Dream Keeper (Dream Team 4)

We were half an hour from my house.

I had potatoes to boil and mash. A homemade green bean casserole to cook. A table to set at the island with other stuff Juno and I bought to give Auggie a perfect Thanksgiving. A table I didn’t want to set until the last minute because I didn’t want to spoil Juno’s and my surprise for Auggie, and I wanted my girl to be there when he saw it.

I mean, we couldn’t hide the stool.

But the rest of it was meant to be special.

Not Juno throwing stuff on the island while I maniacally whipped potatoes and Auggie’s and my stomachs rumbled angrily because we might have worked off extra pie, but in preparation for the gorge-fest, we’d had a light lunch.

I did not need Corbin pulling shit with me.

And what made it something I was oh-so-close to losing my mind over was that he was using our daughter to do it.

She knew three o’clock was the time.

She knew I’d be waiting for her.

She knew Auggie would be waiting with me.

She knew this was a special day for Auggie, as well as her and me, and she looked forward to playing her part in making that special.

She would fret about this.

And that…

That…

Nothing would stop me from losing my mind about that.

So when, with a panicked expression on her face, Juno ran from Corbin’s garage to my car like she was at tryouts for the Olympics, and Auggie said a soothing, smooth, low “Baby,” that, spoiler alert, did not soothe or smooth, I did just that.

I got out of his car.

And I…

Lost.

My.

Mind.

Chapter Twenty-Four

My Peeps

Pepper

One thing my father gave me.

When I was seriously pissed, I did not scream and shout.

I went stone-cold.

This, I thought from experiencing it from my dad, was far more terrifying than someone shouting at you.

And because of that, I never wanted Auggie to see it.

I wished I could say Juno had never seen that side of me, but although she hadn’t elicited it, she’d seen it.

She had because Corbin had provoked it.

Like he’d just done.

This was probably why she hit me with a desperate hug before I was even halfway to his driveway, and cried, “Momma!”

Her way of stopping my advance.

“Hey, baby,” I replied, not taking my eyes from Corbin, who had appeared from the garage and was making his way to me. “Go get in the car with Auggie, okay?”

“Momma.”

I looked down at her. “Do as I say, please.”

The uneasiness she was exuding penetrated, but not enough.

No.

Not near enough.

She reluctantly nodded, let me go and moved away.

I zoned in on my target, who had stopped about ten feet away, and I walked to him.

Corbin spoke before me.

“You were supposed to meet us at Mom and Dad’s.”

“Don’t give me that bull,” I snapped. “You said to meet you here.”

He shook his head. “Why would I say that, Pepper? They live more than half an hour away. It’d barely give us enough time to eat if I had to leave in time to meet you here.”

I’d left my phone in my purse in the car, or I’d whip it out to show him his text telling me to be right where I was right then.

But he’d have his.

“Check your phone, Corbin.”

“I didn’t tell you to meet us here,” he maintained.

“Check your phone, Corbin,” I repeated.

“Pepper, it makes no sense to meet you here. It cuts half an hour off family time for Juno.”

“Fine,” I spat. “Even if you didn’t tell me that, which you did, I’ve been texting for forty-five minutes that I was here.”

“Yes, and at first, that confused me because you said you were ‘here,’ which I thought was Mom and Dad’s, but you weren’t there. When I figured it out, we got in the car to drive to meet you here.”

“And you couldn’t text me to share there’d been a misunderstanding?” I asked.

“I don’t text and drive when Juno’s in the car.”

“Juno knows how to text.”

He blew out an exaggerated sigh. “There’s no point in doing this.”

“I disagree,” I returned. “Because you did this on purpose. You wasted forty-five minutes of my Thanksgiving, Auggie’s Thanksgiving, and you did it to piss me off. You did it to strike back. You did it to get a reaction. Well, here’s your reaction, Corbin, be careful. I’m not playing your games and I am,” I leaned toward him, “absolutely not going to allow you to use our daughter to play them.”

He sneered and retorted, “You’re delusional. As usual.”

“I’m not. Read your goddamn texts.”

“Again, it makes no sense to meet you here,” he bit out.

“You’re right. This is a waste of time. But I’ll reiterate, Corbin. Don’t pull this shit again. Especially using Juno. It won’t go pretty for you.”

I was about to move to leave, but he caught me fast by stating, “It’s you who needs to worry, Pepper.”