Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 119548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 398(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 398(@300wpm)
“Well, son, if there’s anything I’ve learnt, it’s this: if you think it isn’t a big deal, it is to your wife. And if you do think it’s a big deal, you should run because she’s going to lose her mind.”
I sighed and met his mocking gaze. “You aren’t helping, Si.”
“I just gave you solid advice.” He shrugged. “Whatever you did, she thinks it’s a big deal, or she’d at least look in your direction.”
I turned back to her. She was laughing at something someone was saying to her, but it wasn’t a full laugh.
It was her fake laugh.
One I’d seen a thousand times over the past few months.
I sighed again. “She needs to come and take care of her house cow,” I muttered. “Why am I the one brushing its hair?”
Si burst out laughing. “You gave in, huh? She spent your entire trip wondering how best to convince you to let her keep it inside.”
“She said it makes her happy.” I ran my hand through my hair, lowering my head without looking away from her. “What else am I supposed to do?”
“Oh, you poor, lovesick puppy.” He leant across the bar and ruffled my hair, and I frowned, ducking out of his way.
“I’m too old for you to do that to me.”
“You can say that when you’re older than me.” He smirked and pushed off the bar to straighten up. “You’re doing all right, kid. Making her happy is half the battle. If you can do that, you’re already doing a cracking job.”
I pulled out my wallet and held up my card. “Do you want to be paid by cash or card for the therapy session, Doctor?”
He barked out another laugh and batted my hand away. “Just fix whatever you did to piss off your wife. She’s going to scare off the customers if she keeps glaring in your general direction like that.”
I flicked my gaze towards her, and she finally looked at me. She narrowed her copper eyes, ire practically sparking from them.
“How can I fix it when she won’t talk to me?”
“Make her,” Si replied. “Do one of those alpha male things in those romance books they read.”
“What?”
“My daughter’s been raving about them.” He sighed. “These alpha male types. The last one she was rabbiting on about liked to grab the woman and make her listen to him. All romantic, she assures me.”
I wrinkled my nose. “If I tried that with Delilah, she’d castrate me. And rightfully so.”
He held his hands up. “Just offering a solution.”
“I’ll pass,” I replied, getting up. “Either way, she can’t run away from me in public.”
“Bold of you to assume so.”
I shot him a look and scooted down the bar to where Deli was standing. She froze, but Si blocked her way before she could disappear. I planted my hands on the bar and stared at her, and she responded by shuffling back towards Si as much as she could.
“You’re coming home tonight,” I told her, holding her gaze. “I’ve already spoken to your sister. She’s leaving the key in the door so you can’t get in.”
I hadn’t, but she didn’t know that.
I also knew Lucy would cover for me, so it was a fair lie.
Deli’s jaw dropped. “You—”
“You’re coming home, and we’re going to talk. Understand?”
She pressed her lips together.
“Understand, Delilah?”
“Yes,” she muttered, lowering her chin to her chest and averting her gaze. “I understand.”
“Good.”
“She finishes at ten,” Si said brightly.
“Traitor,” Deli hissed.
I glanced between them. “Make sure you’re back by eleven. I’ll wait up for you.”
“I—” She paused with her mouth open before freezing. “Yeah, yeah, fine. I understand.”
I nodded my head. “You can let her go now, Si.”
Deli sniffed, shaking his hands off her upper arms. “I’m going to divorce you and move to a nunnery. I bet I won’t be manhandled there.”
I leant across the bar with a smile. “You’d have to leave the contents of the bucket behind if you did that.”
As if my words slapped her in the face, she jerked, staring at me for a moment. Her thoughts all flashed through her eyes as she raised her clenched fist, then opened her fingers out to point at me.
“You shut up,” she replied. “I thought you were leaving.”
“I am.” I smirked and straightened up. “See you later, my pretty wife.”
As I pushed back and turned, I caught a glimpse of her sticking her middle finger up at me. Instead of turning around and telling her off, I laughed to myself and headed out of The Blue Tit. The cool evening air wrapped around me and made me shiver, and I hurried to my car before I gave up and went back inside.
Great.
Now I had a few hours to kill.
As it turned out, it wasn’t too difficult to fill that time. By the time I’d stopped Granny’s dog from eating everything within her reach and handled the bloody house cow and put her to bed, more time had passed than I’d thought.