Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 131387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
And then we got back in bed, sipped, shared, and proved Hutch’s theory yet again that TV got in the way of important things.
It was a great Sunday.
A great weekend.
In fact, it had been great since Hutch extended the olive branch, and we became…
Us.
But one thing Hutch and I both had learned in our lives.
This kind of time never lasted for long.
And it didn’t.
TWENTY-SEVEN
The Woman from Nowhere
Mabel
“God, it was epic,” Kacey said in my ear the next Saturday evening. “I wish you were there. I wanted to film it all, but I was laughing so hard, most of the video is of the grass or my boobs.”
That made me laugh.
When I quit, I noted, “I think it says good things that Tara asked you and Mona to her engagement party. She was so busted up by what Bryce had done, I didn’t think she’d bounce back so fast.”
“Stronger, smarter, faster,” Kacey said. “It’s so totally weird we all bonded through that. But we did.”
It was so totally weird.
But we did.
“How did Bryce find out about the engagement party so he could crash it?” I asked.
“Who knows? When Bryce wants to act like more of a dick than his resting dick, he finds his ways. I’m just glad it was an evening thing, and his kids weren’t there to see their soon-to-be new stepdad flatten Bryce with one punch.”
I did not condone violence.
But I wished she hadn’t videoed her boobs.
“When he was down, did Mona really bend over him and say, ‘You think to switch back to Callie, her man is a former SEAL, so get used to being flat on your back with a bloody nose…or worse.’?”
“She so said that,” Kacey confirmed.
Since Mona didn’t even know Hutch, but she told no lies, I said, “God, I hope it got through to him.”
“Babe, he knows where you live, but he doesn’t know who you are. Before he ponged back to Tara after pinging to you, Olivia told me that Alan told her that Dirk told him he was bitching about how he couldn’t find out where you lived up there ‘in the middle of nowhere.’ Olivia said she kinda wanted him just to fly up there and wander around, asking for Callie Maine, and everyone being baffled as to who Callie Maine was.”
I chuckled where I sat in front of my fire, sipping tea, gabbing with one of my besties.
“It really doesn’t matter anyway,” Kacey said in her fishing-for-info voice. “You have your SEAL.”
I did.
And I didn’t.
I said nothing.
“I know. FWB. He’s still yours, in a way,” she said.
At least I could agree to that.
“He is totally that.”
Totally.
Lord.
“I’m groovin’ that you’ve got it going on up there,” she said. “All the pix you send. It looks like a beautiful place. I told Mona it was so you. You never really jived with Orlando. That’s more your style. Of course, Mona just moans about that meaning you’ll never come home. But I told her I thought you were home. And anyway, she just needs to take a good dive into the Misted Pines TikTok. We can go up there and see all the scenery.”
That made me laugh again too, and it was better this time, because I had a happy, warm sensation in my chest that she got it.
And that I did, finally, finally feel I was home.
“Anyway, I gotta hit it,” she said. “It’s late here and I have a brunch date with some idiot I’m probably going to hate five minutes in. But even a hater has to have good hair.”
And more laughter.
God, I missed Kacey. And Mona.
“I hope you guys think of coming up for a visit,” I replied.
“We are. Just not when it’s cold as hell. Maybe next May or June. Though, Mona says there’s some wildflower gig that happens, so we might time it so she can pretend she gives a shit about wildflowers.”
Annnnnnnd.
More laughter.
“Well, I can’t wait for you to meet Tonks, and Moxie, and Abigail and her family—”
“And Hutch.”
“And Hutch,” I said, the warmth fading because…
Would he still be in my life next spring?
He would.
But how would he be?
“I’ll get with Mona, and we’ll start seriously planning. Now, bedtime for bad girls. Love you to my bones and ciao for now.”
“Ciao, sister.”
We hung up, and I threw my phone on the coffee table as I stared at my merrily dancing fire.
I had Moxie in my lap, Tonks on the floor beside me, and a rare night after a day I had all to myself because Hutch was having a bro day with his buds Jaeger and Stormy (neither of them I’d met, both of them Hutch said he’d invite up to The Link so we could chat over a drink before he played).
They’d started the day with a trail run, then were off to go fishing in Misted Pines big misty lake, then they were going to Jaeger’s to eat their catch, and Hutch said he expected to be back in the evening but, “Wiped, babe. I’ll probably fall asleep in the boat. That trail run will shatter me.” He’d then patted his perfectly flat belly. “I’m getting out of shape.”