Page 4 of Defending A Promise
“’kay. Bye Mommy.” He waves over his shoulder as his cape flies in the air behind him.
I look at the teacher, “He’s a bit excited about school.”
“I see that. Let me get you the rest of the paperwork so you can get out of here.”
I complete the paperwork, listing both my parents as authorized adults, but also list that no one else is allowed to pick him up or talk to him. When Miss Rachel reads what I wrote, she looks up at me. “Is there anything we need to be aware of?”
Shaking my head, “No, I don’t believe so. Well, there was an issue back in Atlanta, but that’s why we moved back here to Hibiscus Harbor. It’s fine now.”
“The father?”
“No.” Is all I answer her. She doesn’t need to know the details. “Just me and my parents. That’s it. Okay?”
“Of course.”
I look at the clock on the wall behind her. “Okay, anything else? I’ve got a meeting in a half an hour.”
“Nope. It looks like Nicholas is fitting right in.” We both look over and I see my little boy running and playing with the other kids and it makes my heart melt. God, I love that kid.
“Okay, well, here’s his lunch and snacks. And don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything.”
“Everything will be fine, I’m sure, but we’ll call if there’s anything we need.”
With one last look at my son, I leave him to a day of playing and learning as I go to meet the catering company to finalize the menu for Friday night at Magical Moments’ grand opening.
Chapter 2
Declan
It’s been a long day at work and now I’m at Hooplas for a meeting with my business partners. Buying into this business with four of my childhood friends was one of the best things I could ever have done. Yeah, the extra money is nice, but just being with my friends and hanging out plus becoming a staple in the community of Hibiscus Harbor has been great.
Living in this town my entire life is special and there’s no place else I’d rather be. If I ever find someone to spend the rest of my life with, I’d want to stay here and raise a family in Hibiscus Harbor. Having roots is what has kept me grounded. The desire to serve the community that I love has given me purpose.
In college, I thought about going into the fire service or the medical field, but when career day came around, I knew after talking to the law enforcement officers that my path was clearly in protecting my hometown. I can’t believe that was ten years ago already.
Thinking about my childhood friends, I can’t help but think about the one friend that isn’t here. He’ll never be here but he should be. And, of course, every time I think about River, I think about Riley and wonder how she’s doing. She’s probably marriedwith kids, a house with a picket fence, and a happy little life in Atlanta.
“Can we start? I’m hungry,” Jax says leaning back in his chair at the conference table.
Somehow, we all look to Reid to run these meetings even though we’re all in this business venture in equal parts.
“You’re always hungry,” Kane replies to Jax.
“That’s ‘cuz he can’t afford food now that he owns a boat,” Hudson says.
“You’re no longer invited on my boat.”
“Bullshit. You need me to pay for the gas for your dinghy,” Hudson teases and we all laugh.
“I thought you boys would be thirsty and hungry.” Steph, Hooplas’ number one bartender says as she brings in five beers and two plates of nachos.
“You’re a lifesaver!” Jax dives into the nachos.
“Okay. Now that you’re eating and drinking, can we get this started?” Reid says as he turns on the overhead projector so we can see the financials on the screen in the front of the room.
Reid, our technical nerd and resident doctor, goes over our income and expenses and a bunch of other accounting terms this dumb cop doesn’t care about. I’m making money and Hooplas is doing great. That’s all I really care about. But Reid gets off on this stuff, so we let him drone on for a half hour.
“So, as you can see, business clearly picked up after we had that event for Kate – not that it wasn’t warranted,” Reid looks to Hudson, and he nods in appreciation. “but I think we might want to look into hiring someone to do more events for us. Like, Labor Day is coming up in less than a month. Maybe we can do something for that.”
