Lana called the Kenwood home and was greeted by Mrs. Kenwood on the phone. “Lana. How are you, dear?”
“Hi, Mrs. Kenwood. I’m good. I’m just calling to check on the kids and to see what I must bring for dinner tonight.”
“Well, I was thinking of ordering out for pizza tonight for the kids. They are doing a fort in the living room, and we are going to watch a couple of movies. Kids get to choose.”
“Ugh, you’re going to turn them into heathens with that much power.” Lana laughed into the phone. “I can pick up the pizza on my way over there if you just tell me where Rocky and I need to go. Not sure where Jayson is since he’s not answering my calls.”
“Oh, dear. Are you two fighting?”
“No, ma’am. He’s just found out some information about someone he held in high respect, and it’s shattered him. I’m trying to give him some space. Not sure if that’s the right thing to do, honestly,” Lana admitted to Mrs. Kenwood.
“He’s here at the house now, hon. He’s been out in the backyard with his father all afternoon.”
“Okay, good. Poor guy has had a lot thrown at him in the last several days. He’s holding up better than I have, honestly.”
“I’ll send you the information for the pizza, hon. See you ladies soon. In fact, why don’t you have your whole team come for dinner? I know the kids would love to see them and it would give us a chance to get to know them.”
“I’ll relay the message, Mrs. Kenwood.” Lana hung up the phone with a smile on her face.
Jayson was okay. He was with his father, discussing what he couldn’t with her.
She could live with that. She knew Jayson was a proud man.
Walking back into the room, she got her team’s attention and relayed the message to them about pizza and movies. The team started betting on which twin would win in the movie pick and placed money on the desk in front of them.
“They are seriously betting on kids and what movie they will pick out?” Lt. Brown asked as he looked around the room at the seven women.
“It’s comical, I know. We do this all the time. My kids are weird in their tastes. Some days they like their Disney, some days they like thrillers, and then some days they like their action-packed movies. My daughter now and then likes her psychological thrillers or forensic stuff. My son prefers things with fast cars and helicopters. So, it’s a toss-up on who will win.”
“Wait, you let your kids watch all that?” Lt. Brown asked in shock, studying Lana more closely.
“Look, it’s not the best choices, but have you met my team? My kids are well-rounded individuals. They like cultural stuff, cars, and anything that makes them expand their minds.”
“Her kids are wicked smart. I think they get it from her since they look more like their daddy,” Sunny said, breaking into the conversation, ready to back her bestie up.
“I would hope so, since it seems that his choice in women before he met this one wasn’t so smart.” Lt. Brown laughed as he walked out of the room.
“Hey, Lt. Considering he was in high school, he was a jock who fucked anything coming and going. If he’d been serious about her, then he’d still be with her and caught up in all of this. He ended things with her his senior year. And for the record, Jayson was a straight-A student. He was top of his class at graduation. We both were. He also completed college while in the Army so that he could eventually go from green to gold. Kenwood is damn smart and I’m proud he’s the fatherof my twins,” Lana defended Jayson, glaring at Lt. Brown, who smirked at her.
“Glad he’s got someone like you taking his back, Pennington. Ya’ll have a nice night. We’ll pick back up with what we can tomorrow.”
Lana watched as the man walked away. When she turned around, her entire team was staring at her with a quirked eyebrow.
Well, fuck a duck on a fuck puck. Her entire team heard her defend Jayson.
So what? She still loved the guy and never denied it. Okay, so she did. At least to herself.
“What?”
“You just defended the man to his superior officer. He wasn’t putting him down, he was just questioning his choice in women before he met you.” Hollywood chuckled as she nodded at the board they’d put together with the information they had.
“Like you bitches haven’t dated someone in high school you regret now,” Lana fired back as she walked out of the room to her team hooting and hollering as they followed behind her.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
Lana, her team, along with Jayson and a few other people that were added to the task force from the PD side, which included Ryan, split up into teams to check out several locations that had been mentioned. The team had several locations they were going to check out.
