Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 112762 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112762 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“Can’t we keep him a little longer?” Callie asked.
I glanced at her in the rearview mirror, knowing my smile couldn’t quite reach my eyes. “Nox wants his mom, sweetie.”
Two days.
It had been two days since I’d broken up with Walker. I had a good cry with Aria until it was time to collect Callie. My daughter had taken one look at my swollen eyes and knew something was wrong. I lied and told her Aria and I had watched a tearjerker together.
“I thought you were hanging out with Walker?” Callie had quizzed.
“Girls’ night instead,” I choked out.
I hadn’t told her we’d broken up. I didn’t know how to. The fact of the matter was I was furious with myself for acting so selfishly and involving Walker so completely in her life. This would hurt her, too, and was a massive lesson for me to never introduce a guy to my daughter until months into the relationship. Months. That wasn’t Walker’s fault. That was all mine.
Eventually, I’d have to tell Callie, but for now I’d made excuses that Walker was busy these past few days.
At night, I cried myself to sleep. By day, I pretended everything was all right.
Today had been a pleasant distraction. We’d taken Nox for a long walk around the village. He’d napped while we ate lunch, and then Callie had fun playing with him this afternoon until he got too tired.
“Do you think I’ll ever have a brother or sister?” she asked from the back seat.
My throat closed up at the thought. It took me a minute to push away the sting of tears. “Maybe.”
“Walker should have a kid, Mom,” Callie advised, like she was a wise old lady. “He’d make a really good dad.”
Emotion threatened to break me, so I quickly changed the subject, asking her about a girlfriend at school who’d been pissed at her because I’d bought Callie the same pencil case. Seriously, the things that set some kids off.
“We’re fine now. I gave her some emoji stickers I got free in the cereal box, and she stuck them all over hers, so it looks totally different.”
Ah, to be ten and problem solving on that level.
“Can we stop in and say hi to Lewis?” she asked as we drove down the narrow road past Thane and Regan’s.
“It’s rude to just drop by, baby girl. I’m sure they’re doing family time, anyway.”
“Did I tell you that McKayla told Lindsey she fancies Lewis?”
I glanced at Callie in the rearview. She was growing all Scottish on me with her word choices these days. “Fancies, huh?”
She shrugged, her eyes lowered to Nox. “It’s what they call it here.”
Were we at that age already where kids had crushes on each other? I tried to think back to being ten.
Yup.
I distinctly remember thinking Colt Matthews was the cutest boy in my class. He gave me a Valentine rose that year. “How … do you feel about that?”
She shrugged, still not looking at me. “It’s fine. Lewis thinks she’s a pain in the butt. He … he thinks McKayla’s pretty, though.”
Uh-oh. “He told you that?”
“He told Michael who told me.”
“Do you … do you fancy anyone?”
Callie’s eyes flew to meet mine in the mirror, and she wrinkled her nose. “Boys are annoying.”
I chuckled softly, relaxing. She was still too young for all that nonsense, and I couldn’t be more relieved.
“But … I wouldn’t want Lewis to spend all his time with McKayla instead of me.”
I smiled at her in reassurance. “Never going to happen. That kid loves you.”
She made another face, but a smile curled at her lips.
My eyes flicked back to the road. We’d passed the Adair siblings’ homes and arrived at the end of the lane where Brodan and Monroe’s impressive, LA-style home sat.
The sight of a familiar Range Rover made my heart lurch in my throat. Blood rushed in my ears as I swung into their driveway and parked next to Walker’s vehicle.
“Walker’s here?” Callie asked excitedly. “I thought he was working?”
Rummaging quickly in my purse for my phone, I snatched it up to find three warning texts from Monroe that Walker had stopped by.
Shit, shit, shit.
He had not texted, called, or dropped by since I walked out of his house two nights ago.
For him, it was over too.
A lead weight sat on my chest, painful. Momentarily debilitating.
“Mom?”
Get it together.
“Coming.” I gritted my teeth and jumped out of the car to open Nox’s door. “Will you take him while I unclip the car seat?” I’d borrowed it from Monroe.
“Sure.”
After I’d settled a still sleepy Nox into my daughter’s arms, I quickly unbuckled the car seat and carried it with me as we walked up to the entrance. The door opened before we reached it, and Monroe stood there.
As if alerted to her presence, Nox woke up and started wailing.