28. Colt
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
colt
Cam clasped my shoulder before sitting down next to me on a barstool in his kitchen. “Sarah is okay,” he said. “Everyone has checked in on her. She’ll be getting off work in a bit.”
The pictures of the newspaper came through right as our meeting with the contractor started. I’d spent the last few hours slowly losing my mind, trying to focus on our work while wondering if Sarah and Sammy were okay. Sammy had assured me several times that Sarah was fine, but I still worried.
“Hal is bringing the boys over for the night,” Cam said. “And Emma is joining us too. Take a deep breath.”
I did as he said and breathed out, my shoulders sinking, releasing some of the tension. “I’m sorry I was distracted in the meeting. I kept worrying David would show up at the cafe and something would happen.”
Cam gave me a quizzical look. “Don’t apologize for that. We’re all worried.”
I slumped over and rested my head on the cool counter. The meeting had gone well, at least. We were one step closer to getting our dream set up for the future of Citrus Cove Wine & Ciders. We were also bouncing around new names for it that would be eye-catching on shelves.
I pulled my phone out and checked my messages, scrolling through my conversation with Sammy. A photo came through of him sitting in the booth, golden light clinging to him. I let out a low whistle.
“What?” Cam asked.
“Your brother is hot,” I said.
Cam wrinkled his nose. “Keep it in your pants, sir.”
I grinned, sending Sammy back a kneeling emoji before looking back at my friend. “I wish we had the license plate for the car David was driving. It would be easier to get info. I just want to find the son of a bitch.”
“I know. Hunter has been trying to get more information. About Sammy’s apartment too. He’s convinced it’s all related somehow.”
“It could be,” I agreed. “I’ll do some more digging. We’re gonna find him, one way or another.”
“We will. He won’t hurt Sarah or the boys again.” Cam let out a slow breath and propped his chin up with a hand, studying me with the nosiness of someone who’d known me forever. “So…”
“Yesss?” I drew out dramatically.
“Aside from everything going on, how’s it going?”
“Fishing for information, are we?”
“Maybe.”
“For you or Haley?”
“Both?”
I snorted and sat up, thinking about Sarah and Sammy. “I don’t know where to begin. The guitar really meant a lot to Sammy. Thank you for pitching in. Both you and Hunter.”
“We were happy to help. The picture of you two made me smile. I think it’s been a while since I’ve seen either of you this happy.”
I rubbed my chest, thinking about Sammy’s expression when he picked up the blue guitar. “Getting to know him this way has been… invigorating? Exciting? I mean, I’ve known him my entire life, but I’m learning new things about him.”
Cam smirked. “You should have seen Hal’s face when I told her I walked in on y’all.”
I snorted. “I’m sure she was amused. And then things with Sarah are amazing too. I’m scared I’ll fuck it all up.”
His brows knit together. “You can’t worry about that. You deserve to be happy, Colt. You deserve to be loved. It makes me happy the three of you have found each other.”
“Me too.”
“What about being a dad? I mean, we’ve talked about kids a few times and it always seems like you didn’t want them.”
I swallowed hard. “Honestly, I’ve always said that because I didn’t want to carry on my dad’s name. Like I’d somehow turn into him and fuck them up.”
“No. That could never happen?—”
“I know,” I said. “But it’s still a fear of mine. But with Davy and Jake, it feels natural. I’m still getting to know them. Sarah said she talked to them about polyamory, and about the three of us dating.”
“Did she say how they responded?”
“Good? It sounded like it went well. But I don’t want to rush anything, given how David treated the boys. I don’t want them to feel like they have to like me.”
Cam’s expression turned lethal. “Fucking hate David.”
“You and me both. Some of the things he said to Sarah that I know about now, especially with intimacy… It infuriates me, Cam. If I would have known?—”
“You can’t do that to yourself,” he interrupted. “You can’t think about what you would have done. I’ve been there. I tortured myself for ages about how I treated Haley in high school. But you can’t change the past. You can only focus on the future.”
“I’ve been given a second chance,” I said. “And I just want to show Sarah and Sammy that I’m worthy of it.”
“You are. I can’t think of anyone else more deserving.”
The front door swung open and we looked up as Davy and Jake piled into the foyer, followed by Haley, Emma, and Donnie.
“Shoes in the cubby!” Haley reminded them.
Jake groaned, but kicked off his shoes next to Davy’s. I grinned as they immediately beelined it to us.
“Hey,” I said, offering a high-five.
“Hi, Colt.” Jake met my palm with a full force slap. Davy snorted and leaned against the bar, eyeing me suspiciously.
Cam leaned over and ruffled his head. “How was school?”
“It was fine,” Davy said. “We have homework.”
Jake groaned. “Why did you tell them that?!”
“Have Colt help,” Emma said. “He’s good at math.”
“Am I?” I echoed. Davy and Jake’s gazes turned to me. “I’m pretty good at it. I’ll help, then we can watch a movie.”
“I brought sheet masks,” Emma announced as she sat her dog purse on the floor, opening it up so Donnie could hop out. He was wearing a polka dot sweater and boots today. “And unicorn headbands.”
She held up a pink fuzzy headband with a spiraled rainbow horn.
“I want one,” I said immediately.
“A unicorn headband?” Davy questioned.
“Yep,” I said. “Back me up, Cam.”
“I fear that I, too, need a unicorn headband,” Cam said.
Emma tossed me one and I grinned as I pulled it over my head and pushed it back into my hair.
“You look like that orange muppet,” Cam snickered.
I struck a pose, earning a few giggles. “Orange muppet, at your service.”
Davy and Jake both grinned, which was a win.
Haley laughed as she opened the fridge. “I’ll make some snacks, Emma will order pizza, and you two help them with homework. What movie are we watching?”
“Avengers!” Jake exclaimed. He bounced on the balls of his feet with the type of energy I distinctly recalled having at that age. “Or something superhero.”
“Jake, you picked last time,” Hal said. “It’s Davy’s turn.”
Davy wrinkled his nose as he pulled his backpack off and set it down. “I don’t know. I can’t think of any movies off the top of my head.”
“Just think about it,” Emma said lightly. “It can be whatever your heart desires, so long as it’s age appropriate.”
“Jake can pick,” Davy said.
I wondered if he didn’t like being put on the spot. “How about we narrow it down to five and you choose which one we watch?” I asked. “Would that help?”
His eyes brightened. “Yes.”
“We’ll do that, then.” I let out a soft hum and slid closer, looking at the papers he pulled out. My eyes widened. “This is the math they’re teaching these days?”
“Yeah, man,” Cam said. “Their homework is ridiculous. I thought we had it bad.”
“Are you staying the night?” Jake asked.
I hadn’t planned on it, but… “Sure,” I said. “If that’s okay.”
“You’re always welcome,” Haley said, setting out a flight of sparkling waters. “Though you might have to sleep on the couch. ”
“I think my old bones can handle it.” I leaned down to scoop Donnie up, holding him to me and ruffling the patch of hair on top of his head. He leaned into me, his tail wagging. “Do we match?”
Jake giggled, and Emma barked out a laugh. “You do,” she said.
“Wonderful.” I sat Donnie down and pulled my barstool closer to Davy. He climbed up on the one next to me and spread out the worksheets.
“Jake, pull yours out too,” Cam said.
Jake sighed dramatically, but fished them out of his backpack.
“Do you do a lot of math?” Davy asked. “Our teacher says we have to know this for the real world.”
I wasn’t going to be the one to tell them that most people didn’t need to know the difference between a parallelogram and a rhombus in the real world. “It depends on what you end up doing,” I said. “I use quite a bit of math at my job.”
“What do you do?” Jake asked.
“Colt is the mastermind behind our ciders,” Cam said, smiling at me. “He’s very smart, even though he’s goofy.”
“Aw, shucks,” I teased.
“I can see why Mom likes you,” Davy said.
“Yeah,” Jake chimed. “You’re not like dad.”
“ David .” Davy muttered his correction under his breath.
Damn. The room tensed, although each of us did our best not to show it. I blew out a breath and offered him a smile.
“Is it okay that we like each other?” I asked him.
He held my gaze for a moment and then nodded. “Yep. She told us earlier.”
“She talked about polyfamory?”
“Polyamory,” I chuckled. “Although, I like that word too.”
I glanced up at Emma and Haley, who were watching us with expressions I couldn’t read. Emma gave her a sly smile and then gave me a subtle thumbs up.
“Alright,” I said. “Homework, snacks, a movie, pizza. What are we missing?”
“We need a pillow fort,” Jake said.
“We’re too old for that,” Davy said.
“You’re never too old for a pillow fort,” I said. “We’ll build the best one the world has ever seen!”
Jake laughed, but Davy winced as my voice raised. My heart caught in my throat as I focused on him for a moment. Jake was already laughing into a story about recess today for Haley and Emma to listen to.
“I’m sorry I raised my voice,” I said softly to Davy. “I was being a little dramatic, wasn’t I?”
“It’s okay,” he said.
“You know, I don’t talk to my dad either. And he used to yell at me a lot. It wasn’t fun.”
Davy looked up at me, his eyes widening. “Really?”
I nodded. “Really.”
“Do you miss him?”
Fuck. That was a hard question. “I miss what could have been,” I said honestly.
Davy weighed my words for a moment, but then his shoulders relaxed. “I understand.”
“But you know what? I found the right people.”
“People who love you a lot,” Cam interjected, offering us a smile. “Colt is like a brother to me. I love him as much as I love Haley, just in a different way.”
Haley looked up at us. “I heard my name.”
We chuckled. Cam leaned over and snaked an arm around her waist, tugging her close to him. She planted a kiss on his cheek.
“Alright, enough romance and bromance,” Emma said. “I’m ordering pizza. Homework had better be done by the time it arrives, or I’m eating every single piece.”
“Noooo,” Jake protested.
Davy snorted. “There’s no way you could eat every piece.”
“Never underestimate a lady’s appetite,” she said. “I could absolutely eat every bite, and still have room for something chocolate.”
“It’s true,” Haley said. “Between the two of us, we used to eat all the pizza in college. And drink all the beer.”
Emma nodded. “Back in the day.”
“We’re getting old,” Haley sighed.
Emma feigned being offended, holding her hand over her heart. “Ma’am, we are not that old. You take it back.”
I grinned as I reached for the pencil on Davy’s paper. “Alright, gentlemen. Time to do math.”