Page 74 of Collision of Winters
Dad shrugged. “She was.”
I hummed around a fantastic mouthful of fluffy pancakes, butter, syrup, and bacon.
“Maybe you two should move in together,” Chris suggested. “Quin, you can get more show dogs, and Wade can grow flowers.”
I laughed with my mouth full.
What a weird, awesome, overwhelming, hysterical day this turned out to be.
This could only be celebrated with more pancakes.
Maybe a Push Pop later too.
EPILOGUE
April 7th, 2021
Wade Winters
Twenty minutes until Kayden was due.
I exited the elevator and smoothed down my shirt. My next patient wasn’t scheduled to bitch me out until after lunch anyway, so I had plenty of time.
Once I reached the lobby, I wasn’t too surprised to see both Quin and Chris waiting between the reception desk and the revolving door. There wasn’t much else to set your eyes on out here. The massive fish-tank lobby was fairly empty but needed to be large enough for checking in departments from government agencies for seminars and training.
I nodded hello to Gina at the desk at the same time as Quinlan and Chris heard my approach and turned around.
“I was wondering when you’d show up,” Quin said.
“I had to finish my session with Hudson first,” I replied.
He furrowed his brow, immediately concerned. No wonder, Hudson was one of his closest friends. “How’s he doing?”
It wasn’t as if I could answer. But…in the middle of a divorce, three children, an ex who wanted to move home to Toronto, stress, anxiety, too much work, and, what I was beginning to suspect, suppressed issues about his sexuality.
“Couldn’t hurt if you gave him a call tonight,” I settled for saying. I shifted my gaze to Chris. I was obligated to tell him more, as the head of field ops. “He doesn’t struggle financially, so I advised lessening his workload for a few months. He’s not happy about it, of course.”
“Got it.” He nodded firmly.
“I’ll have him over for dinner tonight,” Quin said. “It ain’t like Kayden will join us.”
My mouth twitched. No, he sure wouldn’t. It was my turn. I missed my boy an absurd amount, and we hadn’t spent the night together all week.
It was Wednesday.
“How was he doing this morning?” I asked. “I didn’t wake up to a novella.”
I’d grown fond of his good-morning texts. They arrived in the form of a list of what his plans were for the day, questions he might have, and that he missed me. Today, I’d only received an all-caps message that said, “TODAY IS THE DAY, DADDY” and approximately fourteen heart emojis.
“He was focused,” Quin replied. “I had to remind him twice about finishing breakfast because he was busy doing inventory of his backpack.”
I smiled. That fucking boy. He’d been looking forward to this day for weeks now. He’d started training too. He went running with me. He swam, lifted weights, and no longer fussed about avoiding sugar during the workweek.
“He’s gonna do great,” Chris said. “He has all the gear he needs now too.”
He sure did. We’d hosted a big birthday celebration for him shortly after we’d come home from Alaska, and Quin and Chris had gone all in to prepare him for his program. Kayden had a new laptop, a digital planner, a utility backpack, notebooks, markers, software, and workout clothes.
I’d forgotten that we were already in the middle of the training of our next class of officers, possibly because I’d been off work when they’d gone through their psych evals. So it was going to be a matter of Kayden catching up so he could join the class. Chris had put together a two-month-long crash course to get Kayden up to speed, and then he’d be on the same level as our other four trainees.
