Truth & Tenderness by Tere Michaels Page B

her voice soft and tremulous. “He told me I’d end up like Carmen if I didn’t watch myself. That’s why I left, you know. That’s why I’m getting the divorce. His parents are going to have to give me what I’m owed.”
    The only thing Jim could focus on when she said that was the confession woven through Tripp’s threat.
    He might not be able to put Tripp away for Carmen Kelly’s murder, but he knew, even if no one else ever would.
    “I’m going to get him, Ed. It’s almost done,” he whispered before shooting off a text to Griffin.
    I love you.
     
     
    G RIFFIN HANDLED a bout of tears when Sadie realized that the “bye, Momma” game ended with Momma being bye-bye. They sat on the living room floor and played with the box of toys Griffin kept for her; Sadie found a purple stuffed monkey that she immediately began cooing to and petting like it was a baby doll.
    “Okay, purple monkey baby makes you happy, which makes me happy,” Griffin murmured, stroking Sadie’s fine dark hair. His phone buzzed, which caught her attention. Griffin pulled Sadie into his lap so he could read his message.
    “See? Uncle Jim loves Uncle Griffin,” he said, showing her the screen.
    Sadie made the purple monkey kiss the phone, and Griffin’s heart melted.
    I have a surprise for you!
    He hoped said surprise would push his fiancé a little further down that long hallway toward fatherhood.
     
     
    J IM FELT amazing. Jim was jazzed and pumped and ready to come home and suck his fiancé’s brains out through his dick.
    Twice.
    So when he tipped the driver before heading to the front door, there was a spring in his step. Then the door opened and, well….
    “Uncle Jim’s home! Hi, Uncle Jim! Sadie’s having a sleepover!” Griffin enthused.
    Sadie waved a purple monkey at him.
    He got three kisses after that—one slobbery, one stuffed, and one from Griffin that included a brightly desperate smile.
    “Don’t kill me?”
     
     
    T HEY ATE pizza in the living room, Jim remarkably calm about a child, red sauce, and crumbs coming in contact with a rug and the upholstery.
    “We’ve had sex on this rug—she can drop a crumb,” Griffin muttered.
    “I’m fine. I didn’t even say anything.”
    Sadie ignored them both. She sat primly with her back against the recliner, a dish towel tied around her neck and a large plastic plate in her lap. The monkey sat next to her, similarly decked out. Griffin cut her slice into smaller pieces, and she ate each one carefully.
    The monkey was not hungry.
    “You know, I actually think she’s cleaner than you,” Jim observed, reaching for another slice from the box on the coffee table. “Think I can make a trade?”
    “Haaaa. You’re a laugh riot.” Griffin offered her a juice box. She leaned over and took a sip, then went back to her pizza.
    When he looked up, Jim was staring at them. Him.
    “What?”
    Jim smiled then, one of those smiles that had a terrible effect on Griffin’s knees. Lucky he was sitting on the floor. “Nothing.”
     
     
    B ATH TIME started well, but that ended abruptly when Sadie tried to take the stuffed animal into the tub. Griffin couldn’t get her to stop crying, so Jim plucked the monkey from her hands, then proceeded to give it a “special bath” in the sink with a washcloth and Griffin’s toothbrush for behind his ears.
    Sadie sniffled a few times, then consented to getting washed, but only if Uncle Jim brushed the monkey’s fur.
    Jim was glad Griffin didn’t have a camera.
    Sitting on a closed toilet, brushing a monkey with one of Griffin’s seven hundred hair accessories. Watching Griffin handle Sadie like a pro—from hair to ears to crevices where pizza crumbs had gotten into, he kept her laughing and content the entire time.
    He’s going to be such a good father , Jim thought. His hands tightened around the monkey as Griffin wrapped Sadie in a giant towel. Her shrieks of laughter as Griffin pretended to lose her in the folds made Jim