Boston fake gagged. “My dad isn’t that attractive.”
Eddy’s eyes were gleaming as she said, “Oh, I will have to agree to disagree with you on that one.”
“La-la-la-la!” Boston plugged her ears.
I bumped her with my hip before saying, “How about you do me a favor and pull up Google and search up a place that has food and that’s willing to deliver. There won’t be very many of them, but the ones that do are all decent.”
“There wasn’t a single Starbucks in sight on the way in,” Boston groaned.
“Nope.” I mussed up her hair with my hand. “But you might should’ve thought about that before you hopped on a bus and left your grandparents’ place.”
“I hate that they cater to her.” Boston angrily took the seat next to Eddy’s bed. “She’s a psychopath, Dad. I swear to you, I would’ve never left if they weren’t giving her everything that she could want. She practically doesn’t work. When she quits her job, she comes to Grandpa and he funds her lifestyle until she gets another job that she’ll only keep for a week max. Then come right back and demand more.”
“What happened the day you left?” I asked, leaning my hip against the side of Eddy’s bed.
She reached behind me and ran her fingers over my back, her nails dragging along the fabric lightly.
I leaned into the touch, and it didn’t go unnoticed by either woman in my life.
“Grandpa told her he was cutting her off,” Boston said quietly, looking at me with an intensity that shocked me. When did my little girl grow up on me? “When she asked why, Grandpa told her that she’d exhausted her trust fund and that there wasn’t much left. When she ordered him to use yours, Grandpa said no. That it was mine. And she got this crazy gleam in her eye and said, “Well then, maybe I should take custody of Boston.”
Boston sighed. “There was more. A lot of screaming and fighting. Grandma got into it after Philippa accused Grandpa of loving a murderer. Philippa got even more defensive then, accusing both of them of being toxic for a budding adult. But she had this look in her eyes, as if she was really going to follow through with the threat of going to court to get custody of me.”
“It won’t happen,” I said. “Apollo, my friend that I told you about, won’t let her get away with this. We’ll figure this out.”
Boston’s shoulders slumped, and I watched as Eddy moved her bad arm and caught hold of Boston’s wrist with three fingers.
“If there’s one thing I know about your dad, he makes a promise and he keeps it,” she said softly. “Your aunt won’t ever be an issue for you anymore.”
Boston’s eyes lifted and they locked with Eddy’s. “He’s a pretty great person.”
My lips quirked. “Now you both are making me blush.”
She tickled my lower back with her fingernails before dropping her hand to her lap and saying, “I got cleared from soft foods and I can now have real, honest to god food. Can we please, please, order an appetizer? That has lots of bread and butter?”
“Butter’s gross,” Boston groaned.
Eddy gently placed her hand over her heart and gasped, “Blasphemy.” She looked up at me with shock. “What have you been teaching this child?”
My lips quirked. “I have no clue. I’ve been dropping the ball the last several years.”
She patted my butt gently. “At least now you get to fix the mistake. We’ll make her a butter lover.”
Dinner was great, even when Boone and Nettie joined us thirty minutes later—freshly fucked, might I add.
By the time I was walking out of the hospital with Boone on one side of me, and my girl on the other, I was feeling settled for the first time in a long time.
I’d never allowed myself to think about having Boston here with me, mostly because I thought it was for the best that she stay with my parents to keep her safe.
However, now that she was here, and she was adamant that she was staying, I felt a piece of my heart finally settle back into place. Right next to another piece that I hadn’t realized I was missing until the two most important women in my life had a giggle fest over butter and bread.
“She’s a great woman, Daddy,” Boston said. “I think you chose well.”
“She is great,” Boone said. “She was four years behind me in school with Nettie. But swear on all that’s holy. She’s gotten the shaft most of her life. Her parents are dicks. Audrey took great pride in making her teen years miserable. Then she fucked her knee up in that accident and couldn’t go play professionally. She’s been making do for her entire life, and the girl deserves something and someone that makes her happy. By the looks of it, Weaver, that’s you.”
“I plan on continuing to make her happy for a really long time,” I said. “I’m nowhere near ready to propose or anything, but I am more than ready to have her come home to my place instead of back to hers when she gets out of the hospital.”
“She’ll fight you.” Boone chuckled. “She hates putting people out. She’ll see that as forcing you to take care of her.”
