I took my shower and felt better than I had in the last couple of days. As for my other big issue, having three more children, I knew that nothing there would be resolved quickly. All I had to do was remember that whatever happened, the children were what mattered. If they were mine, I would do whatever was needed to help them. Even if they weren’t, I was sure I would get involved.
◊◊◊
When I got out of the shower, I checked my phone and saw there was a text from Tami. She wanted to video chat before school. I sent her one back, and we were soon online.
“I think we need to play ‘Tell Me A Secret,’” Tami said.
Just what I needed—not! I rolled my eyes. We played this every once in a while if one of us needed a safe way to talk to the other. We’d first played this game when Tami found out her father had another family and didn’t want her in his life.
“I suppose you want me to go first?”
“Yes, please.”
“I want to go to Ohio State for college even though they might not take both Tim and Wolf,” I admitted.
Oh, my God! Tami Glade had been struck dumb. I wasn’t sure if she was okay until I saw her blink a couple of times.
“You’d do that?” she asked in disbelief.
“Would you come with me?” I asked.
“Uh, I, ah, honestly don’t know,” she said and then gathered her wits. “I thought everyone was going to the same place.”
“We are. They could walk on,” I said, and the corner of my mouth twitched.
Tami caught it and then sighed.
“We need to talk about this,” she said with serious worry in her voice. “I’m sure you’ll end up somewhere that the three of you can play ball together, but it might be time to think about what’s best for you.”
“So, what’s your secret?” I asked.
“I’m not done talking about yours,” Tami protested and then glared at me. “And the one you told me has nothing to do with what we really need to talk about.”
I made my one-eyebrow move and pointed at the clock on my wall.
“My driver will be here any minute, and I need to get going,” I protested.
“Okay, okay. My dad wants to introduce me to his family,” she blurted.
“Whoa, seriously?”
“I know, right?”
A car horn sounded outside.
“I gotta go. I think we have plenty to talk about. How about we do that before we go to bed?” I suggested.
“Yeah,” Tami agreed. “You’re telling me about your love children and Brook.”
I disconnected and grabbed Precious. I didn’t need the cat in my apartment all day.
◊◊◊
As I walked out, I set Precious down, and she darted back into my apartment. Fricking cat! I sent a text to Brit to tell her what had happened. I jumped in the back of the SUV and saw that Cassidy was my driver today.
“Are we picking up Brook?” she asked.
“I don’t see why not.”
Cassidy quickly sent a text, and we drove to Brook’s house. I was surprised when Brook was waiting outside for us. She handed me a lunch bag when she got in.
“Your mom called mine and told her you hadn’t eaten this morning. She said you were talking to Tami,” Brook said, obviously fishing for information.
I didn’t even bother to worry about how my mom knew Tami would call me this morning. That ship had sailed, and I begrudgingly accepted that my mom liked Tami more than she should. I opened the bag, and inside was a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich on a croissant.
“Dang, I need to skip breakfast more often,” I said and showed Cassidy.
Brook pulled another one out of her backpack and handed it over the seat to her best friend. She was buttering her up in case Cassidy had to pick sides in the divorce. Feeding her food like this wasn’t fair.
Brook looked at me, expecting me to talk. I took a big bite of the sandwich and raised my eyebrows.
“You’re such a dick sometimes,” Brook said.
“Be nice,” Cassidy warned.
“We could take the long way to school today. I bet I can get us out of first period without a problem,” I suggested, waggling my eyebrows.
I could tell Brook wanted to be mad at me but was losing that battle.
“David!” Cassidy warned.
“Let’s lose the peacemaker and have angry make-up sex,” I tried.
“We might not make it to school before lunchtime,” Brook teased.
“I have a quiz this morning,” Cassidy complained.
Brook and I both laughed at that one. Cassidy wasn’t the most diligent of students; she got solid ‘B’s without even trying. Our little ninja couldn’t care less about missing a quiz.
When we pulled up to school, Cassidy got out of the car to give us a moment.
“I still haven’t decided what I want to do,” Brook said.
“That’s fine. I’m not going to push you one way or the other. I’ll be here when you figure it out, and if you want to talk … well, we can do that too.”
Brook jumped out of the car and ran inside. This choosing to not let this situation bother me wasn’t as easy as my uncle had made it sound.
◊◊◊
