Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 46792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
I knew what I didn’t want. What I was unwilling to tolerate. But I had a protective wall up, my way of not letting myself get hurt again. And Rowan crumbled it without even meaning to.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Rowan
Dom and Tess have a huge rectangular dining table that seats up to sixteen people, so we all sit there for Thanksgiving dinner. I want to sit next to Cam, but I’m late getting into the room because Dom was talking my ear off about fantasy football.
Instead, I take a seat right across from her, giving me the best view in the house. There’s commotion all over the place. Sergei and Sam are throwing a football back and forth over the table. Dom’s dad is arguing about politics with Stella. Hannah is pleading with Tess to stop eating meat as Tess carves the turkey, Tess giving Dom a grateful look as he takes over the carving.
“We respect your views and buy you all the tofu you want; you need to respect our views, too,” Dom tells Hannah.
Wow. He’s making progress. Normally he’d make a smartass comment.
“Why is anyone a single-issue voter?” Dom’s dad is getting louder. “I’ve never understood that.”
“Sam, no more football,” Cam says. “Go wash up for dinner.”
“Aw, man.”
Sergei tosses the football onto a chair in the corner and sits down on the other side of me.
“I think we should teach Sam chess,” he says. “He has a good mind for it.”
“Yeah, good idea.”
“Why, because he’s a nerd?” Tate asks.
He’s sitting next to Cam, who leans over to speak softly in his ear, after which he mutters, “Yeah, I get it.”
“Tess, what’s this part?” Dom calls into the kitchen as he carves. “Is this the turkey’s penis? Aren’t you supposed to take that off before you cook it?”
“Disgusting!” Hannah cries.
“I’m not eating turkey penis!” Tate gives Cam a horrified look.
Tess comes flying into the room, food splashed all over her apron. “Dom, what the hell is wrong with you? They take all that stuff out while they’re processing the turkey.”
He shrugs. “Well, I didn’t know. I didn’t want to feed our guests—”
She glares at him, daring him to continue.
He clears his throat. “Anyway, thanks for all your hard work on this, babe. What else do you need before we eat?”
The rest of us echo his thanks. Cam stands up, but Tess points to her.
“No, sit back down. Literally all I have left to do is to pick up the bowl of rolls and bring them in here. Everyone, start eating while it’s still hot, please.”
Sergei and I each pick up a dish and start passing them. Everyone quiets as we start filling our plates. While I wait for a dish to be passed my way, I watch Cam. She’s helping Tate make his plate, trying to convince him there’s nothing but “bread and spices” in the stuffing.
She’s so much more than just beautiful. I want to be worthy of her. I don’t even know if I can trust myself to know if I deserve to be the man in her life, but I’ll find a way to figure it out.
I have to.
Cam gives me a skeptical look from the passenger seat of my Bronco. “Has no one mentioned to you that the day after Thanksgiving is literally the busiest shopping day of the year?”
“I’ve heard that.” I smile over at her, glancing in the rearview mirror to see the boys in the back seat. “But with our schedules, today works.”
“True. So tell me more about your friend we’re shopping for.”
“Arthur’s eighty-two. He likes chess and crosswords. He lives in a nursing home.”
“Hmm.” She considers. “Maybe a nice soft blanket. Oh—does he have an iPad?”
“He doesn’t, and that’s a great idea because he says the cable is always out at the nursing home. How about a big iPad with all the apps prepaid and a blanket?”
She grins at me. “That was easy. We can look for the blanket at Home Goods. I need to find a picture frame, too, for one of my gifts to Tess.”
I wasn’t sure if she’d say yes when I asked her and the boys to go shopping with me today, but she agreed immediately. This is a chance for me to show her I want to be in the boys’ lives, too.
“Hey, you guys like hot chocolate?” I ask.
“Are we getting hot chocolate?” Tate’s already lit up with excitement. “I want lots of marshmallows in mine.”
“They love hot chocolate,” Cam says.
“Great. We have a stop to make first and then we’ll get some hot chocolate. We’ll go to a place that has really good hot pretzels, too, if anyone wants a snack.”
“Rowan, you can sleep in my room if you want,” Sam offers. “I have a sleeping bag.”
Tess told them I’d be spending some nights at their house, though she didn’t say why because she didn’t want to scare them. Neither one of them seemed to think it was unusual. They think I’m coming to play with them.