Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Between the word agreement and not knowing what the hell they were talking about, I snapped. “All right, why don’t you put her on speakerphone?”
Aspen looked at me like I’d asked her to do a cartwheel, but caved and put the phone between us, rolling her eyes. “Grace, you’re on speakerphone because Lucian is being a busybody and can’t handle not hearing everything we’re saying.”
Grace laughed. “That’s so like him—always needing to be in control. Hello, Lucian.”
“I don’t always need to be in control,” I objected.
“Mmhmm,” she said doubtfully.
“Tell Lucian I said hi,” Felix said, his voice sounding far away.
“Oh, for the love of God,” Grace huffed. “If we’re all joining in, then I’ll come stand by you so we can hear each other.”
Aspen laughed and leaned close to the phone. “Don’t let her bully you, Felix. I love talking to you as much as I do Grace.”
“You talk to Felix, too?” I asked, my face pinched, earning me an exasperated look in return.
“She’s going to be our goddaughter-in-law, Lucian,” Grace admonished. “We’re allowed to talk to her without your permission.”
“Yeah,” Felix cut in. “We tried to get her to stay for dinner the other night when she stopped by, but she claimed she had to get home to you.”
“You stopped by?”
“Are you just going to parrot everything we say, Lucian? Or are you going to join the conversation with some actual input?” Grace asked.
Aspen gave me a look that clearly stated what she said before explaining her visit. “I happened to stumble upon the variety pack of tea that I knew Felix liked, so I bought a few and dropped them off on my way home. It was nothing.”
“Nonsense,” Grace objected. “It was unbelievably kind of you to think of Felix and go out of your way to bring it over.”
“She’s a keeper,” Felix chimed in.
“It’s a shame you couldn’t have found her years ago,” Grace added.
“She would’ve been a child if I found her years ago,” I muttered, earning a snort from Aspen.
“Life has a funny way of bringing people into our lives at the right moment,” Felix said.
I studied Aspen and—still determined to brush aside the increasingly intense emotions—reasoned that life presented her to me now because I needed a wife. Nothing else.
Yet, something still forced me to acknowledge that I appreciated having her by my side. And maybe she hadn’t come into my life just for me. Maybe she was also there for Grace and Felix. Between her consideration for my godfather, without prompting or any personal gain, and the nights we attended family dinners when I watched her inspire a brightness in Felix, my heart raced as if it would fly out of my chest. Especially when I remembered the way she made him laugh and never treated him like he was sick.
No.
It wasn’t her creating that light-as-air sensation. It came along because Felix looked more alive than he had in months. It wasn’t affection or something stronger that she stirred in me. It had to be the hope that this wedding would help my godfather’s health and inspire him to change his decision to not treat it.
“Well, Aspen,” Grace said, cutting into my thoughts. “Since the boys have interrupted our conversation, maybe we can have our phone call later to go over those wedding details. I can go ahead and send you the information about the florist and wedding cake designer that my friend from the club recommended. Her daughter used them last year and couldn’t stop gushing.”
I blinked and almost laughed. While I’d imagined Aspen ruining our plans, she’d been planning our wedding.
In the next second, the laugh died in my throat, twisting into self-loathing. Ever since Aspen told her father about our engagement, she’d been nothing but all in, and I still let cynicism and doubt turn me into an asshole.
No. Daria turned you into an asshole. Daria planted that cynicism.
The reassurance rang hollow.
“That sounds perfect. Thank you, Grace, for everything.”
“Of course. We’ll talk soon.”
Aspen hung up the phone after we said our goodbyes and headed into the store.
She drifted along the shelves, and I watched.
The same cool composure she’d greeted me with still framed her features, but somewhere along the way I’d started noticing the warmth beneath it. The softness she tried to keep hidden. Even knowing it was there, she still managed to surprise me.
She lifted a small figurine, glanced at the price, and huffed under her breath — scandalized by whatever absurd number the store had slapped on it.
A faint smile tugged at her lips as she ran her fingers over pillows and folded blankets. She barely paused long enough to really look, but she touched everything — like texture alone was enough to delight her.
It was all so effortless. Unaware.
So perfectly her.
I hadn’t realized my face pinched as I studied her until she caught me staring. “What?” she asked, her own brows pulled tight.