Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“Which do you like better, cars or rockets?” I ask Jake, consulting the paper map we picked up at the door.
“Cars!”
“Off to roadside attractions it is then,” I say and we head left to a series of interactive exhibits where Jake pretends to drive a bus, collect tolls and fill a car with gas. After that we visit the space station exhibit where Jake gets to pretend he’s a space shuttle pilot.
But we quickly find out his favorite exhibit is the ShopRite Supermarket on the lower level. He zips down the play grocery store aisles with his child-sized grocery cart with absolute glee, filling it with food till it spills out the top.
“We can take him to Whole Foods next weekend,” Sawyer comments. “Totally blow his mind.”
I laugh, but I’m secretly glad he said ‘we.’
We stop for lunch at the museum cafe. Sawyer and I eat burgers while Jake eats half a hot dog and about a dozen cheese-flavored crackers.
“Is that supposed to freak me out?” Sawyer asks me, expression serious. “He only eats half of everything. Maybe I should take him to a doctor?”
I place my hand over his and point out that they give out the same-sized hot dog to every kid and a four-year-old isn’t likely to finish as much of it as an older kid. He nods and relaxes.
We visit the river adventures exhibit after lunch and Jake gets his tie soaked racing sailboats. He wrings it out and then we visit the carousel.
“I want the cat,” he tells me while Sawyer is buying him a ticket.
“I’m not sure there’s a cat on the carousel, buddy.” We’re holding hands watching the animals whiz past from outside a gated area that surrounds it.
“There is. I saw it,” he tells me, brow furrowed in concentration as he looks for it again.
The museum employee operating the ride confirms there is indeed a cat. Forty horses, four cats, and a small assortment of other animals. But Jake is firm on the cat, waving to us on each rotation of the carousel.
“This is fun,” I say, nudging Sawyer with my elbow.
He smiles in return, that dimple flashing. “It’s forever though, Everly. Today is fun, but the reality is he’s with me now. All the time. You and I will never have spontaneous weekend trips and sex on the kitchen counter at noon.”
“Would you dump me if I got pregnant?”
“No,” he says with a long sigh, knowing where I’m going with this.
“It’s not any different to me, Sawyer.”
“But he’s not yours. You can walk away, Everly. I won’t blame you for walking away. But if you’re going to stay, you’ve got to stay. He’s been through enough already.”
“When we first got together and I told you about my perfect dream life you told me life wasn’t always that neat.”
He nods.
“You also told me we’d get it right,” I remind him, pointing a finger between us. “Together. So we’re going to get it right, Sawyer. And we can still have spontaneous weekend trips, you know. We might have them at Disney, but we can have them. I’ll give you the kitchen counter sex, that’s probably out from now on. But to be honest, your counters are really hard. I can live without kitchen counter sex.”
He runs a hand behind his neck and nods.
“He is mine, by the way. Jake is. If he’s yours, then he’s mine too.”
“Okay,” he agrees softly, wrapping his arm over my shoulders.
“Where did he come from, Sawyer?” I tilt my head back to look at him, hoping I’m not overstepping my bounds.
“Well, Everly, when two adults take their clothing off, and the male adult sticks a part of his body into the female adult, sometimes—”
“Stop!” I punch him, laughing. “You know what I meant.”
“Rebecca used to work for me,” he says, stepping back and pinching the bridge of his nose briefly. “We dated. It was…” He pauses, thinking. “It wasn’t serious. She was convenient for me, if I’m being brutally honest. And I was an opportunity for her.”
“An opportunity how?” I ask, not liking the word.
“She embezzled five million dollars from me and disappeared about a week before Gabe caught onto the missing funds.” He shakes his head. “I can only assume she had no idea she was pregnant when she left, because Jake would have been a much bigger payout for her. Hell, I’d have given her everything for him.” He grips the divider in front of us, circling the carousel, his knuckles white.
“But instead she disappeared and changed her name. I have no idea what her end game was, if she was going to come back at some point looking to exchange him for the charges against her being dropped. I don’t know and she’s not cooperating.”
“But she’s in prison?” I clarify.
He nods, smiling. But it’s a sad smile, rueful. “Federal charges. She got caught on identity theft and tax evasion. They haven’t even added her sentence for the embezzlement yet. Embezzlements, I should say. I wasn’t the only one.”