22. Nolan

CHAPTER 22

Nolan

T he Cosmic Brownie in my hand freezes against my lower lip. My eyes move across the page as fast as I can make them go without missing anything. Even my heartbeat is thumping faster than it should while sitting in the car.

Katie didn’t tell me how intense this book would be. The shifter war is coming to a head, and the battle is raging hard. There’s no clear winner, which is making me nervous. The book is almost over, so there has to be a winner. Right? That’s how this usually goes. Tilly and Ellie always tout how their romance books end with a happily ever after every time.

I take another bite of my snack, needing the comfort of the gooey chocolate. After I dropped off Katie and Cody at lunch, I went to the big box store to get some things we couldn’t get in Westlake. Mainly boxes of Lucky Charms cereal with only the marshmallows for Sara. They’re her favorite. That took all of an hour, even with me going down every aisle whether I needed anything in it or not.

When I couldn’t waste any more time in the store without feeling like an idiot, I came back to the restaurant to wait. I praised my smart thinking in bringing my book. I didn’t think I would have time to read, but I’m grateful I brought it anyway. I totally understand why people read exclusively on their phones. Being able to have your book handy at any time would be awesome.

The plastic wrapper crinkles in my fist. “No, no, no, that’s not what’s supposed to happen,” I say into the empty car. My eyes fly across the page as the main characters get into a car accident caused by the bad guys. I gasp when the villain grabs the girl, and even though she fights like hell, he still wins and takes her.

I turn the page to find out how they get out of this situation, but that’s it. It’s over. I flip the page back and forth, trying to get my brain to understand what I’m seeing.

“What the fuck? That’s it?”

My phone rings, scaring the hell out of me. If a scream comes out, too, well, that’s my business, and no one else’s.

Katie’s name flashes on the screen, so I answer quickly. “I’m so mad at you! I thought this book was supposed to have a happily ever after!”

Katie pauses for a beat, and then she busts out laughing. “The series does end happily, but you have to read the next two books before you’ll get there.”

I groan. “Next time you recommend a book to me, please give me all the information.”

“But then it would’ve ruined the surprise.”

“I hate that you’re right.” I grin at Katie’s giggles. “Now that I got that off my chest, are you guys done?”

“Yeah, we’re outside the restaurant.”

“Great, I’m down the street a bit. Turn left from the entrance, and you’ll see me.”

“Got it. Be there in a minute.”

I hang up and get out of my car to meet them on the sidewalk. The biggest smile stretches across my face when I see the two of them walking toward me, chattering back and forth. They don’t seem upset, which hopefully means things didn’t go horribly.

Cody sees me first and runs toward me. “I’m starving. Can we get pizza at the arcade?” Little tingles of pride flutter in my belly that he’s asking me first instead of Katie. I raise an eyebrow at her to check, and she nods.

“Sure. As long as it has pepperoni on it, we can get pizza.”

He makes a face. “What other kind would we get?”

“Hawaiian is my favorite,” Katie says.

Cody and I turn to her with matching expressions of disgust. I look down at him. “I don’t think we can hang out with your mom anymore. I do not want to be seen with someone who likes pineapple on their pizza.”

“Yeah, Mom. That’s so gross.”

I can’t quite decipher the expression on Katie’s face as she looks between me and Cody with a smile. “Unfortunately, you’re stuck with me, kid.”

Cody smiles at her, seeming pleased as punch to be stuck with her as his mom. “As long as I don’t have to eat your gross pizza, I’m okay with that.”

I bark out a laugh. “Come on, you two; you’re making me hungry.” I open the car door for Cody so he doesn’t have to walk out into the street, and then I open Katie’s door.

She gives me a little grin when I grab her around the waist and pull her close. “You know I’m fucking ecstatic to be stuck with you,” I murmur in her ear.

“You better be,” she says haughtily before popping a kiss onto my cheek and getting into the car.

There’s not a damn thing in this world that could cast a shadow on my happiness right now. I’m practically glowing with it.

A cacophony of sounds hits us as we walk into the arcade center. Children are squealing with delight; games are blasting their theme songs to entice you to play and then ringing to announce the winners.

The three of us decide to eat something before we play. I haven’t asked how lunch went yet. I want to give them some time to decompress before we rehash everything. If the fact that they’re both starving despite having just eaten is any indication, I’m guessing it didn’t go well.

We sit in the booth the hostess leads us to, Cody and Katie on one side and me on the other. The waitress takes our order: sodas for all three of us and a large pepperoni pizza. As she walks away, an idea pops into my head.

“Crap, I forgot to ask her to add some cheesy breadsticks. I’ll be right back.” I jump from the booth before Katie can say anything. The waitress hasn’t made it very far, so I catch up to her quickly. She gives me a flirty smile as I explain what I want. “I can do that. No problem.”

I nod at her and turn back to the booth. My body freezes when I see Katie and Cody talking to each other. Cody’s laughing at something Katie is saying, and I find myself smiling as if I’m laughing with him. How did I get lucky enough to see this side of them? How the fuck am I going to keep them? I know jack shit about raising a kid. Granted, Cody acts more grown up than most eight-year-olds. Regardless, the likelihood of me fucking this up is high.

Self-doubt washes over me with such force I feel crippled by it. Could I ever be good enough to deserve them? I have no idea, but I’m just selfish enough not to care. I want them, both of them, with everything I have. I’ll do whatever it takes to hold on to them for as long as they’ll let me.

I make my way back to the booth and sit down. “Got them ordered.”

“We never get cheesy bread with pizza.” Cody bounces with the excitement of a kid getting everything he could hope for all in one afternoon.

“This is a special day. You guys deserve to splurge a little,” I tell him.

Katie bites her lip, worry flashing in her eyes for half a second before she smiles at Cody. I’m not sure what that was about, but I hope to God I can help ease that worry in some way.

“Okay, you two. I’m dying over here. How did lunch go?”

Katie inhales like she’s about to say something, but Cody starts talking before she can. “It was fine. I was too nervous to get a big kid meal, so I ordered chicken nuggets and fries. I only ate half of them.”

“I can understand that,” I respond.

“Bryce is…” Cody looks up at the ceiling, tilting his head to the side as he thinks. “Kinda stuffy.”

I furrow my eyebrows at Katie, humor tilting the corner of my mouth. She’s biting her lip to keep from laughing.

“He was wearing a tie and one of those fancy coat things. He kept asking me if I played sports or was interested in sports, and even when I told him no, he said he’d teach me all about them.” He shrugs. “I don’t know. It was weird. He was nice, though, I guess.”

I suppose that answers that question. I’m glad he wasn’t mean to them or anything.

“He also kept looking at Mom weird.”

“Weird how?” I ask him, looking at Katie. She shakes her head as if she has no clue what he’s talking about.

“Kinda like you look at Mom sometimes, but different. You always look happy; he looked weird.”

Ah. He was attracted to her. I open my mouth to say something in response and then close it again when nothing comes out. Katie is beautiful. There’s no doubt about that. I can understand why he’d still want her. What I want to say is that Katie is mine and no one else gets to have her, but I don’t think that’s appropriate to say to her son. I decide a change of subject would be best at this point. “How many curse words did your mom say?”

Cody grins. “None. She did good.”

“I’m so glad you think so.” Katie rolls her eyes.

Our food arrives by the plate full, and Cody’s eyes widen at the display. Katie’s gaze flashes to mine when she realizes that I ordered her a Hawaiian pizza.

“This is awesome!” Cody gushes. He reaches out for a cheesy breadstick and chomps down on it, content as can be. “Even if we have to sit by Mom while she eats her gross pizza.”

“We’ll never be able to eat all of this.” Katie shakes her head. She picks up a piece of her pizza and closes her eyes as she takes a bite. I grab a slice for myself so I’ll stop perving out on her while she eats.

“I figured we could take the leftovers home to snack on this weekend.”

“Leftover pizza is the best,” Cody says through a mouthful of food.

“Right?” I agree. We listen to Cody chatter as we eat. He’s more entertaining than any TV show I’ve seen. I surprised him the most when I told him I liked to do yoga. He didn’t believe me at first, but Katie confirmed that I did. I also explained that the only sport I was ever good at was soccer. The only reason I played was because my siblings played, too. It was never my favorite, but they made it fun.

When we finish eating, Cody acts like he’s about to burst out of his skin. “Mom,” he whispers. “I have to go pee.”

“Oh, sure, baby. We can go.”

“Can Nolan go with me instead?”

Katie and I look at each other in surprise. I shrug, telling her I don’t care if she doesn’t. “If that would make you more comfortable, sure.”

He’s nodding fast and stands before we can say anything else. Katie mouths, “Thank you,” as I follow behind Cody to the bathroom.

He turns to me when we get outside the door. “I don’t really need help or anything. It’s just kind of embarrassing to have your mom waiting for you outside. She never lets me go on my own like a big kid.”

I roll my lips between my teeth to keep from laughing. Based on the look on his face, he’s completely serious right now. “I can understand that. I’ll wait here for you, then.”

Cody nods, his shoulders relaxing as he pushes open the door. I lean against the wall with my arms crossed while I wait for him. He comes back out a minute later, wiping his wet hands on his jeans.

“Did you use soap on your hands?” I ask, knowing that I rarely did at his age.

“Yep. Mom seems to always know when I don’t, so I stopped trying to skip it.”

I laugh. “Moms are pretty good at that kind of stuff.”

“Tell me about it,” he grumbles. He stops in the hallway and looks up at me. “Nolan, can I talk to you about something?”

My eyebrows furrow, and I squat down. “You can talk to me about anything.”

“Well… it’s just… Mom’s birthday is in a couple of weeks, and I want to get her a present, but we’re together literally all the time and she’d see. I was wondering if you could buy it for me, and I’ll pay you back. I have money. Promise. I’ve been saving it up to get her something nice.”

I had no idea Katie’s birthday was so soon. I’ll have to ask Ellie when it is because there’s no doubt in my mind that Katie will refuse to tell me. “I would be happy to help you out. What did you want to get her?”

“Books. She hasn’t bought any new ones in a while. She just keeps rereading the old ones, or she checks them out from the library. The thing is, she buys new ones for me all the time.”

“That sounds exactly like your mom. Okay, I’ve got an idea.” I tell him what I’m thinking, and his eyes get sparkly with excitement.

“That’s sounds awesome. She’ll never guess it!”

“Perfect. I’ll get one, then.”

When we get back to the table, Cody stands by the seat instead of getting in. “Can we go play games now?”

“Sure, we just need to pay the bill,” Katie says.

“I’ve already taken care of it,” I tell her.

She narrows her eyes at me. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“I know. That’s why I did it anyway.” I turn to Cody before she can protest anymore. “Let’s go get some game cards. I’m ready to kick your butt in ski ball.”

“You’re on.”