Page 33 of Big Obsession
“I was released today.”
He nods his head. “Good, good.”
I look around the table at my friends. These three men are my best friends. We’ve been through a lot together, and I don’t know what Ace and I would have done without them. I love poker night, but tonight we all seem off.
“What are we doing here, guys?” I ask.
There’s laughter from the other room, and we all turn to look at the door.
Jace grunts. “We’re playing poker.”
Walker nudges Brody. “Your turn.”
Brody picks up the cards he hasn’t even looked at yet. “Shit, sorry.”
We all look at our hands as chaos, laughter, running, and squeals sound from the other room. Jace sets his hand down. “I wonder what they’re doing.”
I apologize even though I don’t feel any remorse whatsoever. “Sorry, guys, I guess I wasn’t thinking.”
Ever since Jace and Delaney got together, and Walker and Hailey, and Brody and Winnie and then me and Dolly, on poker nights, Dolly has been inviting all the women to the ranch. I guess they do crafts for the little ones, and she has some of the ranch hands take Ace and Jace’s boy, Eli, horseback riding, and then they finish up with some kind of outside game and eat out on the deck. She says it’s wild and chaotic, but she loves it.
From what I’m hearing here, I can see why.
“I guess since the women and kids are going to start coming here on the night I’m supposed to be playing poker, I may need to skip my turn and have us go to one of your houses.”
Brody strokes his chin like he’s considering it. “Or on the nights you host the poker game, instead of poker we can join in on the fun out there?”
Fuck, I’m glad someone said it. I point a thumb over my shoulder. “You want to go out there? To the party?”
Jace scoots his chair back. “You think there’s enough food?”
I nod. “Dolly made extra ribs and chicken since we’re here.”
Brody scoots his chair back. “I mean, I can eat.”
Walker stands up. “Well, what the fuck we waiting for?”
The guys all stand up, and I follow them out of the den and through the house that now is quiet. “Where they at?” Jace asks.
I point to the back. “On the porch it looks like.”
Single file, we go out the door, and when we get outside, the kids all come running. I hear Ace and Eli asking us to play wiffle ball with them, Clementine jumps into Brody’s arms and lays her head on his shoulder, and Wren runs to Jace. “Look, Dad, look what I made you!”
Jace is smiling ear to ear at the craft, and all I can do is stand back and take it all in. I never thought we’d get here. We were all single dads, depending on each other to get through the good times and the hard times, and we did our best. One by one, we fell for these magnificent women that have made all of our lives better.
Dolly is smiling at me, and I put a hand on each of Ace and Eli’s shoulders. “After we eat, I’ll play a game of wiffle ball.”
Walker chimes in. “We all will.”
Ace and Eli scream their excitement, and as they go to grab all the gear, I walk over to Dolly. “I can’t believe you put all this together.”
She smirks up at me. “Oh, you mean because you haven’t let me go home the last few weeks.”
I lean down and kiss her, reminding myself to keep it PG13. “You are home.” I kiss her again and moan as I pull away. “You know, your month is almost up.”
She looks at me curiously, and I remind her, “Remember, I said you have a month before we get married.”
Her eyes round. “Oh, you were serious about that? You haven’t asked, so I just thought?—”
