Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 71625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
The prospect of him staying for dinner and enjoying my cooking really appealed to me in an instinctive sort of way.
I loved taking care of people. I loved when people enjoyed my food, and honestly, I never got that from my kids.
“Sure.”
I was utterly surprised to hear him say yes.
“Really?”
He nodded, then frowned. “As long as you’re not planning on making anything weird.”
I started to laugh. “Spaghetti isn’t really weird, is it?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Good,” I said as I went to the sink and washed my hands. “I just have to make the pasta.”
“Make the pasta?”
I nodded and turned my body slightly so that I could see him. “I make my own pasta. It’s cheaper in the long run if I make it in bulk. It’ll take me about an hour…that’s okay, right?”
He stood up and walked to the counter to lean his hips against it and cross his legs. “Now you have me curious. I’ve never had homemade pasta before.”
So, I spent the next hour showing him how it was done, and then another hour making the meatballs and sauce.
“This is the best spaghetti I’ve ever had in my life,” he informed me. “And I’ve eaten at Olive Garden.”
I burst out laughing.
He watched me laugh, an odd look on his face.
I smiled as I calmed down. “What?”
He shook his head. “Just haven’t seen you smile before. I like it.”
Pleasure washed over me, but before I could reply to his words, his phone rang.
He pulled it out of his pocket and cursed, ignoring the call.
Thirty seconds later, it rang again, this time he answered it.
“Yeah, son?” He paused, eyes narrowing. “I’ll call her. I told you to block her number.” He brought his hand up to his face, and I stood to clear the table.
“Conleigh?” I said. “Do you think you can put the food away while I get your brother cleaned up and in bed?”
Conleigh nodded and stood, her half-empty plate in her hands. “Save yours, too. I’ll take it to work tomorrow for lunch.”
Conleigh looked at her plate, clearly skeptical, but nodded anyway. “Okay.”
Then I went about getting Cody ready for bed and tucked in tight.
My left leg was a little weak as I made my way down the hall toward where I could hear Steel and Conleigh speaking in low tones.
“Your son is how old?”
“Thirty-four.”
My brows rose.
Steel must’ve been young like I was when he first had his son.
“How old were you when you had him?” Conleigh asked the same question that I was thinking.
“Nineteen, almost twenty,” he answered. “Still in college.”
“At least you weren’t sixteen like my mom.”
My heart hurt.
That was true.
I also agreed with her.
Sixteen had been ridiculous. I’d gotten pregnant, and my life had completely changed. My family had disowned me, and my mother and father kicked me out the moment they found out.
I moved in with my grandparents, finished out my school year, and raised a newborn all at the same time. When I was eighteen, I moved away and never looked back.
Not that I didn’t love my grandparents, but I knew just as well as they did that they didn’t really want me there.
They’d felt sorry for me and took me in because they felt obligated to.
Once I was no longer in high school, I found a job, got help from the government in the form of food stamps, housing aid and help paying for my education in the form of Pell grants.
Once I graduated, I found a full-time job, got off of food stamps and into my own place, and kept on kicking ass.
Then I met Matt, and I got complacent.
“I actually got a girl pregnant when I was sixteen,” he said. “She was fifteen. Lost the kid.”
My brows went up at that.
“What?”
Steel started to laugh at Conleigh’s surprised exclamation.
“Yep,” he confirmed. “Scared me straight…at least for two more years.”
I found myself smiling as I made my way into the kitchen where both of them were standing side-by-side at the sink. Steel had his hands wrist deep in the left half of the sink, washing the dishes, while Conleigh was on the right side, rinsing and drying them.
I felt my heart stutter in my chest at the sight.
I couldn’t remember the last time Conleigh willingly did the dishes without me nearly crying to get her to do so.
Now she was laughing with the man I was finding it harder and harder not to think about, and I was loving every second of it.
I’m so screwed.
Chapter 6
You want to know how lesbian sex works? Well, for starters, both people orgasm.
-True Fact
Winnie
I rubbed my forehead in concern.
“Mom,” Conleigh breathed. “I don’t understand.”
I didn’t either.
That was the problem.
I passed algebra, calculus, physics, and, hell, even calculus two, with flying colors. Yet, I couldn’t figure out what the hell to do with my daughter’s tenth-grade pre-cal math homework.