Room for You(36)

“I have to run it all by my mom and see if she minds watching the girls for the night.”

“Maybe you could come down on Friday and go home Sunday?”

“I don’t know, Brody, that’s a long time to be away from them. I’ve never been away longer than a few hours.” She sounded unsure, nervous even.

My jaw was on the floor. “You’ve never been away from them overnight?”

She giggled. “Nope, they’re my life. I hate to be away from them. Besides, where would I have gone?”

I hadn’t thought of that. “True.”

“How about we compromise … I’ll come Saturday morning and stay until Sunday afternoon sometime. Okay?”

“Kacie, I’ll take what I can get with you.”

“You’re doing it again.” She laughed.

“I can’t help it.”

“Hang on…” I could tell she put her hand over the phone and was hollering at someone. “Brody, I gotta go. Lucy is getting sick again. I’ll text you later?”

“Go. Be with them, I understand. Text when you can.”





To say I was excited for Kacie to get here was putting it mildly. All week, Kacie and I had texted throughout the day and at night after she put the girls to bed. We talked well into the morning. I felt kinda bad about that. I could sleep in, but she was functioning on only a few hours of sleep each night. She never once complained though, and each night on the phone, we got more and more comfortable with each other.

Friday afternoon, I decided to tackle my ghost town of a guest room. No one had stayed with me in a while, and she slept in my bed, not in here. I spent the better part of the day washing sheets and dusting bookcases, doing whatever I could think of that would make Kacie as comfortable as possible while she was here.



A little while later, my phone chirped. It was Viper this time.



V: DUDE. SHIT HIT THE FAN AGAIN TODAY. CAN I CRASH AT YOUR PLACE TONIGHT?



You’ve got to be f*cking kidding me. Of all nights he wants to stay here tonight?



YEAH, THAT’S FINE, BUT YOU HAVE TO SLEEP ON THE COUCH.



V: TOTALLY COOL WITH THAT. I’M GOING TO GRAB A PIZZA AND I’LL BE OVER.



GET TWO. I’M STARVING.



An hour or so later, I was kicked back on my couch watching baseball when my front door flew open and Viper came strolling through, pizza and beer in hand.

“Sup, my man?” He bellowed as he dropped the stuff on my kitchen counter and came over to shake my hand.

I stood and shook his hand back.

“I’m clearly doing better than you. What’s going on at your house?”

He groaned and rolled his eyes. “Kat came home and the cleaning lady was still there.”

I stared at him, confused. “Why would that piss her off?”

Well, Kat came in and I was relaxing in my chair. The maid was on her knees … sucking my dick.” He laughed. “Apparently, that was not an approved chore. Kat ran over and grabbed her by the ponytail and started whaling on her. I’m not gonna lie, it kind of turned me on at first, those two going at it, but I wrapped my arms around Kat until what’s-her-name could get out of the house. Needless to say, she’s f*cking pissed, and I didn’t want to sit there all night listening to it.”

Shaking my head, I asked my next thought out loud. “Why do it? Why go through all of this? Is it worth it? Why not just break up with her and live your life however you want?”

Viper narrowed his eyes, contemplating my question. “I don’t know. She’s always there when I need her. It’s nice to have someone there for me all the time. I know she’ll never really leave. Plus, she’s a f*cking animal in bed.” His eyebrows wiggled up and down. “Clawing, biting, screaming. Who bails when you get to f*ck that every night?”

“You … make my brain hurt.” I smacked him hard on the back of the neck as I walked into the kitchen to grab the pizzas.

“Speaking of f*cking, what’s up with you? I haven’t talked to you all week. You f*ck that girl yet?”

I turned around and locked eyes with him. “Dude. Don’t.”

He held his hands up in front of him defensively, his eyes wide. “My bad, man. Sorry.”

I picked up the pizza boxes from the counter and turned back to the living room, nodding toward the kitchen. “Grab the beer, will ya?”

“Got it.” Viper grabbed the six packs of beer and carried them over to the coffee table. “This girl really has you all f*cking crazy, huh?”

“Yeah, she does. And I’m totally okay with that.”

“What is it about her? I don’t think I’ve ever met a girl who has made me act as idiotic as you are,” he said, as he shoved a piece of pepperoni in his mouth.

“Nothing. Everything,” I said, smiling to myself.

“Oh my God. Did you grow a * while you were up there?”

I reached over and punched him on the arm, hard.

“Seriously, dude.” He looked at me incredulously. “What is it about her? I’ve never seen you like this.”

“I don’t know…” Moments I’d had with Kacie started running through my head as I tried to pinpoint exactly what it was that had me so crazed. “It’s the way she looks when she’s playing with her daughters. It’s the way she crinkles her cute freckled nose when she smiles really big. It’s the way her hair looks sexy all the time, even when it’s in a ponytail. I could sit here listing things for hours and still not tell you all of the amazing things about her.”