Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82163 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82163 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
He turns his phone down and slams it on the counter. I look over at Penelope to see if she is looking at him, but she’s too engrossed in her show to care. I wipe my hands on the dishrag before going over to him. His hands are outstretched on the counter in front of him as his head hangs down. My hand goes to his lower back when I get close enough to him, “What happened,” I whisper.
“I was supposed to protect you,” he says, his voice filled with anguish, and I just look at him confused. “Through all this, I promised to protect you, and I’m fucking failing.”
My heart speeds up so fast it’s almost like I’m panting. “What the hell are you talking about?” I hiss.
He picks up his phone and hands it to me. “It’s bad.” My head spins as I look down, not sure what I’m supposed to be looking at. My eyes find his picture and I read the caption and I pfft, tossing the phone down. “What the hell are you doing?” he asks shocked.
“I’m not going to read garbage,” I inform him, turning and walking back to clean up the rest of the plates from dinner. After the ice cream shop, we came home and when he went to the trunk to grab his bag, he grabbed mine at the same time. Penelope didn’t even notice, in fact, nothing fazed her about me being here or having dinner with them. It’s almost as if it was always the three of us.
“It doesn’t bother you?” He walks over, standing next to me at the sink as the water runs.
“What bothers me is that people have no idea what they are taking about, so they make stupid-ass comments,” I admit to him.
“But—” he starts to talk, and I hold up my hand.
“Do any of those people who commented know you?” I ask him, and he folds his arms over his chest, leaning against the counter, crossing his feet at his ankles. “Do they actually know, know you?” He doesn’t bother answering me, so I continue, “Because anyone who knows, knows you knows that you are the best dad. You put her first before anything else.” I turn to put the plate in the dishwasher. “If anyone should be talked about, it’s me,” I admit to him and he glares at me. “If I would have told you at the beginning, would you have turned me away?” He doesn’t have to answer me. “Exactly, so I’m the one who kept it from you.”
“So it doesn’t bother you that they are saying I have two kids and two baby mommas?” he says, and I have to chuckle when he says baby mommas.
“No.” I shake my head. “Cooper has two baby mommas. Does it bother Erika?” He just rolls his eyes at me. I turn the water off, grabbing the dishrag again before turning and walking over to my purse.
Pressing dial, I put the phone to my ear. “What do you want?” Gabriella answers after one ring.
“Can you come over here?” I ask her, and I can already hear her moving around the house. “And bring me a nice sports bra and matching panties. Oh, and your camera.”
“What the fuck for?” she asks.
“I’ll tell you when you get here,” I tell her. “And like a black sweater.”
“See you in fifteen,” she states, hanging up the phone and I look over at Tristan, who is still just looking at me.
“I need to go and get ready,” I tell him. “I’ll clean up when I’m done.”
“What are you getting ready for?” he questions me as I walk over to the stairs.
“You’ll see,” I tell him, walking up the stairs to his room. I take out the little makeup case I brought, putting on some stuff just to make me look a little bit like I’m glowing instead of exhausted. The last four night shifts have been brutal and sleeping has been wishy-washy. Plus, the baby has decided that now he knows how to kick to do it all the time, especially when I lie down to sleep.
I’m applying my lip gloss when the doorbell rings. I can hear voices when I walk out of the bedroom and toward the stairs. “I’m here,” Gabriella announces, looking at me and then turning to look at Penelope when she comes to the door, probably wondering who it is.
“Hi, Gabriella,” Penelope greets her, walking over to her and giving her a side hug.
“Did you get taller?” Gabriella asks, and she just nods her head.
“Okay, so what am I doing here?” Gabriella asks, holding up the two bags she has in her hands.
“We are going to take a picture for a baby announcement.” I walk down the rest of the stairs to the door, grabbing the bags from her.