Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 153268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 766(@200wpm)___ 613(@250wpm)___ 511(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 766(@200wpm)___ 613(@250wpm)___ 511(@300wpm)
Gravity stirred in my arms, sniffling. Dylan zipped toward me in a flash, already unstrapping her bra under her oversized shirt. “Shit. She hasn’t snacked in two hours. She’s going to maul me.”
I handed my niece over to her like she was a hot potato. My life was miserable enough these days without adding watching my baby sister flash me to my list of unfortunate incidents.
“I’ll be in my room, feeding her.”
“I’ll be upstairs doing the laundry.” Mom planted a kiss on my forehead. “Should I stop by your room and do yours?”
“Thanks, Ma. Already done mine.”
I’d moved here the minute I had gotten discharged from the hospital. There was no point returning to the inn after I’d signed Tate’s contract. Word had gotten out fast, and everyone in town was officially done with my ass. Just as well, as Descartes was entering its last days of operation before shutting down.
On the flip side, it looked like Menchin had finally started taking his job seriously. When he’d visited me at the hospital, he had promised there’d be a police car outside of Descartes until we closed shop and had made good on his word.
“I’d have started inviting people over for interviews, but Mayor Murray seemed eager to lay this case to rest,” he’d said during his visit. “She doesn’t want small business owners and elderly women getting arrested. Can’t say I blame her.”
But I could. Fucking Allison. Optics meant everything to her, justice be damned.
There was a knock on the door. I wasn’t in the mood to see anyone, but it could have been Rhyland, about the restaurant. I swung the door open. It was Cal.
I hadn’t seen her in three days. Not since we’d had mind-blowing oral sex, and I’d declared my love to her and gotten slammed with a rejection. She had little plastic butterflies holding her hair together, coveralls, and a stripey sweater. Her glacial blues set my heart ablaze as soon as they landed on my face, blinking repeatedly to tell me that she hadn’t been expecting me, that she was nervous. She stumbled backward at the sight of me, and I itched to catch and steady her.
“How are you doing?” Her voice was soft.
“Good. Better.” Shit. Worse than ever before. Why are we not together? I know you want to. You trust me. You’re open with me. I make you laugh. I make you moan my name. What more can you ask for? Why am I never fucking enough?
Unfortunately, I was too much of an ass to ask how she was doing.
“Is Dylan home?” She cleared her throat.
I stepped aside, jerking my chin upstairs. She ducked her head as she passed me, avoiding eye contact. Every second in her presence felt like a sucker punch straight to the gut. When Cal stopped in the middle of the small living area, I noticed the tips of her hair were dyed flint. Somewhere between purple and gray.
“Actually.” She twirled on her boots to face me, and when our gazes clashed, it felt like a fucking car crash. “I wanted to talk to you.”
“What do you need?” I asked woodenly.
I hated how transparent I was with her. An open fucking book. And a shitty one at that.
She worried her bottom lip, shooting me an uncertain look. Jesus. Had she changed her mind? Was there still a chance? “We need to get ahold of Tucker.”
Why the fuck?
“We do?” I parked my elbows on the counter behind me languidly.
“Yeah. He doesn’t know he became a father. As much as I dislike him, this seems unfair. And I also think a lot of the reason Dylan is stressed out is because she isn’t sure where they stand.”
“That all might be true, but there isn’t much of a signal in the middle of the fucking ocean.” I fished my cigarette pack out of my front pocket. It was surreal, talking to her about anything that wasn’t us right now. Especially that idiot, Tuck, who didn’t deserve my sister nor Gravity.
“He should be close to shore at this point,” Cal insisted, ocean eyes clinging to my face. “We need to at least try. We owe it to Dylan. She went through the last few weeks without the father of her baby.”
I worked my jaw back and forth, too distracted by her face to pay any real attention to the conversation. She was so fucking beautiful and the thought that, in two weeks, I’d return to not seeing her at all made my skin crawl. How the fuck did people live their lives not having a dose of Cal in it? Insanity.
“Fine,” I bit out.
“Thanks.” Cal’s shoulders sagged with relief. “Do you have his number?”
“Yeah.” I pushed the cigarette into the corner of my mouth and fished my phone out of my pocket, tossing it into her hands. She caught it. “What’s your passcode?”