Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“She’s here.” She turns the iPad around to face me and by default Logan standing behind me.
“Now I see why you’ve been so busy.” Samson smiles, making air quotes, and I inwardly groan while Logan chuckles.
“Samson, this is Logan, Logan, my brother Samson.” I introduce them.
“Nice to meet you.” Logan steps up next to me, placing his hand in the middle of my back.
“And this is Billie and Cooper,” Zuri tells him, turning the iPad back around.
“Nice to meet you guys,” he says softly, and Billie says something similar while Cooper asks.
“Where are you?”
“Japan.”
“Tokyo?” He asks with a hopeful lit in his tone.
“No, but my brother Javion is there.”
“Cool, do you watch Anime?”
“No, but Javion does.”
“Where is he?” Cooper asks and Samson laughs then says. “Hold on.” A second later I hear a phone ringing and a second after that Javion joins the call.
“What’s up? Oh, hey, kiddo.”
“Hey.” Zuri smiles, then introduces him to Billie and Cooper before turning the camera to me so I can introduce him to Logan.
Then, as I sip my coffee and Logan makes all of us breakfast, Javion and Samson chat with everyone, and Javion answers all of Cooper’s questions about Tokyo and Anime. And before they hang up, the two of them give me smiles of approval, something I appreciate but don’t necessarily need. I might have been unsure about Logan in the beginning, but I’m not anymore. I know with every fiber of my being that this is right, that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
Thirty
NALIA
Hanging up with my therapist, I look out the window in my office. It’s been a few weeks since I started talking to the woman my mom recommended, and each time I end a session with her, I feel emotionally drained. As I watch the dark clouds move slowly across the sky, the words she said before she ended our call come back to me. You had every reason not to go back, Nalia. You could have just lived your life without thinking about your siblings after you found out about them, but you didn’t, and I don’t think you realize how admirable that is. Was it admirable? I don’t know, but there is something about that statement that I can’t seem to shake, like I needed to hear from someone outside my circle that I had done the right thing, despite always feeling like it was wrong.
Glancing down at my cell phone when my reminder alarm starts to beep, I turn it off then grab a few gummy worms from the bag on the desk before I get up from my chair and go to my bedroom. I change into jeans and a sweater then put on my boots and add my vest, knowing I’m going to need the extra layers. Over the last few weeks, the temperature has started to drop, and the leaves have begun to change color signaling fall is here to stay.
After I’m dressed, I send a message to the clients I’m meeting, reminding them that I will be at their property at noon, then I text Logan to let him know that I’m headed twenty minutes south to meet a client for a walk-through of their property. He messages back a second later to drive safe and that he’ll see me in a few hours.
Without much discussion, we have fallen into a routine of having dinner at his house each evening, regardless of what the kids have going on after school. And since Aaron asked Kristy to marry him a few weeks ago, Zuri and I have spent the night every Saturday, which is something the kids seem to look forward to because it includes pizza, a movie, and lots and lots of candy or a dessert if the girls have decided to make a cake or cookies. It’s also one night a week I look forward to because I get to fall asleep with Logan and wake up with him in the morning.
A little more than twenty minutes later, I arrive for my meeting, and Dr. Birney and his wife are waiting in the driveway next to their car. I met the couple from New York when I first took the job working for my brothers, back when I wasn’t really sure if working for them would work out. It feels like that was a hundred years ago, even though it’s been less than a year.
“Hey,” I greet the two of them while I get out of my car with my bag and the folder containing all the information they will need for their new home.
“It looks like it might rain,” Dr. Birney tells me as I approach, and I look up at the sky that is getting darker by the minute.
“It’s that time of the year.” I smile at him, accepting a kiss to my cheek before giving his wife a hug and asking, “How are you?”