Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“Life happens, honey. One day you’ll understand,” Mom told me.
I shook my head. “No, Mom, I won’t.”
CHAPTER TWO
RILEY
“You need this table under the tent?” Nash asked me as I was putting cotton-candy-pink covers over the chairs, then tying them with purple bows.
I glanced back over my shoulder. “Yes, please, and can you hang these paper lanterns from the middle up there?” I asked, pointing to the center of the tent.
“Yup,” he replied.
“Gunner! Get your ass in here. I need the ladder!” he called out.
I continued with the chairs, wondering why Brady wasn’t here yet with the helium. Leaving Bryony with him was a bad idea. She’d probably talked him into stopping to get ice cream. That girl had him so tightly wound around her little finger it wasn’t funny. He was going to have to learn to start telling her no.
“What the fuck you need a ladder for? It’s a tent,” Gunner called back.
“Gotta hang lanterns from the top of it,” Nash replied.
“Lanterns?” he asked.
“Just bring it here,” Nash yelled back at him.
Those two were comic relief. This was the third birthday of Bryony’s that they had come to help set up. It had become tradition. It was three birthdays ago when Bryony had first called Gunner “Uncle Gunner.” The way his face had looked in that moment had been priceless. He still got teased by Nash and Ryker for tearing up.
Bryony had no relationship with her biological father, and I doubted she ever would. But Gunner was her blood, and I had wanted her to know he wasn’t just a friend of Brady’s but her uncle. He was here because of her. Not Brady.
“Why are we hanging paper lanterns from the ceiling?” Gunner asked, staring up at the top of the tent with a frown.
“Because we were told to,” Nash replied.
“What’s the theme of this party again? Rumpelstiltskin?” Gunner asked me.
I laughed out loud and shook my head. “No. Rapunzel,” I told him.
“She was the one who ate the apple and went to sleep?” he asked.
“No, dumbass, that was Snow White. Even I know that,” Nash said, shaking his head in disgust.
“Who the fuck’s Rapunzel, then? Sounds like Rumpelstiltskin. Did they hook up?” Gunner asked me.
Still laughing, I shook my head and stood up from tying the last bow on the chairs. “No. That’s not even Disney.”
“Disney? I thought you said Rapunzel? Where’s the mouse ears?”
“God, I hope you have a girl one day,” Nash said, chuckling.
“Don’t wish that shit on me,” Gunner shot back at him.
The world as we know it would change if Gunner Lawton ever had a daughter. I walked over to the table Nash had brought under the tent to start to set it up when Mom walked out of the back door holding a tray with drinks and snacks.
“Brady just pulled up,” she told me.
“Finally,” I said, relieved that he could get the balloons blown up now.
“You boys need some nourishment?” Mom asked, and both guys dropped their lanterns and went to get what my mother had brought out as if they were starving. We had only been at this for two hours. I rolled my eyes and started working on decorating the table that would be for drinks. The fountain I had bought off Amazon was going to have edible glitter in the purple-colored apple juice coming down out of it. I couldn’t wait for Bryony to see it.
“Sorry I’m late,” Brady said behind me, then placed a kiss on my cheek.
“What did Bryony convince you to do?” I asked him, turning around to face him.
He frowned. “Nothing. Well, except to stay at Mom’s and come with her… and my dad.”
The way his tone dropped when he said “my dad” had me searching his face. He was upset. Worried and stressed. It was clearly etched all over his handsome features. I reached up and touched his arm.
“Your dad is coming with your mom?” I asked him to clarify I was understanding his mood.
He nodded. “He was at her house. I saw his SUV and stopped. That’s why I’m late.”
I wrapped my arms around him. There wasn’t much I could say to make this any better. I knew all too well how badly his father’s affair had affected him. He had come a long way since then, forgiving his dad and moving on from what he’d done. But I knew he’d never expected this. Not after all his mom had gone through.
“I’m good,” he said and kissed the top of my head. “Today isn’t about that shit. It’s about Bryony, and I have balloons to get blown up.” He stopped and looked up at the ceiling. “You need me to hang the lanterns first?” he asked.
“No, Gunner and Nash are doing that,” I assured him.
He glanced over at them eating the snacks Mom had brought out. “Yeah, they look hard at work,” he drawled.