Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
I was all in. Hopelessly and happily falling.
“Well, if I see them, I’ll give ’em hell,” Gram said with a scoff.
“Please don’t say anything,” I pleaded. “I think once they see us together, they’ll realize it’s a good thing.”
“You’ll have to crawl out of his bed in order for that to happen,” Gram teased.
“Ariel’s birthday dinner is tonight,” I reminded her. “So, we’ll see them all then.”
“Is that why you asked me to trim your hair?” she asked. “You gonna wear makeup too?”
“No, that’s not why,” I argued.
“Nothing wrong with it,” she said, running a comb through the wet strands, parting it in the back. “Getting gussied up is as armor as old as time. Gives you a little boost.”
“I just wanted to hang with you.”
“Well,” she said. “I’ll take it. I never see you enough.”
“I think I’m going to be around a lot more now,” I confided.
“Is that right?”
“I’m done traveling, at least for work.”
“Does that have anything to do with a big, dark, pierced fella?”
“Maybe a little.”
She hummed.
“It’s early still,” I said with a sigh, looking at the photos hung on the wall across the kitchen. They reminded me of the photos in Bas’s childhood home that I hadn’t gotten a good look at.
“When you know, you know,” Gram replied. “Sometimes it happens that way. You know someone for years, and then suddenly you realize they’re your perfect match. They see all your warts and broken parts and love you anyway.”
“Is that what happened with you and Grandpa?”
“Something like that,” she confirmed. “I was best friends with your Aunt Callie first. He was just her smarter-than-was-good-for-him brother.”
“Then, suddenly, he wasn’t?”
“Oh, he’s still smarter than is good for him,” she said with a chuckle. “But at some point I realized that was good for me. I’ve never had to do taxes.”
I snorted.
“If Bas is the one, he’s the one. Who cares how long it’s been?”
“I think my parents would disagree with you.”
“Pfft,” Gram said, walking around in front of me to make sure my hair was even. “Not everyone can be in love with the same person since childhood.”
“Didn’t my dad date Auntie Cecilia first?” I asked.
“Didn’t stop your mother from writing his name in her diary,” she joked. “Took Leo a long time before the feeling was reciprocated.”
“Poor Mom.”
“No,” she said simply. “If your father had liked Lily then, Grandpa would’ve killed the creep slowly.”
It took me a moment to realize why she’d said it. My dad was five years older than my mom.
“I’m not even sure if Bas is thinking the same thing,” I said as she walked over to grab a blow dryer off the counter. “He hasn’t said anything.”
“I’m sure he will,” she replied easily. “Give the boy a minute to work up the courage.”
“We’ll see how he acts at Titus’s house tonight,” I said, raising my voice as she turned on the hair dryer.
“You think he’ll act any different?”
“Well, we haven’t really hung out with everyone yet,” I replied. “He might.”
“Not worth the condoms used to screw him if that’s the case,” Gram said firmly.
I choked on nothing. “Gram.”
“It’ll go fine,” she said, patting my shoulder. “I bet he’s eager to show you off.”
“To my own family?” I replied.
“As his.” She leaned around me to wiggle her eyebrows.
Hours later, I was climbing off the back of Bas’s bike in front of Titus’s massive house. I’d found my helmet, so my glasses weren’t pressed against my sore forehead, but the blowout Gram had given me was completely ruined. I fluffed at it as Bas grabbed a wrapped present from his saddlebag.
He held my hand as we walked into the house, and something settled a little inside me. Everyone seemed to be gathered in the big kitchen, and we could hear them from the moment Bas opened the door without knocking. Kids screamed and ran around, and the moment they realized Bas was there, they swarmed us. I let go of his hand and took the gift from his hand, watching as he picked Ariel up from the crowd and held her at eye level.
“Did you bring me a present, Uncle Bas?”
“Of course I did, Mermaid. It’s your birthday. What kind of man do you think I am?”
“A big one,” she said tentatively.
Bas huffed out a laugh. “Everyone’s big compared to you.”
“I grew a whole inch this year. Mama measured me this morning.”
“I’m not surprised,” Bas replied. “You’re growin’ like a weed.”
“Is Harpy your girlfriend now?” she whispered, glancing at me.
“She is,” he replied, whispering back.
“I like her glasses.”
“Me too.”
The other kids were waiting for his attention, and the moment he set Ariel back on her feet, he crouched down to patiently listen to them tell him about a thousand different random things. I wondered if this was a normal occurrence or if it was because he’d spent the past two weeks with me and they had to catch him up on all the news he’d missed.