“Hey, Drew.” I smiled trying to ignore the look that bounced between me and Creed.
“Hey, Kas. Come on back she’s about ready for you and a little anxious to see you I think.”
“Aww, me too.” Creed and I followed Drew back into the kennel room where Hemi had a huge walk-in kennel to herself. She had a cast on her leg and stitches in her hip. The big white-collar cone kept her from messing with either of them.
When she saw me, her tail wagged, and she whimpered as if she were in pain. “Hey girl.” I said squatting down to pet her head. “Easy,” I said when she whimpered again as she wagged her tail.
“It’s almost time for her next dose of pain meds. it’s up to you if you want to take her today. She’ll have to keep the cone on until the stitches heal. The cast will have to be on for a while, so it’s better to have her in one spot. I know you like taking her to the shop so she’s not alone all day, but she won’t be able to go back and forth from your apartment and the shop as much. It’s up to you, but we can certainly keep her here. She’s not really ever alone since we have animals boarding all the time. it’s totally your call though.”
As much as it pained me to do it, I asked Drew to keep her with him until he thought she would be ok enough to travel back and forth from Creed’s home to the shop. We climbed back in the truck, and I scooted to the middle of the bench seat to sit next to Creed. I needed his warmth and comfort.
“Once she get’s to my house, she’ll be spoiled and treated like a queen. Just like her mama.” He said placing a kiss on my head as he drove.
“Thank you for being here through all of this.” I sighed and closed my eyes enjoying the intimacy of the moment.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
***
We made it back to his house where we unloaded my stuff into the garage next to his beautiful bike. I looked over the custom paint job and followed the pristine light blue pinstripe along royal blue tank.
“Want to go for a ride?”
“Maybe later. It’s a beautiful bike, did you build it?”
“Yeah, and my best friend did the artwork.”
“It’s impressive. You could have opened your own garage here.” I said admiring the work that went into the custom bike.
“I could have, but I didn’t have it in me to start from scratch again, not when I had everything else going on with Simon and his mom. That’s how I ended up at your place.” He wrapped his arms around me, “Second best decision of my life.”
“What was the first?” I smiled into his loving gaze, feeling so at peace in his arms.
“Moving here to be near Simon. It brought me close to him and to you.”
Epilogue
Creed
Ariel was right. My ex was tangled up in some heavy shit with the crowd she was running in.
I had asked Tyson about trying to get full custody, but it honestly didn’t matter because it wasn’t long before Amber stopped coming around altogether. It turned out that being a mom wasn’t right for her and she was more than happy to sign over her rights to Simon.
Since I had more than enough income to support Simon, and I was engaged and my fiance was pregnant with my second and third sons, the judge granted the transfer of rights, removing Amber from the equation altogether.
“Congratulations you guys.” Serena smiled and gave Kas a big hug around her distended belly. “Simon is so lucky to have you two for parents.”
Kassandra smiled, “He is one lucky kid. I wasn’t really ready to be mom to two babies, but now three at once.” She took a deep breath as she rubbed her swollen belly. “I hope I have what it takes.”
Serena looked over at her own family, “Take it from one step-mom to another, you got this.”
“Stepmom?”
“Yeah, Olivia isn’t mine by blood. Tyson’s first wife passed away, and I didn’t come into the picture until Olivia was four. They both saved my life. I was a bit of a mess back then.”
Tyson heard what she said and moved closer to her wrapping his arm around her waist and nuzzling her neck. “We saved each other, Darlin’.”