Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
“Kyle needs to get help learning to be nice,” Sarah Beth pipes up from the table, where she’s enjoying a pre-dinner lemonade as a special treat. “Just like Martha.”
I stifle a laugh but can’t help agreeing with her. “You make a good point there, Sarah Beth. Though I’m not sure we’d have much luck finding a turkey anger management therapist.”
“I’ll deliver some shotgun shell therapy and call it a night,” Drew says, heading for the garage and the gun safe on the wall.
“You can’t shoot him, Drew,” I call after him. “Wren still wants to handle this humanely.”
“Wren is too nice for her own good,” he calls from the depths of the garage.
“Would we eat him?” Sarah Beth asks. “We eat turkey on Thanksgiving, but we never give it a name.”
I nod. “I think that’s part of the problem. Wren named Kyle. Never name your food.”
Sarah Beth giggles. “I’m going to name my trout Booger Face.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Ew! Gross. You’re going to eat a trout named Booger Face?”
She laughs harder. “I am and he’s going to be ah-licious.”
“Delicious,” Drew corrects with a grin as he comes back inside with his rifle. “Though I love that you say it that way.”
“Me, too,” I say, drafting a quick text to Wren. “But hold on a second. Let me tell her that you’re coming over armed and ready to take care of Kyle for good. Let’s see what she says.”
I’m nearly finished typing when another text comes through from Wren—Never mind! Barrett just pulled up and Kyle ran off as soon as he got out of his truck. I guess I just need to get a boyfriend and this problem will be solved. Sorry for bothering you, have a good night!
“It’s all good,” I say, quickly typing Wren a note to stay safe and that there’s no need to apologize. “Your brother pulled up and scared him off. And Wren’s decided she needs to find a boyfriend, since Kyle’s apparently scared of men.”
“I’ll touch base with Barrett later,” Drew says. “I think he said something about staking out Wren’s place tomorrow night after work. I’ll volunteer to help and hopefully we can put the Great Turkey Tragedy portion of the winter behind us.”
“Sounds good,” I agree. “Now hurry and put that gun away before Booger Face gets cold.”
Sarah Beth dissolves into a fresh round of giggles and Drew casts a loving look her way that melts my heart all over again. When that look slides my way, still so soft and full of emotion, I stop breathing.
I don’t start again until he disappears into the garage to put the rifle back in the safe.
“Are you okay, Tatum?” Sarah Beth asks.
I clear my throat and thump a fist to my chest. “Yeah just…choked on air for a second there.”
“Your face got really pink,” she says, making my cheeks flush even hotter.
I touch the back of my hands to the hot skin. “Yeah? Must be all the giggling about Booger Face. What should I name my fish? Snot Gobbler?”
Sarah Beth cackles at that and in a few seconds, everything is back to normal. Except that a little voice in my head is shouting that Drew feels what I feel. That he thinks we should be a family, too.
But when he comes back inside, it’s as if that heart-stopping look never happened. He’s back to being warm and friendly, but not too warm and friendly, and dinner passes without so much as a whiff of more-than-friends behavior.
When he says goodbye at the door later, Sarah Beth is in his arms and his focus is all for his daughter as he thanks me for all my help today and promises to see me in the morning.
I head to my car in a daze, wondering if I imagined “the look.”
Thank God I only have one more day of work before the weekend. I could use a couple of days to get my heart under control. Though if Drew’s managed to get this deep under my skin in four days, I doubt a weekend is going to be enough to counter the effect he has on me. My only hope at this point is that I meet Prince Charming at the honky-tonk and he has a magic, Drew-banishing kiss that will wipe all inappropriate thoughts about my boss from my brain.
But at this point…I’m not holding my breath.
And I’m pretty sure Drew is Prince Charming, at least the only Prince Charming for me.
Chapter Sixteen
DREW
Friday passes much more peacefully than the rest of the week—albeit with plenty of longing thoughts about Tatum I’m still not sure how to control—and I meet my brother at Wren’s place for Operation Turkey Take Down a little after five. He’s been on the hunt since three and hasn’t heard a single cluck or spotted any sign of our prey.