Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 98961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
“I’m not sure that’s a benefit,” I say out loud and soap up my loofah, making sure I got all the blood off before getting out and dressed. I pull on another pair of leggings and a wine-colored tank top. Giving my hair a quick towel-dry once over, I flip my head upside down and rake my long brunette locks into a messy bun. I pad back down the hall in bare feet and into the nursery.
Penny has taken everything out of the kitchen set and has it all thrown on the floor. She’s cooking stuffed animals instead of the pretend food, making me chuckle.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Eliza says and gets up. “Everything is okay?”
“For now.” I meet her eye and give her a tiny nod. The threat of the demon is gone, but we still don’t know why he was here. At this point I wouldn’t rule out straight-up psychological torment.
Randomly sending demons to my house is a good way to make me go crazy. You can only bury so many bodies in a short time frame before someone starts to notice. Reopening the Gates would at the very least allow Scarlet to drag bodies down to the abyss and we wouldn’t have to worry about getting caught.
“I’m going to order pizza,” I blurt and then remember Abby said she tried calling me but my phone was dead. Right. I never put it on the charger after coming home from the Covenstead. Things have been a blur since Lucas appeared at midnight and I can’t even blame myself for being preoccupied.
“Make sure the mess in the foyer is cleaned up first,” Eliza says casually and leaves the room.
“I’m so sorry for coming over unannounced,” Abby says as soon as the door closes. “Phil is out of town at a conference and I didn’t know where else to go.”
“Don’t apologize.” I sit next to Abby, leaning against the crib. I pick up Juliet, and as soon as she’s in my arms, she wants to nurse. “This is exhausting, by the way,” I sigh. “I feel like a milk factory.”
“I remember feeling that way. And with her being so little, that’s basically all you are to her.” Abby playfully elbows me. “You don’t have to breastfeed, you know. I didn’t make it as long as I wanted since I went back to work and Penny is just fine.”
“I know. I’m trying to keep it going for as long as I can, though…” I trail off but look at my sister. If there’s anyone I can say this to and not be totally judged, it’s my sister. “I secretly hoped I’d be too angelic to do something human like this.”
“Then stop, Cal. You’re a good mom either way.”
“Thanks. I’m fine though and feel lucky I even get to complain about it.”
“That’s a good way to look at a lot of motherhood, actually.” She picks up the stuffed bunny Penny just threw.
“What happened, Abby?” I ask.
“I was having lunch with Mom and—The Martins—and Scott and I got into a fight. We were having lunch downtown and it was so embarrassing.” She shakes her head and her eyes start to fill with tears. “He got mad that I posted a picture of us on Facebook. This one.” She picks her phone up out of her designer diaper bag and shows me a photo she posted of us at my baby shower. I’m wearing that ridiculously girly dress Eliza picked out. Abby, Penny, and I are standing by the balloon arch in the foyer. Abby has one hand on my stomach and we’re both beaming.
“That’s a nice picture.”
“Right? The caption set him off.” She rolls her eyes. “I put that I couldn’t wait to become an aunt.”
“I don’t see what’s wrong with that,” I say and then realize why that pissed Scott off. “Is he back to pretending I’m off in Africa or something?” It’s still weird to watch how William, Nancy, and Scott keep up the narrative that I’m part of the family.
“He’s made up so many stories I honestly don’t even know at this point,” she says and sighs. “From there, Dad—I mean William—agreed with Scott that I shouldn’t have posted anything that has to do with you, and it just escalated from there and the next thing I know, they’re yelling at me for voting against the Vampire Exclusion Act and calling me an anti-breather.”
“Anti-breather? That’s what they’re calling people who support vampire rights now?” I let out a snort of laughter. “God, that’s lame.”
“I know, right? It got really ugly fast and everything from the past was brought up and I’m basically the shame of the family now and the reason Scott was down election points.”
“I can call myself Callie Martin and reclaim the shame,” I offer and Abby laughs.