This Won't Hurt

Contents Title Page Copyright Contents An Extended Epilogue of This Will Hurt II Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Epilogue About Cara Title Page Copyright Contents Beginning THIS WON’T HURT THE NEXT TEN YEARS THIS WILL HURT BOOK 3 CARA DEE This Won’t Hurt The Next Ten Years Copyright © 2023 by Cara Dee All rights reserved This book along with its cover are licensed for your personal enjoyment and may not be reproduced in any way without documented permission from the author, not including brief quotes with links and/or credit to the source. This work along with its cover may not be regenerated or processed using artificial intelligence (AI) in any capacity. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction and all references to historical events, persons living or dead, and locations are used in a fictional manner. Any other names, characters, incidents, and places are derived from the author’s imagination. The author acknowledges the trademark status and owners of any wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction. Characters portrayed in sexual situations are 18 or older. Edited by Silently Correcting Your Grammar, LLC. Formatted by Eliza Rae Services. CONTENTS An Extended Epilogue of This Will Hurt II Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Epilogue About Cara AN EXTENDED EPILOGUE OF THIS WILL HURT II For when the characters can’t say goodbye. (And the author can’t say goodbye to them either.) CHAPTER 1 2020 We got married! July 14th, 2020 Monroe Samuel Finlay & Jacob Casper Denver …tied the knot on this fantastic day up in Big Sur. Please enjoy this masterfully edited video of our ceremony, attended by Haley Denver, Seth Diaz, Russell and Nikki Astor, and our children. At the end, you’ll find an invitation to one hell of a wedding reception that doesn’t have a date or venue yet. Stay tuned for the end of the pandemic! Much love, Roe and Jake * * * Roe Finlay “Pleeeease! You see how I’m begging, Mom?” Colin peered imploringly into the laptop screen. “Cas! Come beg with me! We might crack them!” I chuckled and stayed in the patio doorway. Jake sat on the couch in the living room next to Colin, arms folded over his chest, reluctance written all over him. And, of course, Cas came running out of their room and joined Jake and Colin on the couch. “Please, please, please, please,” Casper pleaded. “And you know we have the best idea in the whole world!” I sighed and scrubbed a hand over my mouth, and I exchanged a glance with Jake. We were understandably on the fence; Colin wasn’t even ten yet, and at this rate, Casper might start first grade in a couple weeks on a freaking computer. We’d crossed all our fingers for the damn pandemic to end, but it seemed unlikely this year. Everything was shut down. Nikki coughed on her end. She and Russell were on their second week of being sick with Covid. “Jake, gimme your thoughts again.” Jake shrugged and scratched an eyebrow. “They can still count their ages on both hands, and they can’t take something like this back. Once it’s out, it’s out. Doesn’t matter if it’s ‘just a YouTube series.’ They’ll be exposed to all our followers.” “Until we get our own channel,” Colin added smugly. Slow your roll, buddy. We haven’t agreed yet. Yet. I suppressed another sigh, wavering a whole lot. It wasn’t as if the boys were gonna do anything that might embarrass them in the future. It was a nature documentary for children, shot in our own backyard. But even so…they were incredibly young, and the internet wasn’t always a friendly place. If we eventually agreed, we would have to protect them from all the interactions. Plus, Colin came out strong but tended to fade quickly when it came to being in the spotlight. He could be just as introverted as Jake. “It’s only ten episodies.” Casper flashed seven fingers. I wavered some more. My boy still thought it was fun to say episodies, for chrissakes. “It’s little.” “And short!” Colin chimed in with. “Like, maybe twenty minutes long.” Nikki chuckled through a cough. “Boys, can you excuse Dad and me for a moment? And get the good-cop daddy?” I laughed. “I’m right here.” “Why am I the bad cop?” Jake frowned. As the boys scurried back to their room, I sat down next to Jake. “How you doin’, hon?” I asked. “Eh. Getting better, but it still sucks,” she replied hoarsely. “You can stop sending us Panera delivery, though. We have a fridge full of soup now.” I grinned. “I’m waitin’ for my answer here,” Jake pointed out. “Am I the bad cop?” “No, you’re not.” I put my hand on his knee. “Thing is, if it weren’t for this damn lockdown, I would’ve stood firm way longer. But the boys are running out of things to do.” The other three were easier to entertain. Between our backyard and the pool at the Condor Chicks house, they were having a great summer. We were teaching Sam how to swim, and the two youngest goofballs couldn’t get enough of being in the water. “It would be a nice project for them,” Nikki agreed. “Jake, honey, I think it might be time to let them do this. They wanna take after you guys. It’s sweet.” Jake furrowed his brow. “I don’t have any problem whatsoever with them running around with their cameras. Hell, I’m proud. It’s the whole taking things public that concerns me.” Valid point; couldn’t stress that enough. But I had to mention something to Nikki, because I was so impressed by Colin’s mind. “We actually told them we could go camping and do a documentary just for us, and Colin was like, but we