Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 106346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
“Because he would have seen my morning wood, and that isn’t a conversation I want to have with him right now,” I say and kiss the top of her head. She looks up at me, her eyes still heavy with sleep. “Did you sleep well, sweetheart?” I ask, and she nods.
I turn over, and she slips out of my arms. I walk to the bathroom, and when I come back, she’s already gone from bed. When I join them in the kitchen, she already has the coffee going. “Are you sure you’re okay?” I hear her ask him, and he just nods while he fills his mouth with a spoonful of cereal.
“You okay, buddy?” I say, going to him and rubbing his hair, and he nods.
“What do you want for breakfast?” Caroline asks, and I look at her.
“Mom, are we going to church?” he asks, and she looks at me.
“Would you mind if we went?” she asks, and I shake my head. “I just don’t have anything for Dylan to wear, so maybe we can stop at Walmart before.”
“Yeah,” I say. “We can do that.”
“Perfect.” She smiles at me and fills two cups of coffee. Going to the fridge, she then looks at me. “You really did buy all the milk.”
“I didn’t know which one you drank, so it was a safe bet to get them all,” I say and sit next to Dylan, grabbing the box of cereal and popping some into my mouth.
“We have all the milk that they have in the store.” He shrugs. “It’s like we are the store.”
“We have thirty minutes before we have to leave,” she says, and I nod at her. “Dylan, you need to shower,” she groans. “And so do I.”
“Use my bathroom,” I say, and she just looks at me. “Pick your battles, sweetheart.”
She takes her cup of coffee, stopping at Dylan’s stool first and kissing him and then coming to mine. “I have a feeling every battle I pick I’ll lose.”
“You’re learning,” I say and lean forward to kiss her lips, tasting the sweetness of her hazelnut creamer.
“Thirty minutes, people.” She walks away from us, and I give Dylan a couple more minutes until I push him to go take a shower.
“Put your stuff from yesterday on, and you’ll change in the car when we stop at the store,” I say, taking the last sip of my coffee. When he goes to the bathroom to take a shower, I walk into my room. The bed is already made, and the shower has just turned off. She walks out of the bathroom dressed in last night’s clothes with a towel around her head and the coffee cup in her hand.
“I’m going to take a shower.” I kiss her, and she smiles at me. I don’t know how long I take in the shower, but when I come out, my bedroom door is closed, and I don’t hear any noise. I walk to my walk-in closet and put on a pair of boxers, grabbing a pair of blue pants, my brown belt, and a white button-down. I tuck in my shirt and slip on my brown dress shoes. I walk out of the room and roll up my sleeve, finding Caroline in the kitchen wearing her green dress. Her hair is dry now, and the ends are curled.
“Hey,” I say, and she looks over, but her mouth opens.
“Is this okay?” I ask, looking down at my outfit. “I can always change.”
“You …” she starts to say and then closes her mouth again. “You.” She points. “You’re hot.”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Thank you,” I say, folding the other sleeve. “I think.”
“Like wow,” she says, and I shake my head.
I look around the kitchen and the living room and see that Dylan isn’t here. “Listen, I was thinking that after church we could swing by your place and you can go up and grab clothes for you two,” I say, and her face goes white as though she’s seen a ghost. “What’s wrong?” Then I walk to her. “If it’s too much for you, I can go up.”
“No,” she says almost like she’s shouting, and she walks to the sink, grabs a glass, and drinks some water. She turns to look at me. “There is something I didn’t tell you.” Just the way she says it makes my heart sink. “I was going to, but it was just too much.” She looks at me. “There are no clothes.”
“Go on.” I don’t trust myself to say much more.
“All the clothes were slashed and destroyed. I think I have one shirt left that I had in the laundry basket,” she says, playing with her hands again, and I want to shake something. “Tomorrow, I’m going to hit up the thrift shop and even the church shop and get us some things to hold us over.” Her voice goes soft. “I’m going to take care of it.” Her eyes fill with tears, and I don’t want her to cry. I don’t want her to shed another fucking tear for the rest of her life.