Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 95678 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95678 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
I caught Grandpa making significant eyeballs at Doc before Doc spoke. “West, Goldie knows what she’s doing. If she trusts the guy to take care of Pippa without help, you and I both know she’s right. What’s this really about?”
“I don’t know,” I said. And it was true. I really didn’t know. If I had to guess, I would have said I was more concerned about Nico himself than the baby. Nico wasn’t getting enough sleep or enough to eat or any kind of stress relief. I had to assume he was a giant combination of stress, malnutrition, lack of exercise and minimal fresh air. “He… he won’t let me help him. And no one should have to do all that on their own.”
Doc reached across the table to grab my hands and squeeze them while he locked eyes with me. His eyes were the kindest, softest light blue eyes I’d ever seen. They’d looked at me with unconditional love for all my years on earth, and I knew without a doubt that if I was worried about Nico, that’s all Doc needed to know to be worried about Nico too.
“I’ll handle it, West,” he said softly. “Leave it to me, okay?”
I felt something relax inside me then, knowing as always that I was lucky to have family who loved me and supported me like I did. Grandpa was looking over at Doc like he hung the fucking moon, and I thought for the millionth time in my life that if I could just find someone to look at me like that for one freaking second in my life, I could die even happier.
Chapter 9
Nico
As difficult as it was to be stuck in the house with Pippa, it turned out that leaving the house to go into town was ten times worse. The minute people saw me, they had noticeable, negative reactions to me. Those reactions varied from simply turning their backs and walking away to outright rudeness and snotty comments about the weirdo from the West Coast.
I heard that phrase so often now I was beginning to think it was a thing. Insult by alliteration. West Coast Weirdo… hmm… Wants Weston Wilde.
What? No. No I didn’t.
But of course I did. He was hot as fuck, muscled in the very best way, and disliked me. It was like a horndog’s delight. The trifecta of sex godliness. Oh Jesus, I needed to get laid.
As I found a space to park on Main Street, I spotted a police car lingering just behind me on the road. After I parked and stepped out of my car, I noticed Curtis Billingham pull away. I’d seen the fucker everywhere since I’d gotten to Hobie. He was like a bad penny, always turning up wherever I went.
I pushed the door into the bakery and greeted everyone, not remembering names for shit. I was pretty sure the woman who ran the place with Adriana was called Rox, but that was about all I remembered. As I walked in to say hello, I felt an odd sense I was forgetting something. I realized it was the lack of having the baby with me. This was the first time I’d left Pippa at home with someone else, and I had a different Dr. Wilde to thank for it.
I’d been just cleaning up after breakfast that morning when I had a visit from Dr. and Mr. Wilde who were apparently West’s grandparents. They’d just wanted to pop in and visit Pippa, but when Doc had headed back to the nursery to peek in on her, Mr. Wilde had pulled me aside to beg me to let Doc help out with the baby a few mornings a week.
“Goldie suggested it,” Mr. Wilde had said. “She and I have both been desperate to find Doc something to do in his retirement. He hates golf, our boat is in for repairs, he doesn’t have any interest in joining me in the garden, and the man needs baby time, you know? None of our damned grandkids seem to give a shit that we’re ready for another batch of babies in our family. Is there any way you might agree to give Doc a little baby time? Maybe it could be a win-win situation for the both of you?”
Just as I opened my mouth to give my usual “no” answer to any offer of help, Doc came around the corner with Pippa in his arms. The look on the man’s face as he beamed down at her was ridiculously sweet, and as a retired family doctor, he clearly knew what the hell he was doing with her.
“Um…,” I said, glancing longingly outside through the front windows of the house. “I did kind of need to take care of a few things…”
Doc perked right up then and blurted, “Can we take care of the baby while you’re gone? You’ll get everything done much quicker without having to worry about Pippa.”