Chapter 43 Beckett
BECKETT
“Stepmom! Father, Mocha, how are you?” Mason says, and Sloane just rolls her eyes at him.
Mason called last month, since he’s somewhere with service, and we decided to tell him then that we were together. To say that he was surprised was an understatement.
“Hi, son,” I say, and he just laughs.
Mocha lets out a little bark to say hi and jumps up so only he can be seen on the screen.
“Hi, bud,” Mason says, and I pull Mocha back, his tongue poking out the side of his mouth as he sits in between us like a good boy.
“How are things where you are?” Sloane asks, leaning forward.
“Very hot and dusty, but I think we’re almost done in this area, so that’s good. I’m pretty sure the next area we’re moving into is pretty desolate, like the last place, so I doubt that we’ll get to talk that much again,” he says, and Sloane frowns.
“That sucks, stay safe,” she says with a smile before her phone starts ringing. “Oh, I have to take this. Talk soon, Mase, miss you,” she says, giving him a small wave before getting up and walking away.
“Eyes over here,” I say lowly, and Mason laughs.
“Sorry, sorry, I just…No offense, but baby Monroe is hot,” he teases, and I glare at him, which only makes him laugh harder.
“Yeah, well fuck off. You missed your chance with her,” I mumble, sitting back against the couch, taking the iPad with me so it’s in my lap.
“We were seven, it hardly even counts as a first kiss. So I wouldn’t count that as missing my shot,” he exclaims, and I shrug.
“Sucks to suck.”
“Jesus, you even sound like her. What has she done to my father?” I glare at him again, and he just laughs even harder. I let him laugh to himself before he calms down enough to speak. “So, you guys told the family, huh?”
I let out a long sigh. “Yeah, and Briar is still pissed as hell.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not sure how you expected that conversation to go; it did kinda come out of left field. I don’t think anyone would have predicted the two of you.”
I shrug, because yeah, he does have a point, but I don’t want to admit that. We’ve also decided to keep the fact that Briar’s not Sloane’s real dad under wraps for the time being. The only other person who knows, besides Monica and Briar, is Kaden.
“She make you happy?” he asks.
“Yeah, she really does,” I say.
“Then I’m happy for you, even though it’s still weird, her being…the way she is now and all,” he points out.
“She didn’t need to lose weight to be pretty.”
“No, you’re right, she always had her own charm, but let’s be honest, you wouldn’t be attracted to her if she were the old person she was.”
For some reason, I don’t like the words that come out of his mouth, because I honestly don’t think that’s true. Sure, she looks good now, but I like what’s on the inside more.
“You don’t know that,” I say, and he shrugs before going quiet for a few seconds, just watching me.
“You seem better, so I approve, as long as she makes you happy, then I’m happy. But just know if you hurt her, I’ll have to kick your ass.”
I laugh. “Ok, you and Kaden can take me on together, because I already got the whole spill from him.”
“Damn, how is Kade? I feel like I haven’t talked to him in ages. Well, not really, anyway. We message, but we’re both so busy that we always miss each other.”
“Good, I think. He’s all moved in at Georgia, Sloane, and I are actually going to head out there this weekend.”
“Well, tell him I said hi.”
“I can do that. Love you, bud.”
“Love you too, Dad. Talk soon.” I nod, and we both wave before he hangs up.
I take a deep breath, feeling lighter knowing that he’s ok. I always look forward to when he can call me because I miss him, and I always just hope that he’s ok.
“Sloane, you ready to go?” I yell. I hear Mocha running through the house, his little toes clicking against the floor.
“Coming!” she replies. I see her coming down the stairs a few moments later, carrying a backpack and a duffel bag.
“Ok, I got snacks, and my other bags are in the car,” she mumbles to herself, looking around, making sure that she’s grabbed everything.
We decided to go and visit Kaden, take a few days driving so that we can take Mocha with us, spend a few days in the city, and then take our time coming home.
Sloane starts school a few days after we get back, and I wanted to do something that wraps up our summer and leads into the next chapter of our relationship.
I help her carry the rest of our bags out to her Bronco, and while she gets everything ready, I go back and make sure both the house and the shop are locked up.
I’m mostly taking her away because this weekend, Gideon is going to be arrested.
Arnold was able to get all the information that he needed to be able to build a pretty damning case against him.
I am afraid that if I’m here when he gets brought into the station, I will do something incredibly stupid.
Therefore, we are leaving for the weekend.
But there’s honestly nowhere else that I would rather be.
She’s safe, and really, that’s the only thing that matters to me.
She’s everything. She’s mine now. I’m going to do whatever I can to keep her safe.
She insisted that I drive, since she’s much better at being a passenger princess.
I’m honestly not sure what the road ahead of us looks like. I’m ok with that. I don’t know if Briar will ever forgive me for what I’ve done since I haven’t heard from him in almost two weeks, but for some reason, it doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.
Is it sad that I don’t really miss his presence in my life?
His constant ragging and nagging about something?
I do feel way better now that I’ve told him, but I don’t really miss the person he is, especially after having learned what a big secret he’s been keeping about Sloane her entire life.
The future doesn’t scare me, because the beautiful girl next to me makes it all worth it.
I don’t know what Sloane will do; she told me the other night that she’s also not sure what her plan is, but she did say that she’s done being the one to reach out.
If either of her parents wants a relationship with her, then they will have to be the ones to initiate it.
I’m proud of her, and I try to remind her of that every chance I can. She’s amazing, and I’m happy for her.
As we get on the freeway and head out of town, I reach over and entwine our fingers together, Mocha somehow already asleep, like he usually is.
“You know something?” I ask, and she shakes her head. “I think that this has been one of the best summers of my life,” I admit, bringing her hand up to my lips and pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles.
“Without a doubt, it’s been the best of mine,” she whispers. I give her hand a gentle squeeze as I rest our entwined hands on the center console.
“You ready for this?” I ask, merging onto I-70.
“As ready as I can be. I am excited to see Kaden. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched him play. I don’t really know the sport; I know that he’s good,” she says, and I nod.
The season hasn’t officially started yet, but Kaden told us that we could come and watch one of their scrimmage games while we were in town, and he was more than happy to host us while we were there.
“I love you, you know that, right?” I ask.
“I do know that, and I love you, too.”
“Good, because I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of saying it.” She looks over at me with a smile on her face before she pulls out her phone.
“Smile.”
She holds up the phone, trying to get all three of us in frame. This time, I do smile, because for once, I actually have something worth smiling for.