Page 36 of The Sunny Side (Rojo 2nd Generation: Rojo Police Department #3)

SIXTEEN YEARS LATER

C LANCY

“Pooh said that he and Honey are coming to the trivia contest tomorrow.”

I eyed my daughter and asked, “Are you ready for it?”

“I’d be a lot more ready if you’d let me look at that binder.”

“Not a chance.”

“Why not? I should have special privileges because I’m your kid!”

“Darlin’, I’ve been part of this competition since the very first one when we got our asses handed to us.

In all of those years, your mother has not once let me see that binder.

For all I know, it’s filled with nuclear codes and answers to the universe’s most pressing questions,” Brawley explained.

“Why do you need the binder?” I asked him. “Shouldn’t you know all the answers by now?”

“Shouldn’t you have run out of questions years ago?” Brawley clapped back.

“I’m going to the park,” our daughter said in frustration when I wouldn’t cave so she could cheat.

The competition was now a tradition at the end of every school year instead of being just part of summer school.

She may have also hurried out because her father had pulled me into his arms and was nibbling my ear. “You both make me crazy.”

The front door slammed, and Brawley asked, “How is it that our daughter acts more like my mom than her own?”

“Have we figured out who her mother is yet?” I asked. He chuckled before he nipped at my earlobe again. When our youngest son called for him, Brawley pulled away and growled. “You forgot you’re supposed to take the boys to the store so you can get a new tent, didn’t you?”

“When I was a kid, we slept out in the elements like real campers,” Brawley grumbled.

“When you were a kid, you weren’t responsible for three curious little boys and a dog that would do anything to keep them safe, including going up against a mountain lion in the backyard of their grandparents’ house.

” I shook my head before I said, “I still can’t get used to the fact that wild animals just wander around your childhood home. ”

“Someday, probably on her deathbed, my mom may finally tell you the story of her first animal encounter that happened while she was staying at the cabin not long after she met my dad.”

“Was it a bear?”

Brawley chuckled before he said, “Nah. She’s fond of bears.”

“You know what I mean.”

“You’re fond of bears, too, aren’t you?” Brawley asked as he walked me backwards into the laundry room.

“Yes, Little Bear, I’m awfully fond of you.”

Brawley had just pinned me up against the washing machine when someone cleared their throat just outside the door. He rested his forehead on mine before he said, “This interruption shit has been a trend since the first night we were together.”

“We’ve got to have an even number of children so the fights are fair,” I mocked.

“If I give them money, will they go away?” Brawley asked.

“The last time you did that, they bought three puppies from a guy that had them in a cardboard box outside of Home Depot while they were on a shopping trip with your father.”

“And, if I recall correctly, you insisted that we keep them because we only had one at the time.”

“I don’t remember that conversation at all.”

“You said, ‘Now we have an even number, so it makes perfect sense.’”

“I plead the fifth, Officer D.”

“You’ve been married to a cop way too long.”

“Not long enough.”

“I love you, sweetheart.”

“I love you too. Now take those wild boys you spawned and go spend way too much on camping equipment that you’ll rarely ever use because that’s not how you did things when you were a kid.”

“What are you going to do while we’re gone?”

I smiled before I said, “Repaint the bathroom.”

“Your obsession with home improvement projects is never-ending,” Brawley complained.

“So is my obsession with you.”

“In that case, you can keep redecorating as long as you keep loving me.”

“Until I’m too old to lift a paint brush and beyond,” I promised. “Have fun with the boys.”

“Always. Have fun looking at paint samples.”

“You know I will.”

THE END