Half a F*ck

Chapter 23

The last four months have been amazing. No, I haven't asked Kaia to marry me yet, and no we haven't looked for a house yet, but those are both things that we know are happening. It seems like every day My mom, Heather or Hayden ask me when we're going to do that, but I've kept my lips sealed. Actually, my mom only asks about the ring, she doesn't want us moving out because she loves having Kassidy and Connor around too much.

Hayden is the one who asks about the ring the most, if only because she was there helping me pick it out, so she knows I could do it at any time. She just doesn't know my plan. But first I wanted to make sure that we had a place of our own, and that meant finishing the project. The Dolphins weren't happy with that actually. Not that we weren't doing a good job, but we were actually doing too good of a job. We were two months ahead of schedule, and even if there was a delay around the 4th of July holiday, we were going to be in great shape for hitting our deadlines. What had upset them was that they hadn't asked us to do more, but they didn't think we'd finish so fast.

We'd decided to upgrade the luxury suites to match the retired jersey numbers of the Dolphins' players, so that each suite would have photos and jerseys of those players as well as videos of their highlights and interviews. The team loved that idea, and when they announced the plans there were already bidding wars over some of the more popular players' suites. But they really were all popular, that was why they had their jerseys retired!

The press suite got enhanced Wi-Fi coverage and video screens similar to the ones the coaches got that some of the more informed press really loved. But now they'd have it live, and early reports had the press thrilled with the good news.

The food was the easy part. We had bids from several local chains that kept a Florida feel to the food options and built out the spaces to their specifications. That worked out well for us, because that way we didn't have to worry about signage and working with a marketing team for names or menus. That was all coming with them.

But the best part was that I had a lot more time with Kaia now that she'd stopped working. I'd mentioned several times that I could cover her expenses so she could spend more time with Kassidy, but she didn't want to make it seem like she was with me for the money, and I could understand that. She was always independent, and I hoped that Kassidy took after her as much as possible.

But it turns out that even though she had signed an agreement not to sue them for a part of the family fortune, the Welch's surprisingly did something good for their grandkid. Nothing in the agreement had mentioned Kaia not suing for child support, so one week after the meeting, James stopped by the diner when Kaia wasn't there and left an envelope for her with Heather's mother. In it was an apology letter and a check for $5 million dollars. They had gone to a family lawyer and found out what 18 years of child support would cost, and then doubled it. There was also another $5 million in a trust for Kassidy when she turned 18. I was stunned that they'd actually become human, or at least partially. There was also an unspoken agreement for them to not come after me for assaulting Davis, which wasn't shocking since Kaia could easily go after Davis after his public admission, and in the audio from the nanny cam it sure sounded like I was defending Kaia, so they'd have no case, and I wasn't worried.

The press had been a pain for a while. When we streamed everything, Heather cast a wide net and tagged not only the authorities, but the press. Davis did get busted for the drugs in the ice cubes, but it would be hard to prosecute him otherwise unless someone came forward. But damn did he get hit with a lot of civil suits. There were over 20 that were known from his past victims, and probably more that were settled privately, and it was bleeding him dry. So, while it was nice that the family set up money for Kassidy and gave child support as well, part of me wondered if they did it to keep Kaia quiet. That wasn't an issue, she just wanted him stopped and this seemed to have worked. She didn't want to testify or have Kassidy know anything about it if she could help it. I could understand that, though I really wanted him in prison.

One of the other reasons Kaia had been working so much, in addition to needing the money, was that she was trying to help out Heather's parents too. Her mom had no issue finding a waitress to fill in for Kaia, and then I suggested asking Connor's old nanny Sierra to fill in on the boat. When I checked with her, she was thrilled to get that because she could still take her classes during the week. So, for a few weekends, the twin Star had three gorgeous women on board and it made a lot of clients incredibly happy. I know because I was one of those clients, as I took Hayden out for another fishing trip, and we all had a blast. It didn't hurt that we had our girls with us at all.

But now with the money for Kassidy, Kaia could do more for her. She was able to get new clothes for herself instead of second hand, and she was able to buy a house with me. One of the biggest issues we'd had was that she didn't want me to feel as though I was taking care of her, and that she wasn't bringing anything to the table in the relationship. I understood her worry, if she thought I would grow resentful of her then it could sink us. But I never thought that at all. Money isn't the only thing that people bring into a relationship, and Kaia brought so much of everything else into our union that she could bring no money at all and I'd never hold it against her.

She'd finished her year of college, and now she could take more classes during the day and get her degree in 18 months. She was working her ass off to make sure that she could provide a good example to both kids, and had taken on a parental role for Connor, just as I had for Kassidy as though he had been her child from birth. One of our favorite things to do was read a book to the kids as a pair, and we could trade off doing silly voices for the characters and make the kids laugh all night. Sometimes they laughed too much and needed a second book, but it was well worth it.

Kaia was also great in the kitchen. She was a waitress in the diner but had picked up enough there that she and I cooked most meals, so my mom never had to, and we made a great team. And my girl kept me smiling all day, every day. No, not in bed, but just in general. She was a premier cuddler, and her kisses always left me aching for more. She loved the outdoors, so we did a lot of family hiking and boating. I was thrilled, as the long neglected boat was getting more use than it ever had, and I was glad that she'd talked me into keeping it. Family dinners out became adventures, as we exposed the kids to cuisines that didn't include drive throughs, and it had been fun to see Connor playing airplane with a fried plantain while Kassidy had her mouth open for the treat.

So, when June came around, we were more than ready to start looking for houses. It was the perfect time, as a lot of houses go on the market while school isn't in session so families can get into their new places before school starts back up. We knew it would be pricey, since we needed something big. We already had two kids, and we were both planning on more, and we needed at least one or two guest rooms for my mom or Hayden and Heather to crash in. Right away that meant at least six bedrooms unless we assumed some of the kids shared. Needless to say, there weren't a lot of houses on the market like that, and we were getting discouraged. After several weeks, we hadn't found a single house that would suit our purposes.

And then the strangest thing happened, Davis helped us. Not on purpose mind you, but he had a new construction house being built in the spring, and with all his lawsuits, he couldn't afford to keep it, so he had to default on the construction loan. All the local builders had been contacted by our realtor, so they knew that we were potential buyers, and they called us up so we could take a look. We didn't know that it was Davis who had defaulted on the loan at first, and we had to change a lot of the choices he made for cabinets and flooring because the man had no taste at all, but the bones of the house were perfect for what we wanted. The main structure had six bedrooms, one of which was an in-law suite that would be perfect for my mom or Heather and Hayden to visit. There was also a big pool with a security fence and a large two bedroom pool house that would make a perfect office for our new company that would give us a tax break too. And we wouldn't need to worry about renting separate office space that way! We snapped it right up on a discount, since they had already kept his deposit, and we were happy we did. It wouldn't be ready until August, but that was fine with us. We had more of our life to live in the meantime.

And we would do so, together.