Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“Her phone is password protected, and she’s taking two showers a day suddenly. All her life, only one, but suddenly now…and there’s lots of new lingerie I never see.”
“Then for crissakes, Tim, do something about it.”
“I don’t want to lose her.”
I walked on before I butted in.
“We don’t agree on where to send the girls,” Mrs. Prentiss was saying to three other women. “James wants them to stay abroad, and I want them at Exeter. At least they’d be in the same country. I miss them terribly.”
The other women touched her gently and offered her another drink.
I walked toward the kitchen.
“So he’s having an affair, then?” one woman asked another.
“No,” a blond answered her, shaking her head. “I could deal with that. I could ask him to stop that, but this is…she’s his support. She’s the one he talks to and tells things to. He’s with her right now, at work, mind you—and just called to say that he’s stuck there.”
“Maybe he––”
“No,” she said sharply. “I called his friend Eddie, and he said they were done with the brief hours ago. He had no idea why Nicky would still be there.”
Her friend put her arm around her shoulder to offer comfort.
Turning, I was almost to the kitchen.
“He’s going to drive her away by not even listening about how important this girl is.”
“You don’t think she won’t come home for Christmas, do you?”
“I don’t––she’s in love, I know she is, and he thinks it’s going to pass, that it’s a phase, but I’m telling you, my daughter loves her, and he won’t have it in his house.”
“Well, you don’t like it either.”
“No, but—she’s my daughter, I care more about that.”
Walking on, because they both glanced at me, and when I smiled, they both did, awkwardly. When I reached the kitchen, I dropped off the highball glass on the counter and was about to move toward the front door when a woman stepped into my path.
“Hi there,” she greeted me timidly, biting her bottom lip.
“Hi,” I returned.
She leaned in close to me, and I realized then, from the way she clutched at me, unsteady on her feet, how drunk she was. “I just had to tell you that your husband jogs by my house every morning, and he’s simply…” She searched for a word.
“Stunning?” I offered, smiling at her.
“Stunning,” she repeated. “Yes. Or even breathtaking. Another good word.”
Yes, it was a good word. And yes, my husband was breathtaking as well.
“If you ever think about unloading him, please let me know.”
“Absolutely,” I said, smiling as she turned and made her way back to her friends. I bolted for the door then and opened it, only to find my husband on the porch with his fist raised to knock.
“Oh, hey,” he said, grinning at me.
He was in a gray turtleneck sweater with black slacks and a pair of his dark brown dress shoes. I was certain that because he’d only been darting across the street was the reason for not bringing a coat, just as it had been for me. As I looked up at his face, noting the square line of his jaw and the slight stubble there, I reached up and put a hand on his cheek.
Instantly, he covered my hand with his own, scowled, brows furrowing and everything, and I watched his whole posture sort of bristle. Instantly he was ready to defend me and annihilate the threat. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I promised, putting my other hand on his side, loving the feel, as always, of the hard body under my palm. “I’m just ready to go.”
“And why is that?”
“I would just rather go to dinner with you.”
The smile came fast. “Oh, good idea,” he told me, taking my hand, tugging me gently down the few steps to the sidewalk before looking both ways as we jogged back home.
Inside, I noticed the pronounced quiet.
“Where are your children?”
He walked toward the coat closet to grab a jacket. “Uh, let’s see, Kola is at Jake’s house with Harper, of course, and Hannah is with Aaron and Duncan at that fundraiser for otters or wild horses or something. I wasn’t really listening.”
Moving up in front of him, I put my hands on his sides and stared up at him. “I just got a reality check tonight, and I’m sort of reeling.”
He took my face in his hands. “Tell me what happened.”
I tipped my head up for the kiss I wanted, and he smiled, bemused, before he bent and gave me what I was after. When I opened, I felt the tremor go through him before his tongue was there, rubbing over mine as I coiled my arms around his neck and held on.
He lifted me up into his arms, and I wrapped my legs around his hips and clung, kissing him deeply, pushing against the solid wall of muscle he was, writhing in his hands.