Larissa looked toward Nancy.
“If I can give you any advice, don’t let anyone ever tell you how to be.Always be true to yourself.Trust me, there is nothing worse than attempting to please another person.”
“My dad has always told me to be true to myself,” Larissa said.Although, right now, she didn’t know how to be true to anything.Her emotions were all over the place.
“Your father is a good man.”
“Thank you.”She knew her father had a lot of respect within the town.There were a lot of people that liked him.
He’d been going away a lot just lately, and she didn’t know what kept calling him away.She never checked up on her father, or asked what was going on.He’d tell her when the time was right.
She only hoped he wasn’t thinking of leaving Fort Clover.
****
Harlow and Hunter eventuallyarrived, and Big Dick finally had someone he could talk to.His brothers were great, the only problem was, they wanted to talk about him and the fact he was going to be a dad.They also wanted to know how he’d been able to win Larissa.
So far, he hadn’t won back Larissa, although she was talking to him now, which was an improvement.They were currently living together and it was now companionable silence.It helped him that he spent a lot of time working for the MC.That was the only way he was able to get through all this shit with Larissa.
Prospecting for the club had not been a picnic.It tested you to the limit, to the very foundation of your being, and even when you felt like you were at rock bottom, it would then demand even more.He loved it.Lived for it, because the club brothers had to trust him.They were not always living in peace, and on the open road, they needed to have a brotherhood that meant they relied on everyone.If you didn’t pass the test, if there was even a semblance of doubt, you did not get through.Big Dick had always passed.
“You all right, man?”Hunter asked.
Hunter had been accepted by the Erikson household, but he saw there were still times it was a bit frosty.
“Yeah, I’m good.Thanks for coming.”
“Harlow did not want to come, but don’t worry, I’ve promised ways of making it up to her.”
“She still ...pessimistic about Mom and Dad?”Big Dick asked.
“Yeah, it’s hard for her to get past the whole, your mother being incredibly judgemental, and your dad not taking anyone’s side but your mom’s.I’m surprised you came.”
“I’ve gotten to know them in the past few weeks, and I don’t know, I guess I want to accept the fact people can change.”He shrugged.
“You’re still not close with your brothers?”Hunter asked.
“I am as close as I need to be.”
There was laughter, and Big Dick looked toward the main doorway where Larissa, his mother, and Harlow carried out some drinks.Larissa looked happy.That was all he wanted to see.It hurt that he wasn’t the one capable of making her happy right now.He was trying to alleviate her stress, to be there for her.
“I’ve just got to get some air,” he said.
He knew Larissa didn’t really need him by her side helping her through this.His family would surround her with loving arms and give her everything she needed.Especially where he couldn’t.
Stepping out into the yard, he had every intention of just grabbing some air.For some odd reason, he didn’t just stay on the main porch, but found himself walking down to the bottom of the yard.It was strange, he could not recall coming here any other time since Harlow’s disaster of a birthday party, where no one turned up.His mother had called him in a state, because time had arrived and not a single person had come to Harlow’s birthday party.
He’d been running behind and was waiting in line at the old bakery for a birthday cake.This was long before Ava arrived.When the bakery was not the best, and sometimes even offered burnt or underbaked cookies.The birthday cake had been cool, though.Coconut icing around a tropical cake.He’d given his mom the cake without a word and made his way down to this very tree house.
He looked up at the old tree house, and just for old times’ sake, climbed up and sat on the edge.There were a lot of creaks.The wood looked old, like it was going to fall down at any minute, and there was a thick layer of green moss along the outside.He was going to need to build his son or daughter a tree house.He was going to need to find a place to actually have a damn tree house.
Over the years he rented apartments, sporadically.Once he got a room at the clubhouse, he came to realize renting apartments was a waste of time because he never stayed in them.There was no way he was going to take a woman to his place, as that would mean she would read too much into it.
He couldn’t allow Larissa and his kid to stay at her father’s forever.Although, that seemed like the plan for now.She was going to need a home for herself.A place to live.A life of her own.Their own.
“You all right up there?”Harlow asked, startling him.
He glanced down to see he was so lost in his own thoughts, he hadn’t even seen Harlow had snuck up the garden.
