What if Satch got to be the one to leave for work each day and I stayed back and ran this place?
What if I was the one who did the drop-offs and pickups and grocery shopping?
What if I spent my days looking after Paris and not missing one minute of her development?
I’ve been away so much. I missed Dom’s first steps, which killed me.
I missed Jane saying “Dada” for the first time. Again, a knife to the chest.
I missed Sebastian catching his first football. I actually cried over that one. Just a few small tears, but still, hearing Satch describe it to me while I was on the other side of the country… that hotel room had never felt so cold and empty after I hung up the phone.
And thanks to my stupid knee operation, I missed Charlotte’s first ballet performance. The video was freaking adorable, and I would have given anything to be there.
Not to mention all of the other special assemblies and events I haven’t been around for.
I don’t want to keep doing that.
Maybe this busted knee is what I’ve been hoping for deep down.
Because maybe it’s time for me to be the anchor at home.
Shit, am I even capable of doing that?
I have no idea, but damn if I don’t want to try.
CHAPTER 5
CARSON
I can’t do this.
Nylah needs to stop thinking I can.
Owning my own business? Why does she believe I’m even capable of succeeding with such a massive feat?
I mean, sure, I’ve dreamed about it, but those are just my imaginings. Dreams don’t actually come true that way.
Yes, they do.
My scoff is impossible to hold down.
“Hey.” Nylah gives me a stern look. “Stop doing that. Youarecapable, and I kind of hate that you think you’re not.”
“Just because I’m a good mechanic doesn’t mean I can run a business, Kitten.” I keep my voice short and clipped, because that’s all I can manage right now.
I’m still kind of reeling over one-point-four million.
What the fuck?
Dad was loaded and we didn’t even know?
He never lived like he had means.
I didn’t see him after he got out—not until I visited his deathbed—but from what I’ve heard, he was living in a shithole. Mom went by his place to get a few things for him when he waslaid up in the hospital, and she said it was a sparsely furnished matchbox.
The only thing of value he had was his motorcycle, which he also left to me.
Shit, I don’t even know if I have the guts to go and collect it.
