Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 78760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Especially after last night. If my parents were affected, then the store that I worked at for my entire working career was likely going to be shut for repairs, too.
How the hell was I going to pay off my credit card with no job? How was I going to pay for Tallulah’s daycare? There was no way that my job at the hospital—a measly two shifts that paid me eight dollars an hour, was going to be enough. Especially since I now had to pay for insurance if I wasn’t working at the gas station.
Oh, God. What a nightmare.
“Did Mom make it home okay?” I asked softly, trying to keep the tremble out of my voice.
“A guy on a boat brought her home,” Dad’s voice clearly conveyed what he thought about that.
“She was fine,” I told him, rolling my eyes at the porch roof. “Did she complain at all once she got home?”
According to my father, Mom was a delicate flower, but she really wasn’t. He believed she deserved to be pampered, though, and he wanted her to quit her job with a ferociousness that was quite comical in the right setting.
Now, with my house being swept away from flooding, it wasn’t even remotely funny.
“Was anyone able to get my car?” I asked hopefully.
Dad had told me he’d call a tow truck this morning, and I’d assumed that was what his call while I was in the shower had been about.
It wasn’t, and I wished it had been.
“Yeah, baby,” he confirmed. “It’s dented, but luckily it was high enough off the ground that when it was wedged against the trees, no water was able to get in it, other than the rain water that came in through the open window. Once the water recedes, they’ll be bringing it back home.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief.
“Thank you.”
Dad hummed in understanding. “It’ll be okay.”
I knew it would.
It didn’t help the hurt I was feeling right now, though.
“Night, Daddy,” I whispered. “Love you to the state line and back.”
Dad chuckled as he said, “Love you to the state line and back, too.”
When we’d made our way to Texas after the forest fire that’d taken my brother’s life, apparently my commentary about the sheer size of Texas had been enough to start a new trend that not just me, but my brother and sister had also adopted.
You could spend an entire day driving in Texas and never leave the state, and it was an observation I’d made, which had slowly morphed over time into a catchphrase in our family to add emphasis onto something.
I had started it by saying ‘I love you to the state line and back’ to my mother and then my sister had started to use it, too. It caught on, which led all of us using it now.
After pushing the phone into my pocket, I turned to survey Tommy’s front door.
I was nervous.
It was bedtime, and Tallulah, my buffer and excuse for not getting close to Tommy all day, would be in bed and no longer available to be used as an excuse.
But with nothing else to do, and no more reasons to stay out here, I twisted the knob and headed back inside.
I found Tommy sitting on the couch, elbows on his knees and face in his hand as he studied the floor.
He was still upset about the patch.
I wished I knew what to say to get the happy vibe back that we’d had earlier, but I didn’t know what to say or do to make it better.
“I have it there so I don’t forget,” he murmured. “I can’t ever forget.”
I swallowed, and walked further into the room, taking a seat on the couch directly next to Tommy.
The moment I sat, I found myself wrapped up in a hug so tight that it took my breath away.
“Forget what?” I asked breathlessly.
His closeness made me forget my promise not to do this with him again.
The second the bare skin of his arms met my palms, I dropped my mouth to his for a quick kiss without even realizing that I’d done it.
The moment my lips lifted from his, his eyes snapped open, pain laced throughout.
“The patch is a memorial patch,” he murmured lightly. “The president of our MC, Stone, was killed in the line of duty not long ago.”
The food I’d just eaten started to churn in my belly.
“Is that…was that the police officer that was killed by that gang member?”
He nodded.
“Yes,” he confirmed. “That one.”
I smoothed Tommy’s hair back by running both sets of fingers through it. “He was a good man,” I murmured. “Did you know that he took me to the hospital the day that I went into labor with Tallulah?”
His mouth quirked.
“You were the chick that had the kid in his car, weren’t you?”
I bit my lip.