Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
If we ever had babies, they would never know whose eyes he or she got because they would probably be a shade in between our colors.
I shut the door on that thought, slamming it closed so hard that my entire head rattled with the force.
No, no babies.
Babies were cute—but they smelled bad.
They cried. They got sick. They were demanding.
I loved Elise more than my next breath, but she was a handful.
I’d had to quit going to school to make ends meet, meaning I had finished my pre-requisites and then three semesters of nursing school. I had no idea when or even if I could go back to get the last semester finished.
I needed money, and money didn’t grow on trees. Meaning I was forced to put my dream of being a nurse on hold, and put my daughter first.
That’s why I worked so much.
I needed the money. I may live in a fancy ass house, but the taxes on said house still needed to be paid.
And let me tell you something, those taxes weren’t a joke.
They were a killer, and I would be paying more in taxes this year than I could really afford.
“Hey,” that deep voice cut into my thoughts.
“Yeah?” I cleared my throat, turning my gaze to his.
“You went far away. Are you sure you shouldn’t go home? Get yourself and the baby to sleep?” He looked at the stroller pointedly.
“Elise is used to it,” I said. “I work whatever shifts I can to pay my way. Nights. Days. Middle shift. Nothing is sacred. Then I pick up shifts at my brother’s garage when I’m not working—although, there I can at least bring Elise with me.”
His brows furrowed.
“Why?” he asked. “When do you get to spend time with your daughter?”
I smiled sadly at him.
“Anytime I can, which is why she’s used to sleeping in her stroller. It’s why I got the nice one,” I pointed out.
Bowe grinned.
“It does look kind of like the Rolls Royce edition.”
“My mom’s the shit,” I agreed. “So…tell me everything you remember.”
As it turned out, it wasn’t much.
Chapter 8
Why weigh yourself when you can set yourself on fire and roll over glass and get the same effect?
-Workout T-shirt
Angie
“This is the thing,” the doctor looked at Bowe’s parents, who had shown up four days after Bowe woke. “It wasn’t his short-term memory that was affected. It’s his long term. It’s not surprising that he would remember Angie if she’s a new fixture in his life. It’s nothing personal.”
Bowe’s parents both looked ravaged. Marcus and Gianna Tannenbaum.
It was his grandmother that had that smile on her face, though.
“You’ll let him go home with her, then?” Grams asked hopefully.
The doctor looked considerate for a moment, then nodded his head.
“Yes,” he agreed. “I see no reason why he can’t go home. His head’s healing up nicely. He needs to rest, though. Is that something he can accomplish at your house?”
I nodded my head, careful to keep all expressions of excitement or elation off my face.
“You have the accommodations to care for our son?” his mother, with her shrewd brown eyes, asked me.
“Yes,” I assured her. “I live in a one-story ranch house in the middle of nowhere just off the main highway in Kilgore. It should be nice and peaceful, and I have no problem with y’all coming over, or even staying, if you want to.”
The doctor took that as his cue to leave, and then I was left in the hallway with two angry parents, one smiling Grams, and Elise.
“Do you mind if I hold her?” Grams asked. “She’s what I’v always thought Bowe’s kids would look like.”
That was true, I couldn’t argue the fact, either.
If I had to guess what Bowe’s kids would look like myself, Elise would fit the description perfectly.
“Ruth,” Bowe’s mother, Gianna, said. “How about you go in there and talk to Bowe?”
Grams—and yes, it was Grams to me now too since she practically forced me to call her that—smiled at Gianna.
“Darling,” Grams said. “I’m not your mother. I’m your mother-in-law. I don’t have to deal with your shit if I don’t want to, and right now, I’m going to go ahead and let you know that you’re being an asshole to this young woman and she’s done absolutely nothing to deserve it.”
My mouth dropped open.
“Grams,” I started to say.
Both women looked at me like I’d interrupted something, so I chose to take Elise from Grams’ arms and leave them to whatever it was that they were about to do.
The moment I walked into the door, Bowe’s head turned to me.
His eyes were distant, wary.
But the moment he saw it was me, his entire body seemed to relax.
“How did they take it?” he asked roughly.
I held my fingers up.
“I’m this close to losing it,” I said. “And I haven’t even been around them for more than an hour.”