Page 121 of The Logic of Loyalty

“My sister wanted you to have it back. Her words were … wait. Let me think for a second.” I tap my chin, then hold up a finger. “Oh, yeah. ’Thanks, but no thanks.’” I tuck it into his front pocket, so he can deal with it when they process everything, and pat it a couple of times. He sputters, but really, what is there to say? “It was a good time, Bobby, but it will be even better when you’re far away from here.”

“You stupid piece of⁠—”

I turn away, but raise my hand in farewell, one finger up. “Hope it was worth it, you two!”

Down the hall, I hear my father yelling at the top of his lungs as he’s led out of my office. His furious, red face turns to me one final time before he’s led down the steps.

I sincerely hope that’s the last time I ever see him.

I put in my final resignation before leaving. Ms. Tyson tries halfheartedly to convince me to use more sick days and pull in my paycheck, but I’m done. It’s time to shut the door on this part of my life for good.

I went to The Shop to finish the day and have been counting down the hours until I can return home to my woman and son.

Tonight, Paige is making dinner for everyone, so Billy and Carter have been bugging me about what she’s making us. I’m just trying to understand how I got so fucking lucky to get to this point despite everything I’ve done wrong.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

PAIGE

“I’m going to kill him.”

“You aren’t going to kill him.”

“I’m going to castrate him.”

“I want more children.”

“You need to give me a pathway of violence to that—that madman.” Becky chops the cucumber I gave her to help prep the salad with too much gusto.

“You’re the one who brought this up, you loon. Now, how about I finish the salad, and you can get started on that treat you want to make Carter?” She stops chopping and looks at the cucumber slush she’s created.

“Fine. I can do that.”

I help her gather the ingredients and pull up her recipe before getting the veggies together for the salad. I discreetly toss the pulverized cucumber.

“I still can’t imagine what he was thinking.” I give her a look, and she flushes. “Okay, I don’t know what our men were thinking. Okay. Fine. I’ll drop it.”

We work in silence for thirty seconds. “Thank you again for helping me get the last of those berries. I really thought it would be easy to get enough for this stupid pie.” Becky struggles with the standing mixer. I lean over and push the lever she’s missing, but she doesn’t miss a beat before she’s stuck again. I twist the connecting piece for her, and she gives me a meaningful look before groaning. “I can’t⁠—”

“Nope, you are fine, and you’re doing great.”

“Paige, you pretty little liar. I’m doing terribly, but—he learned to cook for me. I need to figure out how to bake.”

I snicker because that was exactly what happened with Trevor and me years ago. He learned to cook, so I learned to cook and bake. I roll up my sleeves to avoid the veggie juices. “You’ll get it right, and I’ll be here if you need me.” Becky smiles and adds more ingredients in the completely wrong order.

“Thanks again for hosting—oh my God! What happened to your arms?”

A jolt of panic ran through me earlier when I saw the red bumps and inflamed rash lining my arms. “I just helped you sort through all of those bushes. I’m almost positive there was poison ivy in there somewhere.”

“Have you put anything on it? It looks really bad.”

“Yes, I’ve treated it. There’s nothing much that can be done. I put some Calamine lotion on it already.

“It’s not dangerous for your babies?”

I shake my head. “I called, and they said to pay attention to a few symptoms, but nothing has come up.” Becky looks shaken up, so I rush to her side and grasp her arms. “Hey, hey. It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I’m okay. Goodness. You’re too sweet.”

Becky’s face screws up, and her eyes fill with liquid, and mine do the same. “Stoppit! You’re too sweet.” She shakes off my hold and pulls me into a tight hug, swaying us aggressively from side to side as she does it. When she gets back to the mixer, I get back to my veggies. “I don’t know what I would have done if you and Trevor weren’t here to help.” A weird grinding comes from the mixer, and I ignore it. It’s a machine. It can be replaced.