Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Nathan’s cursing because some oil splattered onto his hands again. I’m glad we’re not one of those twins who can feel each other’s physical pain right now. He’s been cooking a lot more, now that Ava’s in the picture.
I wonder what kind of cool dishes he’s going to serve up, over the years, and whether our kids will like them. Will he change the dishes in his rotation once we have kids?
I can see it now, all six of us growing old together.
Hmm . . . Hold on, I think I forgot all about Liam. Where is he?
I look over my back to see Liam typing furiously on his laptop. I guess I look forward to watching whether Liam will stop focusing on work so much, now that Ava’s here.
I mean, we do have a lot of work because of the lawsuit, but it’s pretty late, and . . .
“Liam,” I call out.
“What?” Liam asks without taking his eyes off the screen. He looks anxious, which gets me anxious because Liam doesn’t get anxious—not normally, anyway.
When it comes to Ava, it seems like we’re playing without rules, like the old ways of doing things are suddenly irrelevant.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, lowering my voice as I take a seat beside him on the couch.
Liam releases a heavy sigh. “Is it really that obvious?”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. They haven’t noticed yet.”
“It doesn’t add up.” Liam appears even more serious than usual. This is not looking good.
“What doesn’t?”
“I’ve gone through everything, and it appears that we have a solid case . . .”
“That’s good, right?” I ask, fully aware that’s a naïve question but remaining hopeful anyway.
“Yes . . . and no.” Probably seeing the alarm on my face, he quickly adds, in his usual big-brotherly way, “It could be nothing. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. This case . . . It’s different.”
“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know.” I look over my shoulder at Ava.
She’s poring over some papers, biting the top of her red pen as she does her best to ignore the bickering between Ollie and Mason—who, ironically, are actually trying to impress her.
Damn it, I wish she could just stay blissfully ignorant of whatever problem Liam’s discovered . . . but a storm’s coming, and we need to get prepared.
“Noah, doesn’t it seem strange to you?” Liam asks in a conspiratorial voice.
“What?”
“You saw this Joseph guy at the high school. Why was he there in the first place?”
“I have no idea, but you should’ve seen little Ava over there stand up to him and basically calling him ugly. Oh, and she totally defended us.” Despite the tense situation, a smile pulls the corners of my lips up.
“That’s only going to hurt his chances of winning this case. He didn’t even try to avoid being seen by other people,” Liam says.
“Come to think of it,” I think out loud, “when I took a picture of him, he just sneered at the camera like he didn’t care. I just thought he was a psycho.”
“Well, based on what I’ve learned about him so far, you’re probably right. Who the fuck makes an ex-girlfriend pay him back for dinners from years ago?”
“An asshole, that’s who.”
“At least an asshole’s useful. This guy’s just complete shit,” Liam grunts.
“Is that all?” I ask with my heart in my throat. I really hope that’s it. “You just don't like him and think he looks suspicious?”
“Well . . . not exactly.” Liam looks over his shoulder at the rest of the family—yes, that includes Ava, too—and makes sure nobody’s listening to us. “Mason got in touch with the judge, and he put the call on speakerphone for me to listen, too.”
“And?” I ask. My heart’s pounding so loudly I’m worried I won’t be able to hear Liam’s answer.
“And the judge didn’t say much . . . But from the way he was talking, and from the words that he used, I suspect this is not going to be a clear win for us.”
“You mean it’s really possible the judge will make Ava pay that asshole back for all that stupid shit?”
“Keep your voice down,” Liam says.
“Sorry.” My voice just grows louder on its own when I’m freaking out. And yes, I am freaking out.
“That smells amazing, Nathan,” I hear Ava squeal from the dining table. She turns her attention to Liam and me. “Guys, the food’s done!”
Minutes ago, I thought we didn’t have anything to worry about, that we’d just go on to continue being happy together.
But, oh, poor Ava.
I’ve seen the way he treats her. He’s unkind. He’s a bully, and if I had it my way, I wouldn’t want him to spend another second in the same room with her.
But I know both Ava and Joseph will do just that during the hearing—spend time in the same room, that is.