JAMIE
Every piece on a chessboard is there to protect the queen.
Lose your queen, and you’re going to lose the game.
Pay attention to that, boys. Life is a lot like chess.
—Advice from Aiden Murphy to Jamie and Finn
“Well good morning, princess.” Dad reaches for Kyrie before I even walk through the door of his house the next morning. “Come here.”
Aiden Murphy looks the same in his early fifties as I remember him looking in his early thirties when we were kids, making me incredibly thankful for good genes. Here’s hoping they didn’t skip a generation. He likes to say he stayed active after he retired from the NFL, but that’s kind of an understatement. The man still works out every day and has for most of his life. I bet he’s still as strong as a few of the guys on my team. He used to joke that he was Mom’s trophy husband, oncehe retired and she was elected. He said he needed to look good if he was going to be her arm candy. Really, I think he just liked knowing he could still beat someone’s ass if he needed to.
I mean, I could take him, but I can take most men.
Finn and I were lucky. He’s funny, even if most of his dad jokes are lame as hell, still a great cook, and an incredible dad. Always was. Family first. He made sure we knew that in every way that mattered growing up. Balanced it all. He and Mom both did. She refused to run for her Senate seat until he retired, so he retired once she decided she was ready to run.
They were a team, first and foremost.
One of those couples who make you think good relationships are the norm, instead of a once in a lifetime thing. They made it look easy even though it was probably anything but. They made me want what they had.
And now, he’s transitioned into a grandfather like he’s been waiting a lifetime for the position. He doesn’t actually care that she isn’t his. Or maybe he knew she was going to be part of our family before I did.
Dad melts like spilled ice cream on a hot summer day as Kyrie giggles and throws herself into his arms, trusting he’ll catch her as she claps her hands against the red beard the old man swears doesn’t have any gray. He’s lying. It does. Or at least it would if he didn’t pluck them out. Kyrie opens her mouth and sucks on his cheek. Her new version of a kiss.
“Careful, Dad. She’s drooling something fierce,” I warn, looking around for Mom but coming up empty. “Is Mom here?”
“Yoga. But she should be home soon,” Dad answers, never taking his attention from Kyrie. Yeah, the minute she came to live with me, Finn and I were each officially knocked down a rung on the ladder of importance. Replaced by this little girl, and that makes me love my parents even more. “What’s going on, son? It’s a little early for you to be stopping by.”
I follow him into the kitchen and help myself to the coffee. It is early. Kyrie’s an early riser, and so am I. But Ashton isn’t. She does it, but she barely speaks before her first cup of coffee in the morning. And that’s when she hasn’t spent half the night crying and the other half puking like last night.
Letting her sleep in... giving her some space. That was a no-brainer.
I have no doubt she’ll be pissed when she sees my note telling her Kyrie and I are out running some errands, but whether she admits it or not, she needs time to process last night. And there’s no way my girl could do that with me crowding her.
There’s also no way I’d be able to be near her today and not crowd her.
Not now. Not after last night.
Will she be pissed that I left and took Kyrie with me?
Maybe. But I’m more worried about her and how she’s handling everything.
Guess I’ll deal when I get home.
Home . . .
Funny how that word can change.
Four months ago, home was a place I built. Walls and a roof filled with everything an interior designer deemed appropriate for the space. Now it’s a feeling. Now it’s a place that holds my heart.
Christ, I’m waxing poetic like a fucking douche.
“What’s on your mind, kid? Spit it out. Not that I don’t appreciate the surprise visit, but you’re not my quiet, introspective son. You’re the kid I could always depend on to tell me what was going on with you and your brother and the rest of the damn family while you were at it. All I ever needed to do was get you in the car without the radio on and you’d spill it all. Don’t disappoint me now.” He grabs a container from the pantry and sits at the counter with Kyrie on his lap, then dumps out the babypuffs like he’s done it hundreds of times. Hell, he probably has between us and my cousins and now all their kids.
“I feel like I should be insulted,” I chuckle as I lean back against the counter and cross my ankles, stretching out.
“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Jameson. Is everything okay with Finn? With Ashton? Your cousins?”
