Page 37 of Coast to Coast

Crew perked up, “Geee tah!” His attempt at saying the word made his Boston accent evident. Oh man, would it be funny for him to say the phrase “Wicked Pissah.”

That was precisely why I wasn’t mature enough to have children.

“Okay, bud. Finish up and come get me after you talk with Mommy. Okay?”

“Otay, Kiwi.”

“Eyes to yourself, Tommy Boy. You don’t pay me enough to ogle me.”

“Um…I kinda might.”

I shook my hand at him, shooing him away. Turns out we were no longer capable of having a conversation without flirting.

“Keep up the sassiness. It will make it believable for the team at the cookout,” Tom said with a smirk.

“Yeah, by the way, thank God for Mariana. It’s potluck, and if she hadn’t told me, I might have shown up empty-handed.”

“She would never let that happen. But as a general rule, we’re not much help with the social scene in season.”

“Noted,” I said, heading off to tune my guitar and warm up before playing for Crew and Tom. While this had started as purely a bedtime routine, I looked forward to both of their reactions. Yes, I liked performing to small crowds, but when I could pick a song specifically for someone and then see, hear, and sometimes feel their reaction, that was my favorite.

I checked my phone, noticing that my TikTok account had blown up. What the hell? I would typically get about a thousand views of my music, but I had hit over 100,000, and it was still climbing. My followers had grown from just over 10,000 to over 50,000. I sent a screenshot of my profile and sent it off to Monica and then separately in my sibling group chat. I had learned not to include PJ and Monica in the same chat the hard way.

Monica: Wow! When did that happen?

Me: Between noon and now. WTF!

Juno: I saw the video. I love the new song!

PJ: Nice, sis. Are you monetized yet?

Of course, PJ’s first thought was about money. I had just recently monetized, but nothing I had posted had done anywhere near as well as this one. In fact, I think my total income from it was about nine bucks so far.

Monica: You know what this means; now you need to build on that platform.

Seeing my music generate attention was reassuring; no, this wasn’t my first choice for my future, but my talent was something that Zander couldn’t take away from me. And…speaking of Zander, his e-mail was in my inbox. He must have realized his texts were blocked. He briefly commented on my new song and then dove to ask for help with his upcoming proposal. It seemed like stealing my work meant he was expected to continue to produce at the same level. Who knew? I responded with a link to Lily Allen’s song,Fuck You, and closed my e-mail browser. Damn, that felt good.

I could hear Crew giggling on the video chat with his mother as my text messages dinged.

Tom: He should be ready in about five minutes or so.

Me: Okay. Be right in.

TOM

Should I have been aroused watching Callie sing to my son? Probably not. But fuck, it had been far too long since I’d seen any action other than my fist. And here she was, her curly hair, one of my biggest weaknesses, flowing wildly, swishing over the top curve of her ass every time she walked past me. Yep, that only drew my attention to her perfectly round ass, wide hips and tiny waist, and those tits.

Crew and I watched intently as she played her guitar and sangThe Beatles, Blackbird.Her voice was beautiful; that was a given, but the song reminded me of my Mom when I was a kid. I don’t know how she selected songs that spoke right to me. For Crew, she could have sung the alphabet and strummed the guitar, and he would have loved it.

Crew’s eyes were half-mast when she finished, and he was falling fast. He nuzzled into me for a hug.

“Mama and Pops?” he said sadly.

“I know, buddy. You miss them. I’m sorry.” Kelsey had video-chatted with him earlier, but Sam wasn’t available. As far as I could tell, Crew was happy with us, but it didn’t stop him from missing his mom and stepfather.

Callie eyes met mine, shining with emotion as they welled up with tears. She mussed his hair and rushed out of his bedroom. I gave him one more kiss and hug and followed after her.

Callie had her back to me and her head in the refrigerator, rifling around, looking for something.

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