Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
I stood up, too, and walked out of my father’s building with her.
Which was the best thing that could’ve happened when we ran into the one person I did not want to see downstairs.
Seven
The more I get to know people, the more I realize why Noah only let animals on the boat.
—Nettie’s secret thoughts
Nettie
My head was reeling, and it wasn’t even noon yet.
I was full of pizza and considering a nap in my car while I waited for my sister’s practice to start, and ready to breathe some clean Montana air.
Boone followed beside me silently, stopping to hold the door open for me and several other ladies heading to lunch, when we heard it.
“What are you doing here?”
Gail Windsor’s voice was worse than nails on a chalkboard.
She sounded like that screaming goat you saw all over social media, but with a feminine flair to it.
I hated it.
I hated even more that I was about to have to deal with her for however long while the FBI did their thing.
Unless they kill her first.
I shouldn’t be happy about hearing those words come out of the man I love’s mouth.
Yet, I was.
If there was one person on this planet that I thought didn’t deserve to be here anymore, it was her.
“Oh, Gail.” I smiled. “What a surprise. Boone and I are getting married, and we met with Sawyer since he’s been like a second dad to me, to tell him the good news. We were heading your way next.”
Lies.
I would die before I told her any of my news.
Gail’s eyes narrowed. “Are you pregnant again like last time?”
The nerve…
“Nope,” I lied. “We just decided we were fighting the inevitable. Love truly conquers all, and Boone and I finally came to our senses.”
Lies.
Well, mostly.
I did love him, and I knew that he loved me.
There was never any doubt of that.
But there were some things even love couldn’t fix.
Like this bitch’s belief that she had a right to interfere in our lives.
Maybe if she wasn’t around anymore, I might reconsider everything. But until that became a reality, Boone would never be a safe space for me. For us.
I watched as Gail’s eyelids twitched, which I counted as a fuckin’ win since she used so much Botox that not much expression ever showed on her face.
Boone’s arm came around my shoulders, and he pulled me into his side. It was such a normal move that it felt utterly natural to lean into him and press my head to his chest.
“When did…when did this happen?” Gail cleared her throat, her eyes moving to take Boone in.
“It’s been something we’ve been discussing for years,” Boone said softly. “It was just now that she’s been able to move closer to home with her work.”
“Where will she be working?” Gail asked, sounding oh, so curious.
My first thought was “don’t tell her anything, she’ll jinx it.”
My second was, “why would she care?”
“Why do you care?” Boone asked, echoing my thoughts. “You never cared before, Mother.”
Gail’s face went soft, which was the biggest lie of all, when she said, “Is it not normal to care about who my son chooses as a life partner?”
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
This woman was so good.
She could become an actor and make blockbuster movies if she put her mind to it.
I mean, it took real skill to play the type of game that she was playing.
And I wasn’t just talking about the doting, caring mother act she was putting on right now.
I’m talking about the “fool everyone and steal them blind” act.
Along with several other acts.
“When is this marriage taking place?” Gail asked when neither one of us replied to her bullshit earlier comment about life partners. “Not soon, I hope? It takes time to plan a wedding.”
“Next month, at city hall,” I said, knowing it would be the most horrible to her. City hall and her son should not have ever been mentioned in the same sentence. “But we have thrown around the idea of going to Vegas and getting hitched.”
Gail’s face went stark white as she thought about those possibilities.
“Oh, absolutely not.” Gail was shaking her head. “The only way for this to be done is with a grand wedding at a church. Maybe your parents’ church?”
I snorted. “We both know damn well that church has been shuttered.”
Gail’s face went scrunched. “Well, we’ll find a new church.”
“We’re not really church people, Mom,” Boone added in, knowing it would only make her angrier.
Gail was a “devout Christian woman” that was all “my son will be going to church so he doesn’t wind up in hell” religious.
Which was hilarious seeing as some of the most “devout” people I knew were some of the most corrupt.
“It’s not your decision, Mother.” Boone pulled me closer. “Have a good day.”
“Wait…”
But Boone didn’t wait.
In fact, he ignored her screeching—something that I knew she’d be embarrassed about doing in public later—and walked me to my car.