Page 64 of Out Of A Fix

I looked at Tatum. “What?”

She grinned. “I changed the name of my Instagram from Me and My Mom to Tatum’s Take. What do you think?”

“Tatum’s Take, huh? Like your take on everything?”

“Well, yeah, but mostly my crafts and all my favorite stuff. I was afraid to change it in case Mom would see it and be sad, but since she can’t do anything with her old life, I thought, well, we changed a lot of stuff, so I wanna change that too.”

“That’s awesome, and you should definitely tell your therapist about that when you see her tomorrow.”

“Are we going tomorrow since it’s a holiday?”

“Yes, ma’am. Dr. Marlowe can work or not when she wants and you and your brothers are on her schedule.”

She nodded, smiling, and then slammed into my side, hugging me tight.

“No,” Shelly snapped.

We both turned to her.

“Tatum, sweetie, I’m going to take that over with you. Your mother gave me the password, and I was excited to⁠—”

“That’s okay,” Tatum interrupted her, smiling, but I felt her little hand clutching the back of my henley. “I changed the password and the picture and everything, so it’s all good. I’m happy to start fresh like Griff said.”

“I take it back. Your brother’s not a jerk,” I said begrudgingly.

“No!” Shelly said loudly, almost shrilly. “Your mother promised me we would do that together. I mean, the boys are—but you and your father, I just can’t wait for us to be a family.”

Tatum tipped her head up to look at me. “I don’t⁠—”

“Love, go over to your father, all right?”

“No,” she said in a small voice. “I don’t wanna leave you.”

Scaring a kid in her own house? Hell no.

I picked her up then, threw her over my shoulder, which caused the squeal of delight I was hoping for, and charged over to Luke.

“I need to hear in lavish detail why tuna casserole is bad,” Luke teased me when I reached him.

“Take this sack of potatoes, will you?”

“I will,” he said with a grin that made his eyes sparkle as he took his daughter, who went limp in his arms. He held her like a princess. “Such a lovely sack of potatoes.”

When I turned, Shelly was right there, and instinctively, I stepped in front of Luke to shield him and Tatum.

“Everything needs to be how it was,” Shelly yelled, sounding a bit scary. “I was going to change this room, and do things with Tatum, and⁠—”

“I’m sorry?” Luke asked, leaning around me. “What’s going⁠—”

“Ladies,” I said to her friends, who were both looking Shelly oddly. “I think Shelly needs to go home and rest. I suspect she’s not herself.”

“Yeah, Shel,” the taller blonde said, a fake smile plastered on her face. “Let’s go back to your place. There’s wine and movies waiting for us.”

“I need the keys first. That’s all.”

“We’ll get them later,” her other friend, a brunette with a pixie cut, told her. “Right now you need to veg with us, or we can go to my house. I know the kids would love to see you.”

“These are my kids!” she shrieked. “Caitlyn gave me her word!”