Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Having gotten everything I needed, I went back out to the porch and stood in front of him, waiting for him to finally look up at me.
“Will you please call Hank and ask him to bring my car back up here so I can go to my apartment?” The wonderful man had come that morning to bring Dillon his truck back.
Dillon shook his head and stood up. “I’ll take you.”
“It’s okay, you don’t—”
“Yes, I do. Just give me a few minutes.”
I stood out there, unsure of myself for a few minutes before Dillon came back out with Bucky in tow and motioned me toward his truck. We were silent as we headed down the hill, and I felt every hair on my body standing up as I thought through what I was about to do.
“What are you thinking of doing?”
I blinked, thinking for a second that he might’ve read my mind… but then I remembered the conversation we’d just had and how I’d told him that I was carrying his child.
“I know I want to keep this baby,” I said, keeping my gaze out on the forest as we drove. I wasn’t able to look at him. “I also would like to be with you, but I don’t want you to feel pressured into anything. We don’t really know each other, Dillon.”
“Yeah, you’ve said.”
“Because it’s true. And if we try to stay together, then we’re going to have to get to know each other around raising a child.”
He went quiet again, as if he was trying to effectively process what I was saying, but he didn’t say anything else until we pulled up to Hank’s garage.
I turned back to him, looking at him intently. “Just so you know, I took the spare phone from your desk in case you need to get in touch with me.”
He nodded, and I climbed down out of the car, heading toward the storefront.
“Macy!” I turned back, surprised to see Dillon coming toward me, and I stopped in my tracks as he came up to me. “Just promise me that you won’t leave or do anything drastic like that until we have a chance to talk more.”
I swallowed hard but nodded at him. I didn’t have time to do more than that before he pulled me toward him for a crushing kiss that left me breathless.
A few minutes later, I was in my car, and then I was at my old apartment. I didn’t think a lot about the mess that Alex had made when he’d been here, which had gone untouched since Dillon had last been here.
Not thinking of my surroundings, I sat down on the couch and pulled out the phone and the piece of paper with the phone number on it that I’d swiped from Dillon’s desk. Taking a deep breath, I dialed the number, thankful that, according to the phone, it was a Sunday.
“Hello?” answered a friendly voice on the other end of the phone.
“Hi,” I said. “Is this Jackie?”
“Yes,” she said warily. “Who’s this?”
“My name is Macy,” I said. “I’m a friend of Dillon Ford’s.”
A few hours later, I was sitting in Maria’s café, feeling nervous as I waited for Jackie to show up. She’d been shocked on the phone to say the least, but when I’d asked to meet her, she’d said that she would come meet me that day. And when I offered to come halfway to Nashville, she’d insisted on coming all the way to me. I’d told her where to meet me, and then I’d packed another bag for myself, on the off chance that this might actually work.
And, if it didn’t, I would need to take a bag with me to make a quick getaway.
“Macy?”
I looked up to see a sweet-faced woman, her hazel eyes wide and genuine with wildly curly hair piled on top of her head, probably in her late thirties, closely followed by a young boy.
“Jackie.” It wasn’t a question.
She nodded. “This is my son, Patrick.”
He blinked at me with eyes the same colors as his mother’s. I stood up and held out my hand to him. “It’s nice to meet you, Patrick. I heard that you were a great soccer player.”
He looked at his mom for a second before looking back at me. “I’m team captain at school, ma’am.”
“Honey, will you please get me a cappuccino, and get yourself whatever you like,” Jackie said, handing him a twenty-dollar bill before looking at me. “Do you want anything?”
“Thanks, but I already ordered,” I said, gesturing at the cup on my table.
She looked at me for a second. “Why don’t you get some chocolate chip cookies for all of us?”
He nodded before smiling at me and turning to walk up to the counter.
Jackie and I turned to look at each other, and I felt the tears in my eyes mirroring the ones in hers. “I’m so, so happy that you called,” she said, walking forward to hug me. I wrapped my arms around her and accepted the embrace, smelling lavender and a powdery, soapy scent as she hugged me.