Page 101 of Bolo's Curveball
And there I went, melting again. He was as obsessed with his baby as I was. He’d started talking to our son each night. The first night, I’d started responding to him as he spoke and he just gave me a look, then told me he wasn’t talking to me. I’d laughed and then watched as he laid his head near my stomach and went back to talking to our boy. He did that every night now.
He’d felt our son kick for the first time the other night and I never thought I’d see a man like him melt. His eyes had softened and he’d kept his hand there for over an hour. Now every time Bolo talked to our boy, he responded with kicks. Other than just a few stray kicks here or there that was the main time our boy kicked, when Bolo was talking to him. They were still just flutters but it was amazing to feel our baby respond to his father.
“I know,” I replied. “But it’s only a couple days.” I wasn’t sure if I was convincing him or myself of that fact, because I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping alone.
I walked him to the porch and hugged him again. “Be careful. Please.”
“Promise,” he told me with a grin. Then he turned and walked away.
I knew he was doing that because otherwise we’d just stand there together all day. I almost couldn’t believe how quickly he’d inserted himself into my life, and now it felt weird to watch him drive away.
Sophie wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “Why do I get the feeling something big is happening?”
“Because it is.” She raised her brows in question. “They’re going after the two factions. Probably tonight, though I don’t have all the details.”
“Really?” she breathed. “That’s crazy. Do we need to go somewhere else? Somewhere they can’t find us?”
I shook my head. “Bolo said The Collective is going to be too busy staying alive to come for us. And they have some clubs from Tucson and Wyoming keeping tabs on the rest of The Collective to make sure they don’t make a move while The Saint’s Outlaws take down these two sections of the organization. Having us be nowhere near the clubhouse, or them, is their way of protecting us and keeping us out of it.”
“Good. That makes me feel better.” She squeezed me close to her side. “I say we eat pizza and watch some of our favorite movies.”
“That sounds like a perfect night to me,” I said, laying my head on her shoulder.
We still stood there for a few more minutes, both just staring down the road. I wasn’t sure why, but I had this sinking feeling in my gut. Pushing it away, I went inside with my sister. Bolo and his brothers could handle anything The Collective threw at them. There wasn’t any reason to worry about them. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.
* * *
I openedthe door a couple hours later and hugged my parents. We’d forgone the movies and decided to invite the family over for pizza and game night instead. It’d been too long since we’d done that. And who knew how long it would be until we could again. It was hard to dominate in Monopoly when you had a crying infant to change and feed.
Handing over the money I owed in rent for landing on Audrey’s property, I ignored her incessant crowing. As the baby, she had the worst attitude when she was winning. Sadly, she was worse if she was losing. Right now she was beating the crap out of all of us. It was probably better this way.
“Honey,” Mom said, laying a hand on my arm. “We were hoping we could speak with you.”
“Nuh uh,” Audrey said, pointing at our mother. “You’re not pausing the game until after I finish slaughtering them.”
Mom gave her a perplexed look. “I honestly don’t know where you got this competitive streak from.”
Dad choked on the beer he was trying to swallow. He wisely kept his mouth shut as his wife glared at him. Mom was notorious in our family. You didn’t ask her to play a game unless you were willing to put up with her overly competitive nature.
“About what?” I asked, doing a quick tally in my head of my remaining money. One more stop on one of Audrey’s properties and I was screwed. Mom and Dad shared loaded looks. I sat back in my chair, watching them closely.
Ultimately, it was Dad who spoke. “I was talking with Lou the other day.”
“Dad…” I said, frowning at him. “I told you I’d figure out what I wanted to do about my job on my own.”
“I know, I know, but…I had an idea. And I wanted to run it by Lou before I mentioned it to you.”
“What kind of idea?” I asked, trying not to be irritated. He was just trying to help and I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do about my job after I had the baby. I didn’t want to give it up. But I also didn’t want to have next to no time with my baby, once I had him. And between doctor appointments and now taking this time off, it was already eating into my leave.
“I wanted to ask Lou about what it would take for you to go freelance,” Dad told me, a smile starting to build on his face.
My eyes widened. I hadn’t even considered something like that. A lot of fire inspectors would go freelance after they retired. They’d work with insurance companies, assessing properties before issuing or renewing policies, or after a fire loss to determine cause and origin most of the time. But there wereother opportunities, too. Like with Real Estate Brokers and legal cases where an expert is needed for inspections and as an expert witness. “Would… Would that even be possible?” I asked. “I mean, I’ve never seen a freelance inspector that was…” I hesitated, “younger than you.” I gave him a sheepish smile.
“Why not?” Dad countered, ignoring the comment about his age. “You’re smart, dedicated, and Lou and I both agreed that you wouldn’t have any trouble running a business for yourself.”
“Then you’d be able to work your schedule around however you need,” Mom added.
“You could do a lot of the work from home,” Dad said. “And schedule appointments with clients during times that work for you.”
