Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 490(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
“Yeah, Mom,” Gunnar adds. “Chill. We got this.”
Both Thatch and Gunnar head down the deck stairs, and Cassie lets out another deep sigh.
“What about trading in my husband?” she asks, her attention back on my mom and Georgia. “Is it too late for that?”
“How’s your prenup?” Georgia questions, already smiling at what she knows is a total joke on Cassie’s behalf. She and Thatch, while entirely crazy, are meant to be together. Truly, no one else on the planet could put up with them.
“I don’t have one.”
My mom laughs. “Looks like you’re stuck with him.”
Cassie groans. But she also smiles as she looks back toward the lake where Thatch is twerking on the dock while Gunnar holds up the box of fireworks in the air. “He is such a fucking idiot. I love him so much.”
“Is it just me, or does Gunnar’s new haircut have a lot of…party…going on in the back?” Georgia asks, her voice careful as she watches Thatch and Gunnar continue to act like fools down by the lake.
“Georgia, it looks like a mullet because it is a mullet,” Cassie answers on a laugh. “A terrible fucking mullet that I’m tempted to cut off while he’s asleep.”
“It’s not that bad, Cass,” Georgia says, always the eternal optimist.
My mom laughs, and she looks across the deck to meet my eyes. Her smile is loving and full of affection, and I can’t help but return it. “Lex, how do we feel about Gunnar’s new haircut?”
“It’s bad,” I answer, direct and to the point and with zero regrets about it. Gunnar Kelly’s mullet is nothing to admire. It’s, at most, rural kid cosplay on a billionaire budget.
Cassie cackles. “Thank you, Lex!”
“I’m sure it’s just a phase,” Georgia offers, and Cassie rolls her eyes.
“Georgia, sweetheart, I love you so much, but you don’t need to sugarcoat my idiot teenage son’s life choices,” she says with a knowing smirk. “What you should do is offer up some prayers that he gets through high school in one piece and a diploma in his hands.”
Georgia laughs. “Fine. Your son’s mullet is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. And I’m offering my deepest condolences and prayers.”
“Finally.” Cassie nods and grins. “That’s more like it.”
I look out toward the lake again and note that Blake is now sitting on the dock beside Julia and Ace, watching toward the water as Thatch and Uncle Jude and Gunnar row around in a canoe. Their current destination is the other side of the lake, and I silently pray that whatever they have planned involves no actual fires this time.
Though, it is a little concerning that they now have Gunnar as an accomplice. The Fourth they planned a big fireworks show that ended in the fire department having to put out a flaming canoe, Gunnar was too young to join in on the fun.
But now, he’s a full-fledged teenager who seems to be a combination of both of his parents’ wildest, craziest genetics. No doubt, he’s a certified risk for the whole damn planet.
Ace and Julia laugh at something Blake says as he points toward the canoe full of crazy and fireworks, and a part of me wishes I were down there with them, listening in on whatever Blake is saying.
To distract myself from my FOMO-style envy, I pull my phone out of my pocket and discreetly type out a text before hitting send.
Me: Whatever you do, don’t get in that canoe.
I suck my lips into my mouth, holding back my smile when his response comes in a moment later.
Blake Boden: You worried about my safety, Lexi Lou?
Me: I’m worried about everyone’s safety when Thatch and Gunnar have fireworks.
Blake Boden: You want to come down here and go for a swim with me?
Me: Pretty sure that would make it a little obvious to everyone.
Blake Boden: Make what obvious to everyone? That you like me? That you can’t resist me? That, faced with the opportunity, your hands have absolutely no choice but to fondle me all over?
Me: Maybe you should stick to the fishing you can do with a pole. We are on a lake after all.
Blake Boden: When it comes to you, Lex, I’m fishing for anything I can get. All the fucking time.
Me: *rolls eyes*
Blake Boden: Just admit it, Lex. You like me.
Me: Don’t be so painfully naïve, BB. It’s beneath you. You KNOW I like you, as you have evidentiary support in droves.
Blake: *clutches pearls* Lexi Lou…are you…talking about all the dirty things we’ve done in bed while using legal speak??? And is it turning me on?
Me: You DID admit the other night that Legally Blonde is one of your favorite movies. So, I wouldn’t be surprised. Should I continue?
Blake: FUCK YES.
I start to type out another message, but a hand to my shoulder startles me so much I bobble my phone in my hands.