I'd phoned him to give him the lowdown and ask for his help when we took the kids to the park earlier. He was almost as enraged as I am and offered his assistance before I even asked. He's one of the best people I know, and I’m so thankful he managed to get a job nearby as an Exercise Physiologist. I would have hated to lose him back to Canada.
“Thanks, Trey. I couldn't have done it so quickly without you,” I hand him one of Lizzie's Fruit Shoots from the fridge, the loon absolutely loves the drink and is always play-fighting over them with my girl when they’re together.
Polishing off the little plastic drink in two massive gulps, he throws the empty bottle into the recycling and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “Seriously though, how does Shari have so many books? I swear two-thirds of the boxes in my van right now are spicy books.”
“And you'd better be careful with them because at least half are special editions, too. She'd have your bollocks roasting on an open fire if you damaged them. Especially considering she's unaware of this impromptu move,” I add, scratching the side of my face. “Is this too overbearing? I'm basically forcing her to move in with me. Shit, have I taken it too far?”
The panic of having gone about this too hastily sets in. She's already so skittish when it comes to us, and she's just getting out of a relationship with a narcissistic douche. Is she going to think I'm being too controlling and want nothing to do with me?
“Brad!” Trey snaps his fingers in front of my face. “You're spiralling. Listen, it's done now, so let's go back to yours, break the news and see how she reacts. If she's angry, we can just bring everything back and unpack for her, but I have a feeling she'll be grateful. I'm willing to bet she doesn't actually want to set foot in this house again.”
“Yeah,” I blow out a weighted breath. “You're right, even if she doesn't like the idea, it's easily rectifiable. It's not like I sold her house from underneath her!”
“Thank fuck that wasn't a possibility,” Trey mumbles. “Now, let's go win your woman over and get me some cuddle time with my goddaughter!”
When we get back to my house, I walk in to find Pickles trotting back in from the garden to greet us, Shari closing the back door behind him. I walk straight over to her and wrap her up in my arms, relieved when she twines her own arms around my neck, melting into me.
Obviously, Trey has to ruin it by throwing his arms around both of us and leaning back to lift our feet from the floor in an impressive display of strength.Dickhead.
Shari squeals in shock until she's able to turn around and see it's him, and a huge grin takes over her face. “Trey My Bae, I didn't know you were coming over! Where have you two been whilst we ladies were snoozing?”
“Brad can take this one. What I want to know is, where is Bumpy?” Trey asks. He still uses the nickname I gave Lizzie when Shari was pregnant, and we had no idea what we were having.
“She'll be Bumpy to you even when she's eighteen, won't she?” Shari prods him in the side.
“Absotively! Now where is my Bumpy, please? I need some goddaughter cuddles,” he wriggles his fingers in the air.
“She's in her room, colouring. Hopefully, in the book and not on the walls!” Shari laughs as Trey takes off up the stairs. Within seconds, all we can hear is delighted screeching. From both Lizzie and Trey.
Shaking her head, her smile hasn't dimmed as she turns back to me, “So, where were you two?”
“Promise you won't get mad?” I grimace.
“I mean, that's a surefire way to ensure that I probably will, so...no promises. What did you do? Please don't tell me it involves Jake in any way!”
“No! Well...no, no, it actually doesn’t.”
Crossing her arms, Shari's face adopts an unimpressed expression, “Spill.”
“Right, right. So, I made an executive decision.”
“Oh, you did, did you? What about?” she intones.
“Well, I decided that you can't go back to your house. Shari, it's not safe. We don't know if he'll come back again, god knows he's probably already out of jail by now. I couldn't live withmyself if something happened to you and I didn't do everything in my power to protect you.” I step forward and uncross her arms so I can hold both of her hands.
A worried look flashes over her beautiful face. “You think he'd come back? Where am I supposed to go, though, Brad? That's my house, I don't have anywhere else…” she trails off.
“Yes, you do. Trey and I went to pack up your things. You'll stay here. With me. I know it's small, and your books will take up the entire garage?—”
“We can't keep them in the garage, they'll get damp!” she screeches.
“Well, we'll figure something out. But we can all live here. And if you want to sell your house so we can buy something together, then we'll do that. A house with room for a library. Whatever you want. The ball is in your court, Shari. It always has been.”
She opens her mouth to respond when footsteps dance in from the hallway, “Bumpy gonna lose her mind, up in here, up in here. Bumpy thinks it is snack time, up in here, up in here. Bumpy gonna act a fool! Up in here, up in here. Bumpy is starting to drool, up in here, up in here.” Trey has our daughter balanced in his arms as he twirls and bops her around in time to his version of DMX's Party Up, much to her absolute delight.
“How do you even know that song?” Shari giggles. “That's my generation! I don't think you two were even born yet!”
“My dad is a big DMX fan,” Trey grins, but I see the amusement starting to melt off Shari's face as she's once again faced with the fact that we have a big age gap.
