Unbreak My Heart (Unbreak My Heart #1)(37)

“I miss you,” Kate whispered, but before I could reply, she’d handed off the phone.

I knew then that I’d f*cked up. Again.

“Hello?” Sage’s sweet voice came through the connection.

“Hey, princess.”

“Grandpa, it’s Daddy!” I heard Mike chuckling in the background.

“How’s it going, baby girl?”

“Gunner got into the garbage,” she tattled gleefully.

“How the heck did that happen?”

“Grandma was helping Auntie Kate in the bathroom—”

“Why was Auntie Kate in the bathroom?” I asked, cutting her off.

“What?” she asked, making me repeat the question.

“Her baby was making her sick again,” Sage informed me. “But she’s better now. Grandpa was supposed to watch Gunner, but Kell was jumping on the couch and he had to stop him before he busted his head open.” She made her voice deeper for the last four words as if mimicking Mike, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

I didn’t know how many times I’d heard that exact same phrase come out of Mike’s mouth.

“Wanna talk to Keller?”

“Sure. I love you, princess.”

“Love you too, Daddy!”

There was some scratching on the phone, and after a few moments I heard Keller.

“Daddy!”

“Hey, bud!”

“Whatcha doin’?” He sounded like he was eating something crunchy. A carrot? I tried to picture exactly what he was doing in my head, down to the clothes he was wearing.

“Just working. What have you been doing?”

“Playing with Grandpa. We went to the park yesterday, and I did the whole monkey bars by myself.”

“Whoa. Your guns are going to be huge by the time I get back,” I teased him, making him laugh.

“Are you coming home soon?”

My heart dropped to my stomach. “Not for a while, bud.”

A guy across the room got my attention, letting me know my time was up. Shit.

“Hey, Kell, I have to go, buddy.”

“Okay,” he grumbled.

“I’ll call you back soon, okay?” I said quietly, getting to my feet. “I’ll have Auntie Kate set up the computer so we can talk on there.”

“Okay. I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, too, Kell. Give the little boys a kiss for me, okay?”

“Okay.”

“And Kell?”

“Yeah?”

“No more jumping on the couch.”

“Sage!” I heard him screech before the connection was broken.

“Bye, son,” I mumbled into the dead line before hanging the phone back on the receiver.

I set my cover on my head and pushed my sunglasses back on my face as I headed out of the call center. I loved calling home, but I’d have to make sure I wasn’t making contact more than once or twice a week…assuming I had the time. Talking to Kate and the kids had given me a sense of relief, but I knew it would leave me in a funk for the rest of the day.

I wasn’t sure how angry Kate was. I’d been a dick, but the words had poured out of me. Plain and simple? I was frustrated.

I hated that Rachel was gone. I hated that I still reached for her sometimes, especially since I’d arrived in the hot-as-hell shithole I was in. I hated that Kate had taken up any spare place in my head, leaking into everything. I hated that I’d had to ask her to take care of my kids because they didn’t have a mother. I hated that I owed her for that.

I hated that I was missing school programs and new teeth and milestones.

I missed my children so f*cking much.

I missed Kate, too.

The next time I called home, I decided, I’d apologize to Katie. She didn’t deserve my bad mood when she already felt like shit.

And why the hell was she still sick? Wasn’t that shit supposed to be almost gone?

Worry for my family settled heavy in my gut and didn’t leave for a long time.





Chapter 8

Kate



The second time Shane called, I let Aunt Ellie answer the phone and pass it around to the kids.

The third time, I completely left the house.

But by the fourth time, Uncle Mike and Aunt Ellie had gone back to Oregon, and I’d had no choice but to talk to him, at least until I could hand the phone off again.

“Hello?” I answered flatly.

“Katie? It’s me?” he said tentatively.

“Hey, Shane. I’ll get Sage.”

“Wait!” he called before I could pull the phone away from my face.

“What’s up?”

“How are the kids doing? How are you doing?” he asked, his voice almost desperate.

“Kids are doing good. Keller threw a huge-ass fit today because he had to share his Legos with Gavin. Sage had today off because the teachers are doing report cards. Gunner keeps putting my makeup in his mouth, and his face was covered in lipstick all day. It’s the eighteen-hour stuff, and I couldn’t get it off.”

He laughed, and I smiled.

“And you?” he asked cautiously.

“I’m good.”

“Have you been sick?”