Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
“That’s generous. Thank you. I’ll definitely pass that along to them. Yes, both of my daughters are going to make me a grandmother at the same time. I can’t wait. I told my Caleb about a month ago that I had baby fever, and I’ve never seen him go so pale.”
“You don’t think you’ll have more kids?” Drew asks me casually before popping a piece of green bean into his mouth.
“It’s not really in the plans right now.” I narrow my eyes on him, thinking. Does he want children? This is probably something we should talk about when his mother isn’t listening in. “How many cousins are there?”
“Oh, geez,” Brynna says with a sigh, leaning on the counter as she thinks it over.
“A million,” Drew says, making his mother grin. He has her smile for sure.
“Luke and Nat have four,” she begins, ticking them off on her fingers. “Isaac has two, Jules has one, Will has two, we have three, Matt has two, Mark has two, and Dom has one. So, that’s seventeen.”
“Seventeen first cousins?” I let out a whistle. “That’s a lot of babies.”
“It was so fun when they were little,” Brynna replies with a wistful smile. “We had so many play dates, parties, you name it. They really grew up as siblings more than cousins.”
“That’s what Drew said not long ago.” I tilt my head to the side. “And he mentioned something about a cousin compound?”
“Yes.” Brynna reaches for the salmon and begins to rub butter on it. “So, Natalie Williams, who is an honorary sister—and that’s a long story—owned a house over at Alki Beach. She’s owned it forever. I think she inherited it from her parents, but I’m not totally sure about that. Anyway, after she and Luke married, they never sold it. It just kind of made its way through the family. If someone needed a place to stay, they used the Alki house. Heck, even I stayed there with the girls when I first came to Seattle.”
“I didn’t know that,” Drew says.
“It’s true. When all of our kids started reaching college age, they’d move into the Alki house so they were on their own, but still had the safety of family. Then, a couple of years ago, the house next door went up for sale, so Will and a couple of the other siblings went in on buying it. They made a few changes, renovations and updating, and took out the fence that separated the two properties, making it one big property.”
“A compound,” I say with a smile, loving the idea. I would have loved that when I was in my early twenties.
“That’s right,” she says with a nod. “The cousins live there. I think most everyone has lived there at some point, or will.”
“Keaton never did,” Drew adds. “He was never the social type.”
“That’s right,” Brynna says, nodding in agreement. “Drew just moved out of there a few months ago when he took the job with the team.”
“I lived in the guesthouse behind the original house,” he puts in. “It was a sweet place. But I like my new condo and being close to my job. Alki would have been an awful commute every day.”
I frown. “But Lucy currently lives at the compound?”
“Yeah, Luce is there,” Drew confirms.
“And she commutes.”
He nods, popping another green bean into his mouth. “Yeah, she does. I offered to let her stay at my place during the week, but she said she was fine for now. If the drive gets too ridiculous, she’ll probably take me up on it.”
“Hmm.”
“Lucy is so in love with her new job,” Brynna gushes. “I saw her the other night for our monthly girls’ night, and she just couldn’t say enough wonderful things about it and you. Apparently, you’re the best boss that has ever lived, and she hopes to be with you for about fifty years.”
“That’s sweet. As far as I’m concerned, she’ll be with me for a very long time. So, you have a monthly girls’ night out?” The thought of that makes me grin.
“Oh, yeah, we do, with all the aunts and cousins. You’ll have to join us for the next one.”
“I didn’t mean to invite myself.”
“You didn’t. I invited you.” She winks at me, and it occurs to me that I don’t remember the last time I felt this immediately relaxed around someone. Brynna is sweet and smart and nurturing.
Drew is lucky to have her.
“The grill is ready!” My boy comes running in from the outside. “I’ve cleaned it, and it’s ready for the fish. Old Caleb wants to know when you’ll send it out to us.”
“Old Caleb?” I ask, completely mortified. “Please tell me you didn’t call him that to his face.”
“Of course, I did. We had to figure out nicknames so we don’t get confused.”
“Maybe we should come up with different ones.”