AllFreeNovel
Share Us
four
Nolan
“Up,up,up.”Imake my way into Aria’s bedroom and twist her blinds open, allowing sunshine to file its way in.
She stirs sweetly in her bed. This is the part I hate the most…waking her up for school. She always looks so peaceful cuddled under her blankets with all of her stuffed animals surrounding her. Her long brown hair is all over her face and pillow as she wills herself up. Her big brown eyes mimic mine as they open from sleepiness.
“Daddy, do I have to?” her sleepy voice squeaks up at me.
“You do. It’s Fun Friday. And besides, if you don’t get to school, you don’t get to have your playdate.”
“Are you starting the shower or am I?” She jumps up all at once, scattering to race into the bathroom. I laugh at her.
“I’ll start the shower. You go pick out your clothes for the day.” Aria smiles at me before running into her closet.
I head into the kitchen after starting the shower to start making her breakfast, sausage links and butter toast. Nothing fancy. There are days where she’ll opt for cereal but more often than not, she wantsthe good stuff, so she calls it.
As I place the bread in the toaster, I can’t help but replay the texts between DJ and me. They weren’t promiscuous by any means, but my thoughts of her are, and it’s starting to become a problem.
I haven’t thought about a woman as much as I had when I first met Jessica. We were young and dumb. Well, not that young. I was about twenty-eight and she was twenty-four when we met. But still, I like to think I rushed things with her. I always knew she wasn’t my soulmate, but when you get a girl pregnant the right thing to do is make it work. Right? Maybe not, but I thought I loved her. I did. And I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t feeling lonely.
That’s probably why I fantasized about a girl I don’t even know last night. But it was so easy to dream of those gorgeous jade-colored eyes and her bright smile. Her timidness is a mask, I know it is. I can tell she holds herself high, is mature and responsible. She’s definitely a mystery I’d like to get to know, but I’m not sure it’s the best idea.
“Mmm. Sausage!” Aria comes running down the hallway and I can’t help but chuckle. She’s got herself all dressed, straight-cut light washed jeans, a lilac colored shirt that reads “girls run the world” and her favorite black boots, not tied of course. We’re still working on it.
“Daddy, can you do a braid today?” I plate her food and set it on the kitchen table as she pulls out her chair and shakes her wet hair out of her eyes.
“Two braids or one?” I ask.
“Daddy, no ‘fence but no one wears two braids anymore.” Her eyes look at me as she smiles before turning to her breakfast.
“Noted. One braid,” I laugh. “And no ‘fence taken.”
I’m glad she got my eyes. I don’t know if I could stand looking into a mini-version of Jessica every day. I don’t know if it’s because I can’t stand the woman she’s become or because it would hurt too fucking much. Either way, it doesn’t matter. I’ve got myself and Aria, and she’s the only girl I need in my life.
“Good morning, Mr. Steele. I wasn’t expecting you this morning.” My receptionist smiles at me as I enter the building.
“Donna.” I nod my head at her. “I needed to file some papers before I headed over to Shipman. I’ll be in and out. Any messages?” I ask as I grab a cup of coffee from the lobby.
“No, sir. Nothing today.”
With that, I head back into my office to file that paperwork before taking off to the construction site.
I pull my truck into the dirt lot with the others. Looks like things are going smoothly today. I see a few guys scattered around a cement base that was freshly poured after the cleanup from yesterday. I spot Josh close by.
“Seems like things are going better today?” I say as I approach him.
“You have no idea. Derrick and Mario are working together to pick up slack from yesterday’s fuck up, and Mitch, well, he hasn’t talked much shit today.” The mention of my brother’s name makes me cringe. Which I hate because I have so much love for the guy, but I’ll never forgive him for fucking my wife.Ex-wife.
“Where is he?” I ask Josh as I scan the area. I don’t really want to see my brother. We haven’t talked much since he admitted his affair. And I’m not sure what we’d say to each other at this point.
He told me a few days after I filed for divorce. It didn’t shock me where Jessica was concerned, but to know that it was more than just the pass that I witnessed, it fucking hurt. It took a lot for me not to sock the shit out of him because I saw the regret and sorrow written all over his expression.
Mitch is only two years older than me — though I’d argue he’s not the smarter of the two of us — and there’s something about sharing a relationship with a close sibling that you can talk to when shit happens, bad or good. But he had to go and fuck that up seeing as I haven’t been able to trust him for a while.
We’d always been really close, especially after Mom died. We never knew who our father was—was told he left when we were babies. My grandmother raised us most of our teen years until we were old enough to be on our own.
But now we work together, because I hired him as soon as I started the company years ago. I knew he was good for the work and he loves doing this kind of shit. But now that we have thisthingbetween us, sometimes I hate that he’s my brother at all.
