Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Still, there are some days that I feel like a failure or like I’m taking advantage of the people who care about me. Then again, most of my life I’ve felt as if I haven’t earned the love or the second chance I got, and that I’m always letting someone down.
Two
LOGAN
Pouring myself a cup of coffee, I pull my cell from my ear and listen for the sounds of Billie and Cooper up and moving around, getting ready for school. Instead, I hear Cooper talking to someone on what sounds like his game system, and Billie’s alarm beeping.
“Fuck me.” Pressing end on the call to my shop voicemail, I toss my phone down on top of the island. With Dozer, our family’s bulldog, following behind me I walk through the living room then take the stairs two at a time to the second floor.
Bypassing the TV and guest room, I knock on Billie’s door and push it open, flipping on the light.
“Oh my god,” she cries, yanking the blanket over her head.
“Girl, you better get your ass up and out of bed.”
“I’m sick.”
“You’re not sick.”
“No, I’m like really sick, Dad,” she whines, and I draw in a breath, seeking patience.
“Alright, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t feel good.”
“Come downstairs, eat something, and we’ll talk again after that.”
“Dad.”
“Billie, it’s the second week of school, you miss days now, and when you’re really sick, you won’t be able to get an excused absence.”
“Fine.” She tosses back the blanket with the attitude she’s perfected over the last sixteen years of her life. “But if I puke all over the kitchen, I’m not cleaning it up.”
“When have you ever cleaned up after yourself when you’ve been sick?” She doesn’t answer because that has never happened. “I’ll see you downstairs. You want some toast?”
“I’ll make something,” she mutters, and I step away from her door but leave it open. Going down the hall to Cooper’s bedroom, I push the door in and press my lips together. With his VR headset covering his face, he doesn’t even notice me standing in his doorway.
“Coop,” I clip, and he jumps three feet off the ground and takes the headset off with his eyes wide. “Dude, you know the rules: no video games before school and none after unless your homework is done.”
“They did an update on…”
“I don’t care,” I cut him off. “Get dressed, brush your teeth, and come down to eat.”
“Okay,” he agrees with his shoulders slumped.
Leaving him to it, I head back to the stairs, and Dozer meets me at the bottom step with his tail wagging. He’s never been able to navigate the stairs, and the few times he’s tried, he’s ended up rolling down them. Then again, he’s built like a sausage, and regardless of our monitoring his treats and food, he can’t seem to shake the extra weight he’s gained.
“Come on, let’s get you fed.” I walk into the kitchen and fill his bowl with food then refill his water. As I’m taking a sip of coffee, Cooper comes into the kitchen in shorts, a tee, tall socks with his slides on his feet. I don’t mention his choice of outfit, I learned with his sister to keep my mouth shut and my opinions to myself.
“Is Billie coming?”
“She was in the bathroom, so I think so.” He wanders to the pantry to get out a box of cereal. Grabbing the milk for him, I put it on the counter while he gets himself a bowl and a spoon.
“You have baseball practice tonight; Gigi is picking you up from school and you’ll hang with her until practice then I’ll meet you two there.”
“Okay.” He dumps some cereal into his bowl. “Do we have to go to Mom’s after the game Saturday?”
“That’s the plan,” I tell him, and he drops his eyes to the bowl.
“What if I don’t want to go?” He shoves a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.
“How about we talk about that later in the week and see how you feel then?” I suggest.
“Whatever,” he mumbles, keeping his eyes on his bowl, and I let out a breath.
His mom, Kristy, and I met when we were both in the military, and we had a good run, but we were always better off as just friends. We split when Coop was five and Billie was ten, but still spent holidays together, hung out at the kids’ activities, and threw shared birthday parties, never wanting the kids to feel like they weren’t the priority. The intention behind us building a healthy coparenting relationship was good, but because of all the time we spent together, I think he and Billie both believed that we would get back together eventually, something that was never going to happen.
Then, a year and a half ago, that dream of theirs was washed away when Kristy started dating a guy named Aaron, and things got serious pretty quickly.