I get up from the chair where I’m seated and open the door to the patio and make my way outside. The backyard looks different than I remember it. The stones on the terrace were different and there was a fountain that flowed into the pool now. There was also a hot tub in the corner that I didn’t remember being there. Kevin and Michelle were always going somewhere during the summer, whether it be cruises or European vacations especially tacked onto Kevin’s trips for work. During the time Whitney and I were together, there were more than a few times I stayed with her while Kevin and Michelle were gone and we had fucked numerous times in this pool so I know if there had been a hot tub then we would have defiled that too.

I make my way over to them and I’m grateful there’s at least ten people out here so I don’t have to worry about Mason or Chloe getting loud if my suspicions are correct.

“Mason.” I nod at my oldest godchild as I approach the table where they’re all seated. There’s a fourth chair available but I don’t make an effort to sit. Yet.

I remember Mason’s birth like it was yesterday. Kevin was scared shitless and almost passed out but the second he was out of Michelle, he was in love. His firstborn. A son. I’m fairly certain the second he turned two, Michelle rarely even saw Mason. He was attached to Kevin and me and went wherever we went. We even had him on the golf course when he was just three years old just in case, we had another Tiger Woods on our hands minus the sex scandals of course.

“Uncle J.” He nods back and I know now that he knows about me and Whitney because he usually has the same reaction to seeing me as his father does. I do actually see the war in his eyes about wanting to hug me but also being angry at me and protecting his sister. “How was Mexico?”

“Hot.” I chuckle. “But it was good. I feel great about the work we did there. I missed home though.”

“I am suuuure you did.” Chloe snorts and I shoot her a fake grin.

“Miss Chloe.” I lean down and place a kiss on her cheek. “It’s good to see you. How have you been?”

“Good,” Chloe says without offering any more information. “Thriving,” she exaggerates and I wonder if she’s hoping I’ll share that with my brother.

I meet Mason’s gaze and he stares at me over his glass as he brings it to his lips, and I feel like he’s daring me to say something.

“Let’s take a walk, Uncle J,” Mason speaks up. “I want to hear about Mexico.”

“Mase…” Whitney starts and just hearing her voice again makes me want to drag her into the closest room with a bed.

“What? Maybe you guys want to tiptoe around this bullshit but I’m not. We are all adults and frankly too old for it,” Mason snaps angrily and I’m sure it’s brought on by the alcohol swirling around his glass.