Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 447(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
In their retirement, their routine can be marked off a list, always in the same order. You could set your watch by it most days. I know in less than ten minutes, they’ll be in the kitchen, making breakfast, something they also do together. Everything together. As much as I try to blame it on thirty-five years of marriage and an unhealthy co-dependency on each other, I know better. My parents have always been so overwhelmingly in love with each other. Growing up, it’s what I wanted. I wanted a man who dotes on me the way Dad does on Mom.
I know there are a few fingers I could point in their direction to blame them for the way I was so easily swindled by Sam. I saw in him so many similarities to my dad. It didn’t take much to convince me that I had found in him exactly what I’d been looking for. The man must’ve seen me coming from a mile away.
My parents never liked Sam, and maybe that should’ve been the one and only red flag I didn’t ignore, but a woman in love will overlook a lot of things. Instead of breaking up with Sam, I dug my heels in deeper. If they didn’t like him, then there was no reason I should waste my time trying to get them to. The problem was easily solved by putting distance between myself and them.
I swallow down another threat of tears, my promise to myself that I was done crying over all of it becoming a losing battle.
I take a deep breath, knowing how lucky I am.
I’m healthy. My parents didn’t falter when I called and told them what had happened. They never once have told me they were right all along. They simply drained their savings to keep me from going to jail and offered me a place to stay until I got back on my feet.
I know I sound incredibly ungrateful, complaining about the way I’m woken up nearly every morning. This is their house, after all. I’m just a guest.
I climb out of bed and head to my own shower, taking my time and trying to wash away the ick I still feel for the sounds that won’t seem to release their tendrils from my memory.
Of course, Mom is in a great mood when I enter the kitchen half an hour later.
“Figured you’d be out in the garden already,” I mutter as I make my way to the coffee pot.
“Trying to avoid me again?” Mom asks, humor in her tone.
I grunt in response as I pour the last dregs of caffeine from the pot.
“Did you ever hear from Cash?”
“No, Mother.”
“He was supposed to call you. He assured me he would.”
“I’m not going on a blind date with the police chief,” I mutter.
“He’s a good man, Madison. You could do worse.”
“I have done worse,” I remind her before she can do it. “Cash isn’t available to date.”
“I beg to differ,” she says, her voice as sweet as cherry pie. “His mother told me that he’s single and looking.”
Cash Tucker, one of the many eligible bachelors in town, might be single, but the only person he wants is my best friend, Adalynn. Those two have been circling around each other for years. I have no idea why they haven’t started dating. Everyone can see that they like each other, that they’d be the perfect couple.
“I’m not attracted to Cash Tucker,” I say, hoping it’s enough to end the conversation.
It doesn’t matter to my mother that only a month ago I had my heart ripped from my chest only moments before the calls and emails started rolling in that told me Sam had taken literally every penny I had to my name, including money from my business.
According to Gwendolyn Kelly, a single woman isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the fact that I’m inching up on thirty with no prospects is enough to land my name in the mouths of the gossips around town. That is something she feels the need to fix.
“What about Donnie?”
“Tate?” I snap, spinning in her direction so fast, I slosh coffee out of my cup. “You’re not serious.”
“He’s a good-looking man,” she says, frowning as she hands me a dish towel to clean up the mess I just made in her kitchen.
“And he’s my best friend’s brother.”
“Well, then what about Ronnie?”
“Seeing as he’s Donnie’s twin, the same thing applies. Plus, they date the same women.”
Mom chews the inside of her cheek, but she doesn’t speak.
“Are you serious?” I snap.
The woman wants me to find a man so badly that she’d be okay with me getting into a relationship with two men.
“They date the same woman at the same time,” I clarify, on the off chance she hasn’t heard gossip about the Tate twins in town.