Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
I felt Brody’s eyes boring into me. I could only imagine what was going through his head at that moment.
“You asked her without asking for my permission?” my father said.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Brody opened his mouth, but all that came out was, “Ahhh…”
“It was my fault, Dad. I asked him to keep it between us. I knew that once Addie was back, there was a strong possibility Gannon would ask her to marry him, and honestly, Brody and I liked keeping it our little…secret.” I turned to Brody. “Right?”
He nodded and smiled. “Yes. I wanted to ask for her hand, sir.”
My father narrowed his eyes at Brody. “And she talked you out of it?”
Brody gave a shaky nod. “She didn’t, um…well, she was worried, um, that—”
Oh, dear God. Brody can’t lie to save his life.
“It was so soon after your heart attack when Brody and I started dating,” I said gently. “And, well, we also really didn’t want to deal with the gossip since it was so soon after my divorce too.”
“Yes, it is soon,” my mother stated.
I shook my head. “It may seem like it’s too soon, but I’ve had feelings for Brody for a long time.”
All eyes snapped to me.
“Then why in the hell did you marry that asshole?” my father demanded.
“Keegan Bradley!” my mother said in a firm voice.
“What?” he scoffed. “It’s a damn good question.”
Brody and I looked at each other, and he simply raised one brow. It was obvious he was going to let me dig deeper into this lie.
“Brody was in the Navy, and he was older,” I said. “I thought at the time that I was in love with Jack, but then Brody came back to Seaside, and things with Jack went sour. Brody was there for me and we…we fell in love.”
I turned to Brody. The way he was looking at me made me think for one brief moment that he really was in love with me. I silently pleaded for him to go along with me.
“Yes, that’s pretty much how it happened,” he agreed.
“Why the cloak and dagger, though? Why didn’t you tell us?” Janet asked.
“I don’t know, Mom,” he said. “We wanted to see how things went. Then I realized that I loved Sutton, and I wanted to make her my wife as soon as possible.”
I quickly added, “Now felt like the right time.”
“Why now?” my father asked.
I drew in a deep breath. “Jack is back in Seaside.”
My father’s jaw tensed.
“He’s been trying to reconcile, and he was being rather pushy about it, so Brody and I decided…” My words faded.
My mother closed her eyes and slowly shook her head before looking at me. “Tell me you didn’t get married simply to put off Jack? Oh, Sutton—”
“No,” Brody cut in. “We’d been talking about it, but after Addie and Gannon got engaged, we decided to put it on the back burner.”
“But then you suddenly eloped?” Ken asked. “Why?”
My heart started to pound in my chest.
“Oh my God! Oh my God!” My mother jumped up. “You’re pregnant!”
“What?!” My father stood so quickly his chair fell back. He looked like he was ready to lunge across the table and kill Brody.
“Oh my gosh! We’re going to be grandparents, Ken!” Janet jumped up as well and started hitting Brody’s dad on the shoulder excitedly.
Ken looked confused as hell before quickly pulling away from his wife. “Jesus, Janet, that’s my good swinging arm for golf!”
Brody leaned over to me and said, “Do something now before your father leaps across the goddamn table and murders me with a butter knife!”
I stood. “I’m not pregnant! But I wanted Brody to move in with me, and I knew that you’d all frown on that.”
Both moms deflated into their chairs.
“Oh, for the love…Sutton,” my father said. “This is 2022, we’re not that old-fashioned.”
We all looked at him.
He sat down and put the butter knife back on the table. “Thank you, Brody, for respecting my old-fashioned ways.”
Brody wiped away a bead of sweat and simply nodded.
My father cleared his throat. “Well, so…you’re married. Jack is back. And there are no buns in the oven.”
“Or shrimp,” Ken said with a chuckle.
“Is that all you wanted to tell us, sweetheart?” my mother asked.
I nodded. “Yep. That’s it. We’re married. Yay! We went to the Justice of the Peace this afternoon, and this is our first dinner as a married couple. We wanted to spend it with our parents.”
Janet and my mother both dabbed at the corners of their eyes.
“That is so sweet of you, darling,” Janet said as she beamed at me, then at her son.
“Can we eat now? I’m starving.” Ken reached for the serving spoon and scooped out a healthy portion of lasagna.
Brody had been a complete gentleman all evening at my parents’ house. He’d held my hand, kissed me on the cheek, and played the new doting husband—while I’d fought to keep from crawling on top of him every time he’d touched me. He played the part well. Too well.