Getting Schooled (The Wright Brothers #1)(44)

She shrugged. “I don’t know. What do you want?”

Hmmm.

“Oooh,” I said, snapping my fingers. “You should definitely go to—”



- & -





“Batter Up,” I said, putting a plate of food in front of my niece at my kitchen table. I’d taken her to the little food truck that served waffles with “interesting” fillings and toppings on one of my first days back in town. With all the traveling I’d been doing before I left the military, and then rehab and everything after, I hadn’t exactly gotten to spend a lot of time with Brielle for her to know me very well. At first, she wasn’t impressed, but the first trip to that food truck – something she’d never been to before – was all it took to get her to warm up to Uncle Jay.

But now she expected it every time I saw her.

And well… she was adorable, so obviously I made it happen.

“I couldn’t get a plate, Uncle Jay?”

I shook my head at Justin as he dropped onto my couch, letting his head fall back against the cushions. “Nope. You’re not as cute as she is,” I said.

I left Bri in the kitchen, dancing as she chomped down on bacon-covered waffles sticks and more syrup than she probably needed. The TV in there was on some colorful cartoon pony crap she’d begged to watch, so I went into the living room, and dropped into a seat across from Justin.

“What’s up with you?” I asked. “I was expecting you to cut out of here as soon as you dropped her off. I thought you were on some tight deadline?”

“I am,” he groaned. “Procrastinating as long as I can, because I hate this fucking book.”

My eyes went wide, then shot over to Bri, who was blissfully unaware of the conversation. “What do you mean, you hate it?”

“I mean exactly what I said. I wouldn’t even be writing it if I wasn’t under contract for this last one. Still can’t believe I signed a four book deal with these clowns.”

“Wouldn’t have happened if you’d stuck with Toni.”

“Hey,” Justin said, sitting up. “The hell did you just say?”

I scoffed. “I said it wouldn’t have happened if you’d stuck with Toni.”

Justin rolled his eyes, then dropped his head back down. “I don’t want to hear that shit.”

“Good thing I wasn’t asking what you wanted to hear. Toni was good to you, and—”

“Good to me wasn’t getting my books on bestseller lists, and Toni understood that. I did what I needed to do for my career.”

“And look where you are now! Complaining because that big publishing house thinks they own you now, and your fancy ass agent got you locked into a crappy deal, and you have to finish this little wack series—”

“Wack? The series isn’t wack.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “The series is kinda wack. It’s the only wack thing you’ve done, but...”

“But it’s not wack.”

“It’s definitely wack.”

Justin scowled. “It’s not… shit.” He groaned. “Yeah, the series is wack. Which is why I don’t feel like writing this wack ass final book.” He stared off into space for a few seconds, and then shook his head. “I should have listened to Toni.”

“Yep,” I nodded, as he stood up, looking dejected. “Definitely should have.”

I stood up too, watching as Justin dropped by the kitchen to talk to Bri. He doted on that little girl, and as much as I rode him about the choices he’d made with his career, I knew he did it for her. He said goodbye to her, then planted a kiss on her forehead before he walked with me to the front door.

“Later, I want to hear about where you spent the night,” he said, clapping me on the shoulder. “You and Pops.”

My eyes went big. “Yo, are you serious? He spent the night at her house?!”

Justin shook his head. “Yeah, man. I don’t know how to feel about that.”

“Hell, I’m happy for him. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because you haven’t seen this woman, Jay!”

I narrowed my eyes. “And you have?”

Pops had been consistently tight-lipped about the woman in his life, and unlike my brothers, I wasn’t bothered by that. They were concerned about somebody trying to take advantage of him, use him for money, but if I knew our father like I thought I did, I doubt we really had to worry about that.

Was he lonely? Yes.

Was he stupid? Hell no.

“You know I had you watching Bri while I had that dinner meeting with my agent, right? We’re sitting at a table by the window, and who do I see walking down the street holding hands, necking like teenagers?!”

I tried not to grin. “Who, Jus?”

“Our father, and a woman half his age!”

Then, I did laugh. “How would you even know that? Did you ask?”

“I didn’t have to! I couldn’t really see her face, but if you’d seen the boots, the dress, and the body, you’d know what I mean. And early this morning when I drove by, his car still wasn’t there.”

I shook my head. “Come on, Justin. Stop tripping. So dad got him a little honey dip. Let him have his fun.”