Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 68538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68538 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“I stopped trying to fight for the Facebook page,” I admitted. “Instagram only has photos of my cupcakes and pastries. There’s nothing that Instagram can find an issue with, and always reinstates my page after review.”
“Sounds like a quality guy,” Auden grumbled.
Ellodie pushed through the door of the hospital, and it spilled us into the parking lot that the doctors used.
“Main parking area is over there, but I had Quaid move our truck closer,” she instructed.
He let me slip from his back next to Quaid’s pretty red truck and then said, “We have to remove a few car seats and boosters, though.”
I waited, fascinated, as I watched Auden expertly remove a car seat like he’d done it a hundred times.
The booster seat came next, then he said, “Get in there with all of those crumbs and stray M&Ms.”
I snickered as I did just that, sitting right on top of what looked to be a chicken nugget.
“Sorry, my kids are lunatics,” Ellodie apologized.
I waved her off. “Are you riding back here with me?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“Then it’s even,” I said. “Athena, you’ll be able to get to your car okay?”
“Absolutely. Your father doesn’t scare me.” She crossed her cute little arms over her chest.
Geez, I loved my friend.
Her bravery was part of what had drawn me in when we’d first met.
“We’ll drive her over.” Auden looked at Athena. “You can fit in the booster I didn’t take out.”
I burst out laughing, which caused Athena to look both offended and exasperated at the same time.
“This is not to leave this truck,” she grumbled as she climbed into the booster.
Quaid appeared not long after, gave Athena a look at how well she fit into the booster made for his child, and then started the truck up.
“Everyone is heading to your place,” he said.
It took us forty-five minutes to drop Athena off at her car, for her to immediately fall into line behind Quaid’s truck
We had a convoy as we made our way into Sunnyvale.
I kept my eyes peeled for the place that was for rent and pointed it out when I finally found it.
“That!” I pointed excitedly. “That’s the place that I’m thinking about renting.”
Ellodie gasped. “That would be the perfect! And the trip when you move here would be so nice!”
Quaid snorted as we pulled down a beautifully lined street that went from city to country really fast. “I think you’re moving them through the steps kind of fast, aren’t you?”
I saw a small smile flash on Auden’s face, causing me to smile myself.
“I also contacted a real estate agent about the possibility of selling my house. Just to get a feel,” I admitted. “Not that I’m trying to move here because y’all are here or anything,” I hastily added.
Auden’s eyes caught mine. “Sunnyvale is a good place, regardless of us or not.”
Something inside my belly settled.
A nervousness that I hadn’t been hiding well drifted away at his words.
I wasn’t trying to rush this relationship.
Hell, we didn’t even have a relationship yet.
What I knew, though, was that he made me feel peace I’d never felt before.
Not once in my life.
Quaid pulled up to a house that had a great yard, and I immediately knew it was Auden’s based on the landscaping.
“Wow,” I breathed. “This is so beautiful.”
“He puts our yards to shame, doesn’t he?” Ellodie scrunched up her nose.
“All you’d have to do is put a few…” I explained in detail what she could do to her yard, and Ellodie and Quaid stared at me with surprise.
“You’re one of those, aren’t you?” Ellodie shook her head.
“One of those?” I asked, confused as I got out.
“One of those people who are up at the ass crack of dawn to work in their yard, and goes to Lowe’s on Sundays for plants.” Ellodie giggled.
I snorted. “I don’t go to Lowes. I go to a nursery. Lowe’s is like going to a Walmart for health supplements.”
Ellodie and Quaid both burst out laughing at the same time.
When I looked to Auden in question, the tops of his cheeks were rosy.
“What?” I asked him.
“I said something similar when I was outfitting my own garden,” he admitted. “They might have given me shit then, too.”
I flashed him a grin that caused the cut on my forehead to pull taught.
He watched me wince, and then reached for my hand. “Let’s get you inside.”
My belly churned with butterflies as we walked down the path to his front door.
“This is beautiful,” I said to him. “The cedar beams and the cedar in the planters really complement each other.”
He flashed me a grin. “Are you trying to get me to ask you to marry me?”
“He’s stupidly obsessed,” Quaid admitted. “When Mamasauce built her house, she and Auden stayed in the yard for a solid three weeks when they were both off. Just wait until you see the inside of their house. They had more money to play with.”