apologize for—and I likely would have in the past—is not picking up on the signs he was having problems with addiction, because I was too focused on me for a change.
Mere weeks ago, I know how I would have been berating myself for being too self-absorbed to pick up on it, but now—I don’t know—I just can’t bring myself to wallow in my own oversight, because I can’t keep living in the past, hung up on Kai.
In that time, I realized I deserved more.
Not to say that I don’t feel guilty about missing the signs, I do, but this also means that, at some point, I stopped hyper-focusing on him. I stopped making excuses for why his behavior was okay. I guess I eventually just grew a backbone when it came to him, and I didn’t even realize it.
I do let him know how proud I am of him for seeking treatment, though.
And I let him know that when he’s out, I’d like to visit with him to hash everything out regarding our separation of business—rationally.
Maybe once he gets his head on straight, he’ll be more open to a payment plan or something.
While there’s no way I’m getting back together with him, I do hope that we will sincerely be amicable and remain friends—something that I also did not think I’d ever find myself hoping for. I now know I can separate myself from that hope that one day I’ll be good enough for him.
So, while I don’t envision us hanging out like we did in the past, I also don’t want to just cut him from my life the way I did Ryann either.
There’s someone else I need to think of too.
For all his faults, and despite this mishap, I truly believe Kai loves Morgan, and she loves him as well.
Estranging him, in his time of need, would be no good for anyone.
Time will surely tell. Either way, like I said, I’m not going to wallow in it.
My message hasn’t been read right away. Hopefully, that’s a sign Kai’s not near his phone, which may mean he’s still in rehab.
I hope so. He can get better treatment there than I would have ever been able to give him anyway.
Residual guilt from having cut Ryann off in the past would probably have led me to continue to enable him.
“Mr. G? Hey, do you know where I can find Morgan’s hair straightener thingy?” Colton pokes his head into my bedroom, and takes a look at me. “Oh shit, are you okay?”
I nod, swiping a stray tear from my cheek.
He scrunches his nose up. “Sorry, I gotta say it. Morgan’s right, man. You lie like shit.”
I let out a bubbly chuckle. “That obvious, huh?”
“Dude, what’s wrong? You want someone to, like, talk to? I can go get my dad or whatever. Or you can talk to me, you know. You listen to me all the time. The least I can do is return the favor.”
I give him a soft smile. “I appreciate the offer. You’re a good kid, you know that?” I tell him.
He grins. “Thanks, bruh.”
I chuckle, knowing he keeps using the lingo to test me. “I’ll be fine. Just messed things up with a friend, is all.”
“Kai?”
I nod.
“Sucks when someone you’re that close with betrays you, doesn’t it?”
“Sucks real bad,” I agree with a grin. “But he didn’t really betray me...”
“Dad told me Kai was throwin’ mad shade at you. He was gonna cut ties with you and sell the camp off. Sounds like a betrayal to me.”
“I think he just said that when he was mad. I provoked him.”
“Then why’s Dad trying to get all of Alder Notch to pool together and help buy Kai’s half for you?”
My mouth pops open in shock. “He… what?”
Colton cringes. “Yikes, I think maybe that was a secret?”
“Ummm, yeah, you think?”
Colton gives me a sheepish smile. “Uhh, whoops. Better call animal control, cuz suddenly I get the feeling the cat’s out of the bag.”
I chuckle. “I don’t have any idea how much money is in your father’s bank account, but I doubt that it’s enough to cover what Kai wants to get for his share.”
“Well, no, but there’s like one of those GoFundMe things going around.
Your mom already filled it halfway with the earnings on your postcards and pressed flowers and stuff.
Plus, the dude at Notch Sporting Goods said he wanted to donate one of those water obstacle course things, which is super cool.
I think the little squirts are gonna dig it. ”
“You’re kidding…” I gape.
“No, man. It’s getting delivered tomorrow.”
“Where is your dad right now? I need to go find him and see just what the heck he’s up to.”
“Last I knew, he finished up mowing and went out with Petro to go tie up the rope swing. Petro’s a damn spider monkey, I swear.
Dad’s got him climbing that big pine that hangs out over the deep hole.
That one was my idea,” he says, puffing his chest out proudly.
“Don’t be mad, this project was free. You had the rope in the maintenance shed already. ”
“Oh, Colton,” I sigh, grinning. “You guys are too much. I seriously feel spoiled.”
“Well, Dad’s simpin’ for you, big, so that explains that.
But Morgan said you were really nervous about hiring a bunch of kids our age to help with the place.
I just wanted to prove to you that maybe having us here might be helpful to bring in some fresh ideas.
Ya know, cuz you and Dad are, like, old and shit. ”
On that, I haul him in for a headlock and give his shaggy hair a big old noogie.
“What’d you just call me?!” I ask, laughing.
He’s giggling, wriggling to get free, but I don’t let him. “I called you old, boomer!” he says with a muffled voice, on account of I’ve got him locked in under my arm.
“Take it back!”
“Never!” he squeals.
When I finally do let him go, he sits up and brushes his fingers through his hair. Mussing it back up, but not so it’s sticking up in the state I left it.
“Mr. G?” he asks me. “Can I just say that I’m really glad you and my dad are a thing, and I hope you and Kai get your stuff worked out too. I think everyone deserves a second chance, kinda like you said about me.”
“Aww, thanks kiddo. Can I ask you something? What are your thoughts on hugs?”
“Big fan,” he grins, opening his arms to me.
After we embrace for a couple of moments, Colton gets up to go find and bring Morgan her hair straightener. Before he leaves the room, he looks over his shoulder and asks me, “You know what I find kinda cool?”
“What’s that?”
“This camp is named Camp Healing Waters, and both me and my dad are Waters, and you kinda like—I dunno—healed us in a way…”
I grin. “I’d love to take credit for it, Colton, but you guys were the ones who really put in all the work, you know.”
He taps the door frame a couple of times. “Couldn’t have done it without you, though…”
On that, he thumps down the stairs, and I’m left here thinking that I’m pretty sure those Waters are helping to heal me too.