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“Yeah, I do,” Kodiak countered, looking down at the floor. “I’ve got some work to catch up on at the house before I go back to Linnea’s.”
“Take a nap while you’re at it, bro, ‘cause you look like you could use one.” And with a squeeze of his fingers, Bo let go.
“I’ll be sure to do that. Be good for your daddy, little one,” he said, patting the tot on the head. She gifted him with a cherubic smile. “Nice seeing you again, Ava.”
Following him into the foyer, Bo stopped him at the door. “You know, I’m here for you. Always. Whatever you need.”
Kodiak hugged him to his chest. “I know.”
“You sure you’re okay?”
He opened the door to the rain coming down in a steady drizzle. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
At least that’s what he kept telling himself. Maybe if he said it often enough, eventually he would be. Because nothing had been okay since he was sixteen. And truthfully, had it ever been?
He snickered. Not even close.
From the moment of conception, his existence was nothing but a sordid, fucked up mess. Except for a name on his birth certificate, he didn’t know who his mother was. Brandy Sullivan. Only fifteen when he was born, she’d never been in the picture. His father refused to even speak of her. Jarrid moved them out of their backwoods Missouri town to Crossfield before he was two.
The fucker fed all the church ladies this sob story of his pretty, young wife running off and leaving him. Tempted by Satan himself, she’d up and disappeared one day, saddling Jarrid with a newborn. Lies. All lies. He was never married. But the stupid bitches ate it up, fawning all over him and his father.
For years he’d tried to find her, but even with his skills, and the resources at his disposal, he never could. No records to be found of the girl anywhere. It was as if Brandy Sullivan never even existed. Fake name. Had to be. And so, he gave up looking for her a long time ago.
Kodiak opened the scrolled iron gate to Coventry Park. Cutting through it, he slowly walked the paved path that wound along the old oak trees, not caring that his shirt stuck to his flesh like a second skin. By the time he reached First Avenue, he was soaked to the bone, the steady drizzle had turned into a downpour.
Beanie’s was up ahead at the corner. He figured he should run in and grab a hot cup of tea for the rest of his walk home. Eight blocks. Less than a mile. Kodiak could run that in a matter of minutes.
He pushed the door open, the jingle of brass bells announcing his arrival. The scent of fresh-baked snickerdoodles blending with the aromatic grounds warming his insides, he went up to the counter. Katie’s brother, Kevin, looking bored as fuck, reached over for a paper cup, Sharpie at the ready to take his order. “Hey there, Kodiak. Matcha tea?”
Jesus, was he that predictable?
“Not today, Kev.” He smirked, indecisively pursing his lips to the side. “I’ll take an americano. Where’s your sister?”
“Katie took the day off.” Marking the cup, Kevin side-stepped over to the coffee machine. “After the funeral yesterday, Brendan’s…well, you know.”
He knew.
“Yeah,” he sighed, nodding.
A heavy blanket of grief was weighing on them all.
“You got that, Kev?” The ice queen herself poked her head out from the back. “Oh, Kodiak, it’s you.”
He wasn’t in the frame of mind to deal with her. Not today. Verbal sparring would require an energy he didn’t possess at the moment. Holding a hand up, he shot her a look that told her so.
Blue eyes taking him in, Kelly moved a couple of steps closer. “I’m so sorry about Kyan. You doing okay?”
He wished everyone would quit asking him that.
“Thanks, I’m okay.”
Snapping the lid on, Kevin handed him the blue paper cup and took his card.
“Sometimes okay is okay, you know?”
He raised his brow at her. Huh?
“That’s what Kyan told me the day he…”
