Page 127 of The Outpost (Jamison Valley 4)
The twins were nowhere in sight.
“Boys. Stop hiding.” This was their new thing. They couldn’t sit still or stay quiet at the dinner table to save their lives, but when it came to hiding, they were as silent as the dead.
I gave them a minute, but when they didn’t emerge, I started counting. “One. Two. Th—”
Two little four-year-old boys started laughing. Tanner popped out of the suitcase on the floor. Peyton sat up from the gap between the bottom bunk’s mattress and the wall. I shook my head and looked to the floor to hide my smile.
My boys were not small for their age, but to hide, they could contort themselves into the tightest places imaginable. Sabrina didn’t like that they hid from her so I didn’t want to encourage them, but at the same time, I was always impressed with their new hiding spots.
“Who’s on the top bunk tonight?” I asked.
“My turn!” Tanner yelled, scrambling up the stairs to the top bed. I had built them an elaborate bunk bed last year, complete with stairs and an iron railing, but because they both loved the top so much, we made them switch off every night.
“Daddy?” Peyton asked, climbing under his blue comforter. “When’s Mommy getting home?”
“Later tonight, bud. She’s out with your aunts.”
Once a month, Sabrina met Felicity, Maisy and a whole group of women at the Prescott Spa for a girls’ night. She’d come home with fancy toenails and a wine buzz, which meant I was getting lucky later. I got lucky most nights, but when she was tipsy, she’d let me get creative.
“Ella says Mommy’s going to be mad at you,” Peyton said.
“I know,” I muttered.
“Tomorrow is our baycation!” Tanner cried as he bounced in his bed.
“Vacation. With a V. Vay-cation.”
“Vvvacation.”
“Good job.” I tucked him in first and then bent down to tuck in Peyton. “You guys be quiet and get some sleep so you’ve got lots of energy for the trip tomorrow. Okay?”
“Okay, Daddy!” both chimed. There was no chance of them staying quiet tonight. They’d talk to each other for hours, only stopping when their little bodies physically shut down to sleep.
“Love you, Peyton. Love you, Tanner.”
“Night-night, Daddy!”
I closed the door and the giggles started. “We’re going on a roller coaster!” one of them yelled at the same time the other said, “Grandpa said he’d take me on a saffrari!”
Shaking my head, I let them be and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. Boone was lying on his bed, his eyes locked on the door to the garage. He’d stay just like that until Sabrina got home.
“More moping?” I asked him.
He didn’t move, not even to blink.
I huffed, scowling at my form
er dog. He’d abandoned me completely in favor of my wife and kids. Man’s best friend my ass. Boone didn’t give two shits about me anymore. If Sabrina wasn’t home, he was all about Ella and the boys.
After turning off a few lights, I went back to the boys’ room, reminding them to be quiet before starting up the stairs. Making my way to our bedroom, I took in the framed pictures along the hallway. Sabrina kept growing the collage Maisy had started, replacing older pictures with new and adding a couple more rows of frames. But even with the additions, the black-and-whites still centered around one color photo.
Our wedding picture.
Besides the pictures of her in the hospital on the day the kids were born, there wasn’t a picture on this wall where she looked more beautiful than at our wedding. We’d gotten married in an open meadow not far into the mountains with close friends and family looking on. Sabrina’s long hair had been curled and left free to flow down her back. Her delicate lace dress had hugged her top and flowed to her feet. And her smile. The photographer had captured her breathtaking smile after I’d slid my ring onto her finger.
I touched the frame then kept walking to the bedroom to do some packing of my own.
Tomorrow, I was finally taking Sabrina to Disney World.
