Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
My lips thinned.
I hadn’t actually heard this story before. I’d wanted to know all about it, but I’d never found the courage to straight up ask Travis why he’d want to go anywhere near Allegra, even with a ten-foot pole.
Hearing that Travis had fallen for Allegra’s ‘good girl’ act had me kind of feeling worried. How did he not see her for what she really was?
But then he explained it better a few moments later, making me think more of him.
“I hadn’t spent more than forty-eight hours with her at a time until I got home for good,” he continued. “She was like hot and cold. At first, she was hot. She was nice. She was great. Then, after we were married, and she found out that marrying me didn’t come with my daddy’s money, she started to change. She no longer liked spending time with me. When she was pregnant with Alex, I couldn’t get fucking near her. I think we had sex all of four times while I was married to her.”
My mouth fell open.
Four times? That was it?
“That’s impressive,” Michael grunted. “How long were you able to stick it out?”
Travis had a comical look on his face when he answered, “Five years.”
I had to laugh at the look of surprise on Michael’s face. “You went five years without getting any?”
Travis shrugged. “We were starting up Hail Auto Recovery. When we got that on its feet, we started up Hail House. There wasn’t enough time in the day to worry about whether I was getting any.”
Michael snorted.
“I should introduce Allegra to Hannah’s ex. They seem like they’d be a good fit for each other.”
Travis snorted. “As bad as I’ve heard her ex could be, Allegra would rip off his head and eat his body before he could do more than wave at her.”
I giggled and pulled the pot off the stove that I was cooking spaghetti in. I was making Million Dollar Spaghetti—a favorite in this house. The plus side was that it was easy as fuck to make, and that Reggie normally asked for seconds.
That, in and of itself, was a small miracle.
The girl survived on chicken nuggets and sour cream and onion potato chips.
There was literally nothing that kid would eat…but this.
I’d tried it on a whim a few months into my pregnancy because it all sounded so good. I liked cheese. I loved spaghetti. So why wouldn’t it all taste good together? Well, it didn’t taste good. It tasted divine. So divine, in fact, that I wanted to offer The Pioneer Woman a marriage proposal.
Not that she would ever leave her Marlboro Man for me, but one could hope, right?
Well, that night I tried it out on my daughter, and lo and behold she adored it too. Even asked for second helpings.
Since then, we’d had it at least once a week, and I still wasn’t tired of it.
I poured the noodles into the colander and drained them, then set the pot down just as the phone next to my hand rang.
Since it was the house phone, we only had one of them due to us having to have it since we got Internet through the phone company, I wasn’t in a rush to answer it. Nobody ever called us on it, so it was a surprise to actually hear the sound.
Nevertheless, I put it to my ear just before it quit ringing and said, “Hello?” All the while I continued to drain the spaghetti.
“Hello, is this the Hail residence?”
I froze at the official sounding voice on the other end.
“This is,” I confirmed. “Can I help you?”
The man on the other end of the line didn’t beat around the bush.
“I’m the county coroner for Chase County…” he said.
My whole entire being froze.
My parents weren’t here in Chase County. They were in Gregg County, which was close. My brother and his family were here, but we were all safe…that only left a few people.
As I racked my brain about who he would be calling about, the man continued speaking.
“I witnessed an accident on the corner of Eighteen Ninety and Meadowbrook,” he continued. “A woman and a child…”
My belly soured.
“I’m not calling on official business. The police have already been called, but I just wanted to call you since the woman in the car gave me this number to call.”
I was so confused.
“What’s her name?”
I was going through all of Travis’ brothers.
His mother and father weren’t in town. They’d gone to see Tobias and Finley out of state. Reed was deployed. That only left Dante and Baylor.
“Allegra and Alex were in a very bad wreck…”
I looked over to see Travis staring at me, no longer talking.
“What is it?” he mouthed.
I opened my mouth and tried to explain, but the man on the other line was still talking, and I couldn’t talk and listen at the same time, apparently.