Beautiful Broken Promises(73)

“Daddy! I want out too!” Kate bellowed from behind me.

“Yeah daddy, get her out of the car,” Raegan said cheekily, all while she looked over at me with an intense burning heat in her eyes. She’d caught me, but she didn’t mind. Fuck, I was in deep with this girl.

As I pushed open the front door, I wondered if Audrey had thought to buy more pillows and blankets for us. I had one bed in my house with two sets of sheets and a comforter… that was it. That was all I’d needed. I could tell right away that Audrey had come in like a crazy lady and dusted all the surfaces of my living room. There was no way in hell it had sat for weeks and looked like this.

Apparently, she’d done more than that. My beige couch now had a huge, light blue blanket draped over the back and little brightly-colored pillows at each end. There was a f*cking painting hanging over my fireplace that I had never seen before and a huge tree in the corner. I wasn’t going to be able to keep that shit alive, so I hoped Audrey planned on coming back regularly to take care of that thing.

“This is so nice, Lane,” Rae said quietly as she walked in behind me. “It’s very homey.” As long as Rae approved, the damn tree could stay. I was probably going to toss the little, annoying pillows on the couch though.

“Let’s go drop our bags in the room.”

“This is your house, daddy?” Kate called from behind.

“This is your house now too, Kit Kat. Do you like it?” I asked, suddenly feeling nervous.

“Will mommy and Braden live here too?” Her voice had gone quiet and I could tell she wasn’t feeling sure about her surroundings. I dropped my bags and scooped her up tightly against my chest.

“Of course they’ll live here too.” The moment the words left my mouth, she instantly brightened and the Kate I had been falling in love with again wiggled out of my arms.

“Yay! Okay, lets go!” she called out to the house. “Can Braden and I get our own bed? You and mommy take all the covers.”

I laughed uproariously and grabbed my bag from the ground. “Absolutely. You guys should get your own beds. There’s no need to share anymore.”

“Really?” Braden asked with surprise in his voice.

“Yeah, buddy. There is plenty of room for you to have your own,” I said, patting his shoulder.

“That. Is. Awesome!” he exclaimed. I smiled at his enthusiasm because I hadn’t expected him to be so thrilled about something so simple.

“Whoa!” Kate yelled from down the hall. Rae, Braden, and I turned to see her looking into one of the guest bedrooms, and we quickly followed to see what she was so animated about. I didn’t remember there being anything in that room, except maybe a few stray boxes that had never been unpacked.

Raegan gasped as she turned the corner, and when I finally peered inside, I called out, “Holy —” Thankfully, Rae slapped her hand over my mouth before anything else could come out.

Two twin beds with drawers underneath sat against two opposing walls. At the head of each bed sat a bookshelf teeming with books and various personalized items for each child. A giant metal “K” hung on the wall above the pink bed and a coordinating letter “B” hung above the blue bed.

A tall wire basket rested at the end of Braden’s bed with basketballs, footballs, baseballs, and more. At the end of Kate’s was a smaller shelf that she could sit on if she wanted, but the space below was occupied by dolls and stuffed animals. We had packed up a few items in New York to ship out here, but it looked as if they wouldn’t really need anything.

Braden immediately zoned in on a small terrarium on the shelf at the head of his bed. He climbed up and began observing the tiny plants inside with a look of wonder on his face. Thank God I had shared that bit of information with Audrey about him loving the greenhouse at the museum in Brooklyn.

On the shelf at the head of Kate’s bed was a small, antique birdcage that appeared to have a pretend bird perched on a stick inside. I was relieved to see it wasn't a real bird—I don’t do birds.

“How?” Rae whispered.

“Audrey,” I replied quietly.

She stepped out of the room and I followed behind. The kids would be occupied with their new things for at least a little bit. Raegan instinctively moved toward the master bedroom and I reached in front of her to turn the knob. She stepped in first and turned toward me.

“Audrey’s just a friend, right?” I saw her wince and then add, “I shouldn't be jealous. I don't have a right, but you guys seem so… close.” This girl could never let anything go for too long. I f*cking loved it.