“I miss you too, but no matter how much I miss you, I’m not gonna risk something happening to you. So I need you to be patient, okay?”
“Is this about my father and William?”
“They’re part of it, but it’s real complicated. You don’t need to worry about any of that, just relax, take care of my baby, and enjoy the time with Maddie and your mom. Because when you get home, I’m locking you in the house for at least a week and keeping you all to myself.”
Sophie laughed, but I was serious as hell. I planned on being up in her twenty-four-seven for nothing less than a week to make up for the time we were currently missing.
“Trooper?”
“What, man? I’m dead ass.” I chuckled. “So you and your mom good? I hope you’re not giving her a hard time.”
“I’m not. We’re fine.” I could tell from the sound of her voice that me asking annoyed her.
“Sophie, her life is her own. Even the choices she made, so let it go. She loves you.”
“Oh my God, you and Maddie both need to stop preaching to me. I said we’re fine. We talked and we’re actually in a good place. You would know that if you brought me home.”
“Ay, bring that shit down a little bit.” I smiled, knowing she called herself checking me.
“Just hurry up and fix things.”
“I got you. I love you, Sophie, and I’ll call you before you go to sleep.”
“You better.”
“Bye, man. You gon’ get enough of trying to act like you run shit.”
“I love you too and I do. You know it and I know it. Putty in my hands,” she said, then hung up on me.
She was right, I was, but only with some things, which she also understood.
Chapter 56
Story
“Ifeel like this is all my fault,” Alana said lowly through the phone.
“Doesn’t matter how or why, baby. We’re handling it,” I said confidently.
“But it doesn’t take away from me being the reason for all of this. If I had made the right decision years ago, none of this would have ever happened.”
“Lanni, I love you, baby, and as true as that may be, the past is the past. We all have regrets, but right now, this is the hand we’re dealt. I don’t blame you, so don’t blame yourself.”
The line got quiet, which let me know she was processing what I’d said. I meant every word, so there was no reason for her to feel bad.
“Sophie and I are good now. I know she blames me for not having you, and for the things William has done, but I feel like we’ll be okay. I just wish things could have been different.”
“She loves you, Lanni. Just pick up the pieces and build. We’re a family. She has Trooper and I have you. We’re about to be grandparents. I’m just now getting used to the idea of Sophie being in my life as my daughter and now my baby is having ababy. Shit is good, Lanni. Don’t think about all the things we lost, focus on what we’re gaining.”
“I love you, Sinclair. I love everything about you.”
I chuckled and nodded to an empty room. I was currently stretched out on our bed, wishing she was next to me. “Baby, you don’t have to say that shit for me to know it’s true.”
“I know I don’t, but I need to say it for me.”
“I love you too, Lanni, but I have to go. I’ll call you tonight, and hopefully I’ll see you in a couple days.”
“Hopefully,” she released softly. “And Sinclair, be safe.”
