Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
I did.
Winter and I had a weird relationship.
I’d begun to be a lot more open with my feelings for Winter.
I’d thought I’d lost her once, and I wasn’t going to waste life’s precious moments anymore.
If she liked it when I played with her hair – and I wasn’t special here, she liked it when her husband and son played with her hair, too – then I’d do it.
Why?
Because a little over six years ago, I’d thought she was dead.
For all intents and purposes, she had been.
She’d lost her memory and then was assumed dead when a body had been found that they thought was her.
Without going into all of the reasons why that whole situation was beyond fucked up, I’d learned two things.
One, I needed to get my head out of my ass and step up to the plate of life.
And two, I owed it to my family to start living my life the way I should have been doing from the very start.
“It won’t be that bad, baby. I’ll be good to go in week, tops,” Jack said.
I grinned.
“That’s not quite what the doctor said,” I offered.
He sneered at me.
“Nobody asked you, baby brother,” he snapped. “So, you never told me about the woman. She had to be hot to illicit this sort of a reaction from you.”
I flipped him off, and Catori repeated the gesture, causing Winter to snort.
“Seriously,” Jack said. “Y’all need to stop. The bus driver sent a note home with her today telling me that she was cursing out the kids in the back seats.”
I laughed.
“Catori, are you saying bad names?” Winter asked, ignoring me.
“No, mommy. I’m not,” Catori lied.
“Alright,” Winter said, believing her. “What does everyone want for dinner?”
I shook my head and stood up, dislodging Winter and Catori at the same time.
“I can’t. I have to be on shift tomorrow morning, and I’ve been up a solid forty-eight hours trying to drum up donors,” I said. “Which, as it turns out I didn’t need to do since you’ve magically produced the correct perfectness without me having to go further than a couple feet.”
“That’s because I am perfect,” Jack said, standing now as well.
“Whatever,” Winter snorted. “Go check on that other kid of yours.”
“That other kid?” I asked.
Winter shrugged.
“I’m mad at him,” she said.
I raised a brow at her.
“Why?” I asked.
“Mommy doesn’t like it when Adam calls her ‘mom’ instead of ‘mommy’, so she’s mad at him,” Catori explained in that way that only a five-year-old could.
“What’s wrong with him calling you mom?” I asked.
Winter glared.
“You don’t have kids. You wouldn’t understand,” she challenged.
I held up my hands in a placating gesture.
“Okay. You have my permission to bring this up in fifteen years,” I teased.
“Don’t worry,” Jack said, coming into the room with Adam on his hip. “She likes to bring up things that happened ten years ago. Shit I can’t even remember happening, and she doesn’t need permission.”
Winter punched him in the stomach, causing him to laugh.
“Shut up!” She yelled.
Jack grinned unrepentantly.
With that, I left.
I had to be at work early in the morning, and the Kilgore Fire Department had a little boy to go see.
Chapter 3
I see firefighters.
-Coffee Cup
Mia
“So, tell me about this man that you met,” my mother said, turning her smile on me.
I grinned.
I’d only known Taima – Tai – for less than a week, and I was seriously falling head over heels in love with him.
It was crazy and way too soon.
It would probably end up in heartbreak for me because it was obvious that he was a heartbreaker.
In the short time he’d been at the hospital visiting Colton yesterday, he’d been hit on by no less than ten nurses.
Nine of whom weren’t even on Colton’s rotation.
On the positive side of that, though, Colton had gotten some really great care. Not once did his ice melt, and I swear, I had more than enough pillows and blankets to last me for weeks.
“He’s really great,” I said.
I wasn’t able to put into words exactly what Tai meant to me.
He’d somehow managed to pull together around a thousand possible donors for me in less than a week.
His efforts paid off big time, because he found Colton a donor. That alone garnered him hero status in my book.
He was making it possible for my baby to get a second chance.
And for that alone…I’d do absolutely anything for him.
When I approached him, he didn’t hesitate to offer his help – even if it was in a different form than what I had been asking for – and that spoke volumes to the kind of person that Tai was. Besides, no one could argue with the fact that his suggestion got results
Rough and gruff on the outside, and a ball of marshmallow fluff on the inside.
“You look like you’re in love with him,” my mother said.