Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 36691 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36691 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
“Bye, Aubrey.”
We flew to Beaumont, made it to the house, and collapsed out of exhaustion. The next day, still groggy, we boarded another flight. This time, we’re heading to the California coast for a few days. Josie told me they were going to celebrate Thanksgiving at Noah and Peyton’s, but she has no idea we’re going to surprise them. I wanted to keep it a secret, mostly because if my travel plans fell through, I wasn’t letting Mack down. I’ve done that enough this past year. I’ve missed countless moments in his life, and while I’m thankful Liam stepped up, Mack’s my son and I want to be there for him.
Once we land at LAX, I rent a car and head toward the coast. Talisa keeps her head on a swivel and looks in every which direction she can. I tell her we’ll tour later, and she can see all of Hollywood and we’ll even go to Disneyland. This, of course, gets Amelie excited. She hasn’t been yet and now won’t shut up about it.
I pull into Noah’s driveway and shut the car off. On the flight over, I told Talisa who everyone is, and thankfully she has no idea who 4225 West is. Score one for Mr. Nick.
Amelie beats me to the door and knocks as hard as she can.
“I’ll get it,” someone calls out. The door opens and Peyton’s standing there, eyes wide.
“Nick! Amelie! Oh my God, come in.” She ushers us into the house. It’s gorgeous, with a view of the water. We follow her down the hall and into the family room, where multiple pairs of eyes take in two people they haven’t seen in a while, and someone new.
“Nick, you’re here!” Josie says as she comes over to us. We hug and then she hugs Amelie. Always the protective mother, she keeps her arm on Amelie’s shoulders while I introduce her to Talisa. “Nick’s told me so much about you. Are you visiting?”
“No,” she says as she looks at me. “I’m going to live with Mr. Nick and take care of the kids.”
“Mr. Nick, I love that!” Josie cracks up laughing. “Come on, let’s go meet everyone.” Josie looks at me. “Did you at least fill her in?”
I shrug. “I tried. Your family tree doesn’t branch. It’s embarrassing.”
Josie whacks me on my arm.
We say hi to Elle, Paige, Katelyn, Jenna, and Nola. We meet Oliver, who has adorable baby cheeks. Harrison and Liam come in from outside. I don’t know what comes over me, but I go up to Liam and hug him like we’re long-lost best friends. He hugs me back.
“Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Nick. You did the same for me. You’ve got a great son,” he says before we part. “He’s down the beach, throwing the ball with Noah and Ben.”
I step back and wipe my eye sweat away. “Aren’t a few of you missing?”
“Eden, Quinn, and JD are surfing,” Jenna says. “Or they’ve been eaten by sharks since they’ve been in so long.”
“Sharks?” Talisa’s eyes go wide.
“Only sometimes,” Peyton says, winking. Peyton excuses herself to go to the kitchen and Talisa follows. I try to tell her she doesn’t have to work, but she loves cooking. Hopefully Peyton doesn’t care if there’s another set of hands in there.
“Amelie, come tell me about Johannesburg,” Katelyn says. “I hear it’s beautiful.”
Amelie heads over and the women converge on her. Any doubts I had about coming back without her mother are gone. If it takes a village to raise a family, I have the best damn village at my fingertips.
I say hi to Harrison and then Liam points to where I’ll find the boys. As I’m getting closer, I can hear Noah coaching Mack, much like I did when Noah was younger.
“Dad?” Mack’s voice stops me in my tracks. “Dad!” Mack runs at full speed, barreling toward me. I swear he’s grown a foot since I dropped him off at Liam and Josie’s. He lands in my arms, and I hold him as tightly as I can. He smells like sun, sand, and boy. My boy.
When I finally let him go, I look him over, just to absorb the sight of him.
“How long are you here for?” he asks.
“Here, the weekend. Beaumont, forever.”
Mack’s face lights up and it’s the best damn sight I have ever seen.
“Amelie?”
I motion toward the house. “She’s upstairs with all the girls, probably getting pampered.”
“No doubt,” he says laughing.
Noah comes over. We hug for a long time. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there,” I say in reference to missing the most important game of Noah’s life.
“It’s okay,” he says. “I’ll go again, and you will be.”
“That’s what I want to hear.”
“Mr. Nick?”
I turn at the sound of Talisa calling my name. She trudges toward us through the sand.
“You brought Talisa?” Mack asks.