Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
“We’ve got the ice.” The two hurried past as I sat the ice in the empty side of the sink.
“Hudson, honey!” Mom put up her hands as soon as I turned, and I leaned down so she could cup my cheeks for her usual examination. She was five-three on a good day, with shoulder-length blond hair that only seemed to show the silver in the sun, laugh lines at the corners of her green eyes, and cat-eye, red-polka-dot glasses. “Oh, you look good. Getting enough to eat?”
“Always.” Her smile was infectious, and I bent for a hug as Dad clapped my back.
“There he is.” Dad pulled me in next, a short but tight squeeze before he let go. “Any daring rescues lately?”
“Stop it, George.” Mom playfully swatted his arm with the back of her hand. “He does not exist to give you stories to tell at poker night.”
Dad’s eyes lit up when he saw Juniper. “The girl of the hour!” He swept her into a hug, hoisting her off her feet like she was still in kindergarten. “Did you see my shirt?”
“Hi, Grandpa!” She grinned and shoved her hair out of her eyes to read the absolute eyesore of sequins bedazzling his Carnival Director shirt with a laugh. “It’s great!”
My smile deepened. This was exactly what Allie needed. Noise and laughter.
“Juniper, honey, get upstairs and get dressed so we have time to tie your hair back. I’m pretty sure I saw your uncle unpacking Silly String, and I am not untangling that from your hair.” Caroline gestured toward the stairs and lifted her eyebrows.
“On it!” Juniper ran for the steps as soon as Dad set her down.
“Cupcakes are on the table,” Gavin announced from the doorway, sidestepping to avoid our aunt and two of our cousins as they scurried out, their arms full of balloons.
“Thank you.” Caroline picked up her clipboard and ran her pen down the paper, which no doubt had perfectly spaced boxes to check off. “Okay, if we can get the stations set up in the next half hour, then we’ll be good. Kids start arriving at noon.”
“How many are we expecting this year?” Dad asked, his arm around Mom’s waist.
“Forty-two. Pretty much the entire incoming fifth grade.” Caroline stuck the pencil in her hair, just above her high ponytail. “With family, that’s fifty-nine people. Dad, do you have enough for the grill?”
“And leftovers,” he assured her.
“Actually, it’s sixty.” I leaned back against the counter by the sink.
Caroline’s gaze snapped from me to Gavin. “Another one? Didn’t you just break up with the last one?”
“Not me.” He pointed my direction with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“You?” Caroline dropped the clipboard on the island. “You have a girlfriend?”
“I do.” Here it goes. As much as I valued my honor, it wasn’t like this would be the first time I lied to my family in order to spend time with Allie. She was the exception to every rule I ever set for myself.
“Is it Beth Pierre?” Caroline smiled at me with so much hope that I inwardly flinched. “I know you were out with her last weekend.”
“No. It’s not.” I shook my head and mentally cursed. Plot hole.
“That wasn’t a date.” Gavin reached into an open bag of potato chips and pulled out a handful. “Trust me, I was there. Beth and Jessica must have gotten their wires crossed, because Beth was pretty crushed to find out Hudson was already in a relationship.”
He lied smoother than butter.
“Oh.” Caroline’s shoulders fell slightly. “Well, who is it?”
“Alessandra Rousseau.” I drummed my fingers on the edge of the counter to fill the enormity of the silence as Caroline and my parents openly stared at me.
“As in Sophie and Thatcher Rousseau’s daughter?” Mom’s eyebrows rose above her glasses.
“Yes.” I nodded.
“As in the Rousseau sisters?” Caroline’s mouth hung open.
“I’m only dating one of them, but yes. Everyone stop acting as if there’s more than one Alessandra Rousseau in this tiny-ass town. You know exactly who I mean.” I looked each of them in the eye, pausing on Caroline. “And she’s nervous as hell to be coming today, so you will all be nice to her. She means a lot to me.” Damn if that didn’t feel good to get off my chest. I’d only been holding that in for eleven years or so.
Caroline blanched. “She means a lot to you? She’s been back in town a handful of weeks and she already means a lot to you? Hudson, she’s going to be gone at the end of the summer. What are you thinking? A Rousseau?”
“So understanding,” Gavin quipped sarcastically, grabbing another handful of chips. “With support like that, you wonder why we don’t bring more girls around.”
“Oh no.” Mom shook her head, reached over, and squeezed my arm twice. “Of course we’ll be nice.” She pushed her glasses up her nose and turned to Caroline. “And we can’t help who raises us, Caroline.”