Like I did. Barefoot and pregnant.
“I was born in Epperly,” Kael replied.
That grabbed my full attention as I washed my hands and turned toward the kitchen table while drying them with the towel. There was so much you didn’t learn about someone when all you did was have sex with them. I learned about Kael through other people.
“You were?” Bella’s incredulity leaked through every response.
His dad chuckled. “Yes. My wife went into labor while we were on our way home from visiting my parents. Things progressed quickly on our four-hour drive, and Kael was born in the car with the help of a nice police officer while we waited for the paramedics. We spent two nights at the hospital here and then drove home.”
“And that made you want to start a business in Epperly? Two nights in a hospital?” I asked, letting my own curiosity have its voice in the safe company of my daughter and Kael’s dad.
Kael shrugged. “Sure. Why not?” He grinned before sipping his coffee. That grin … it said he knew what I looked like naked.
“The kid has always run on pure instinct.” Dan and Kael exchanged knowing glances at his father’s comment.
“I’m in the moment.” Kael set his coffee on the table, shifting his gaze to me again for a brief second.
“I love that. I mean … we’re only guaranteed this moment, right?”
Kael nodded once at Bella. “That’s how I figure it.”
“It’s why he won’t settle down and pass on the family name.”
“How long were you married before you lost your wife?” I asked Dan.
“Forty-one years. Three months. Five days.” Dan didn’t have to think. Not for one second. He knew because he cherished those forty-one years, three months, and five days.
I knew my stats with Craig too, but not because I cherished every single day—I kept track like a prisoner awaiting parole. “Is Kael your only child?”
Again … I knew nothing about the man I’d been screwing as the best part of my so-called midlife crisis. Not that I really believed in that, but what was the point of enduring the maturing transition of the forties if I couldn’t use all the excuses: midlife crisis, hormones, emotional burnout from raising a family? In my twenties, I used the “young and stupid” label to death. Basically, anything that wasn’t quite right about my kids was because I was such a young mother figuring stuff out on a day-to-day basis.
Now the thirties … that was where responsibility set in. Thirty was too old to not know better and too young to blame stuff on age. The forties were basically a redo of the twenties, but with more respect and more money.
“I’m an only child. They couldn’t risk a sibling not living up to me.”
“Sure, Son, keep telling yourself that.” Dan shook his head. “We wanted more kids, but God didn’t bless us with any more. I was good with it. My wife … not so much. She hated my apparent lack of emotion. I lived in the gray, answering all questions with ‘whatever, maybe, and doesn’t matter.’ She said I never uttered the words ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Something about commitment issues. I fear I’ve passed that gene to my son.”
Kael shook his head and smirked.
Dan continued, “Are you an only child, Bella?”
“Pfft … I wish.”
“Nice, Bella,” I said before opening the bottom oven and sliding the turkey into it. “I have three boys. Twins, Chase and Linc, then two years later I had Finn, and just over a year after I had Finn, Bella decided to join us.”
After I shut the oven door, the chandelier above the kitchen table started to sway a bit as a thumping sounded above it. Everyone glanced up at the light and then around the room. Earthquakes in the Midwest weren’t impossible, but they also didn’t involve a high-pitched “yes!”
The thumping sped up.
The chandelier swayed even more.
And I died of complete embarrassment when Kael and Dan tried to hide their amusement behind their coffee mugs. Bella covered her mouth, eyes wide and aimed at me.
“This is the first time my boys have invited girlfriends for a holiday. And clearly the last.” I offered everyone a tight grin for lack of knowing what else to say. But I couldn’t ignore it.
“I’m uh …” Bella stood. “Just going to run upstairs and tell my brothers it’s time to help make the meal.”
Maintaining my tight grin, I gave her a sharp nod.
“We should get going.” Kael stood as well when Bella ran up the stairs.
“Mind if I use your restroom before we head out?” Dan asked.
“Not at all. It’s just down the hall on the right.” I pointed in that direction.
When the door clicked shut, I eyed Kael as he moseyed toward me. “Stop.”
He halted, eyebrows lifted in question. “Something wrong?”
“You slept with my daughter’s friend last night. That’s crossing my comfort zone.”