Nothing slips by these kids, and for a split second I wonder what life would have been like for them had they grown up in a small midwestern town like I did. A place where no one knew them because of their parents’ fame. Where they could ride their bikes around town and hang out with their friends without moms or nannies always hovering.
“I mixed up my words.” I pull my laptop off the coffee table. Opening it, I ask, “Where should we go? Peru? Greenland? Antarctica?” I fire off the first three places that come to mind where no one would look twice at us.
“I want to go to Hawaii and see Daddy,” Lily pouts.Wouldn’t that be a fun surprise for Brett. I’m almost tempted. Then she asks, “Is Justine home from her emergency yet? Can she come with us?”
I might have told my kids that Justine was called away on a family emergency. I couldn’t tell them their dad and I were getting divorcedandtell them that I’ve fired Justine. There’s only so much heartache a kid should have to handle at once.
“No, honey, Justine’s still visiting her family.” Before she can say anything, I ask my son, “What about you, Liam? Where do you want to go?”
“Normandy, France,” he says without skipping a beat.
“I promise I’ll take you to Normandy someday so you can visit your favorite battle site, but let’s do something a little more fun this time.”
“We could go see Nana and Papa,” Lily suggests.
While I would love to see my parents, I don’t particularly need to hear a passive/aggressive “I told you so.” Neither of my parents liked Brett, and they both warned me about Hollywood marriages, but I didn’t listen. I was too blinded by love for a man I thought I knew, a man that never really existed.
“I bet there are a lot of cameras at Nana and Papa’s house right now. Let’s go someplace exotic and private where we can have loads of fun and no one will know we’re there.”
“The North Pole?” Lily asks.
And that’s when it hits me. “How about Alaska? Remember how we were talking about taking a vacation there last year?”
“That was with Dad.” Liam’s voice cracks, confirming that he’s not as unaffected by the current drama as he wants me to think.
I type away frantically, hoping the perfect place will pop up.
Do you yearn for a simple life? Do you need a break from the outside world? Do you want to escape to the quiet tranquility of the beautiful Alaskan wilderness?
Hm, let me think. Yes, yes, and yes.
I start to read the advertisement out loud to the kids. “Come to Whistler Lake Lodge where you can catch salmon bigger than your dog, camp along the shores of the crystal-clear lake, and, if you’re lucky, you might even have the chance to see a grizzly bear. We offer three rustic cabins as well as a few rooms inside the lodge. Book now and fall off the face of the earth like a true Alaskan!”
“A grizzly bear?” Lily asks nervously.
“I’m sure they’ll only introduce us to the nice ones,” Liam tells his sister, sounding more than a little interested.
“We’re going to Alaska!” I tell my kids excitedly. Personally, I’m less enthused about the grizzly bears than I am about falling off the face of the earth. The thought of being someplace where the press can’t find us feels like just about the best thing that could ever happen.
Chapter4
Digger
“Hunter said Mom’s a floozy because she wears V-neck T-shirts instead of crew necks like his mom, and that was it, Uncle Digger,” my nine-year-old nephew Wyatt says with the most earnest expression a kid can put on. “I couldn’t let him get away with that.”
Wyatt is the oldest of my sister’s three boys, and unfortunately for Moira, he’s inherited his dad’s temper. Not that Everett would have ever hit anyone without a good reason, but he was known to get into his share of fights. “Hand me that wrench,” I tell him from underneath Moira’s Bronco.
While fetching my tool, he says, “I know I shouldn’t have punched him in the beans but, gosh darn it, he had it coming.”
I loosen the drain plug, then slide out from under the vehicle to let the oil pan empty into a bucket. “Hunter was wrong to say that, and you were wrong to punch him in the … beans. But I understand you were just protecting your mom, and I applaud you for that.”
Moira, who is currently watering the garden next to the driveway where I have her SUV jacked up, is leaning in our direction, pretending not to listen. I’m one hundred percent sure she’s making sure I set Wyatt straight. I’ve taken over the role of de facto dad since her husband was killed in a crabbing accident.
Hunter’s mom and Moira’s nemesis, Sissy Sinclair, screamed at her that Hunter will probably never be able to have kids because of Wyatt. If you ask me, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if the Sinclair line died out. Hunter’s dad, Travis, was my own personal demon in childhood.
After Moira got off the phone with Sissy, she went up one side of Wyatt and down the other—and then called me.
Standing up, I wipe my hands on my overalls before glancing at my sister. I predict she’s about to hit the roof because I haven’t laid into her son properly. I hurry and ask my nephew, “Do you know what integrity means?”