Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 94897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“Coming!” Carissa called.
But she stopped at her husband first, bending low, touching mouths, sharing smiles, shifting so that Joker could get a wet buss from Rave, then, with a smile and, “Hey, Jag,” she took off toward the office.
Clementine was having none of this and declared just that before her mother was even out of eyesight.
With a scrunched-up, little-kid-pissed face, her hands to his shoulders, she stated, “I pin you, Daddy!”
“All right, baby,” Joker muttered then fell to his back.
She squealed with triumph.
Jagger pulled out his phone and took a snap after Joker took control, wrapping his arms around his daughter and kissing her face all over.
This caused more squeals.
“Selfie, brah.”
Hearing this, Jagger looked to his left and Wyatt was already posing with two fingers in front of him in V position.
Christ, the kid was barely four.
Totally Joke’s kid, and not only due to the jet-black hair and steel-gray eyes and preoccupation with vehicles, but also the inherent cool factor.
Obediently, Jagger shifted, reached the arm with the phone long, did the V with his other hand, and took a selfie.
After this, Wyatt again lost interest in him and went back to the Bronco.
Yeah, so his dad.
After the cool, all about the cars.
By the time he did, Joker had sat up, Clementine was in his lap and her attention had turned.
To Jagger.
She launched herself at him and he did his best to pretend it was a valiant struggle, but she did a great job at pinning him.
“Got you!” she yelled in his face.
“You sure did, cuteness,” he told her.
She didn’t waste time exalting in victory.
Her head snapped to the side, she then shouted, “Hoppy!” jumped off Joker, making him grunt for real when one of her feet hit his gut, and she took off after their brother, Hop, who’d just walked in the garage.
“I see a future in GLOW for your girl,” Jagger said as he did an ab curl back up to sitting.
“It’s her new thing,” Joker told him. “Last week, she wanted scissors to cut all her dolls’ hair. The week before that, she made me sit on the couch and put gunk on my face because she saw her mom give herself a facial. This did not go great for her since I have a beard and that fucked with her vision of how comprehensive she wanted to get with my skin, but her mother put her foot down in a negatory when Clem demanded I shave it off. The week before that, she was karate chopping and kickboxing everything. We had to put a stop to that when she roundhouse kicked a table and broke a lamp. I saw it. It was a solid kick. I was impressed. Carrie was not.”
Jag shook his head, chuckling low while watching as Clementine screamed in (fake) frustration, considering Hop hadn’t proven as easy of a target as Joke and Jag were and now she was hanging upside down on Hopper’s back.
“Never thought I’d say this, man,” Joker continued, “but I hope we go back to the facial thing. She attacks everybody at random, she’s an early riser, her brother and her parents are easy targets, and it’s messing with her mother and my morning alone time.”
Jagger kept chuckling.
“Carrie’s pregnant again,” Joker announced abruptly.
Jag stopped laughing and focused on him.
He was watching (and listening to more girlie shrieks) since Hopper had flipped Clem forward into his arms and begun tickling her.
“Say what?” Jag asked.
Joker turned to Jag. “Yep.”
“How many are you two gonna have?”
“She wants this next one and one more.”
“Dude, that’s six kids.”
Joker shrugged.
“That’s also nuts,” Jagger carried on.
Joke caught his eyes. “Right, Jag. When you find a woman, and she’s your woman, and then you find out what she wants, I’ll let you show me the way in denying her.”
Jagger had a feeling he found that girl ten years ago, hooked up with the woman she became yesterday, and he was already in that place.
“Text me and Carrie those snaps, would you, brother?” Joker requested as he hauled himself off his ass, got to his feet and called to his son, “Yo, boy, you want a tour of the Bronco?”
“Yeah, Dad!” Wyatt cried.
Joker strolled to his kid.
Jagger texted him and Carissa the pictures.
Then he pulled up another name and put the snaps in a new text.
He sent it to Archie with the words Some of my village.
It took two minutes before he got a reply.
Rad. With about seventeen heart-eyes emojis.
About ten seconds after that came, Is that selfie with your baby bro?
He sent back, No, my brother Joker’s boy. Joker is in the other pic with his girl.
To this, she returned, Your brother is hot.
The rest of them are dogs, he replied.
She sent a gif of some woman pursing her lips and rolling her eyes.
Which meant, when Jagger headed toward the Bronco, he was smiling.