Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
“Got any milk, Mamasauce?” he asked.
“In the hallway fridge,” she answered.
“Get me some, too!” I called behind him.
He flashed me a wink over his shoulder, then disappeared into the hallway, leaving me alone with Garnett and Auden staring at me.
“What’s your favorite snack cake?” he asked me.
I took another bite of the cake he’d given me, before lifting my hand up with the Cosmic Brownie.
“These,” I answered. “By far the most superior snack cake. However, these are a close second.”
He flashed me a grin and jerked his head at my snack cake. “You’re lucky he gave that to you, to be honest. He would’ve thrown a fit if he’d had to share with one of us.”
“Even with me,” Garnett sighed. “I raised a bunch of assholes.”
“You raised us to act exactly like you, Mamasauce,” Quaid contradicted his mom. “If I remember correctly, Dad doesn’t even like these.”
“He likes them,” Ande pushed through the door, her two kids nowhere in sight. “He just doesn’t have this weird adoration thing going on that you losers have.”
“Where are the kids?” Garnett asked.
“They’re with Keene at the circus. He was going to come, but they had a few girls quit one right after the other, and they’re short-staffed tonight. One of the sisters offered up Addison as a stand in, and Addison freaked and wanted to do it. So, Keene is going to be working with her tonight on the tight rope segment,” she answered as she collapsed onto the couch. “I’m here because I’m fucking exhausted.”
“Are you pregnant again?” Hollis asked as she pushed into the house, changed out of her scrubs from earlier, wearing a tight tank top and loose shorts that looked to be Quincy’s.
“You better keep that pregnancy thing to yourself, Hollis Aue.” Ande pointed her finger at her accusingly.
“Hollis Carter,” Quincy corrected his sister as he pushed in behind his wife. “Hey, Mamasauce. Where’re mine?”
Garnett scoffed and disappeared into the hallway, only to come back moments later with some Swiss Rolls.
“Yum,” I said as I held out my hand. “Can I have one?”
He narrowed his eyes at me, but Hollis smacked him on the shoulder and said, “Give her one!”
Soon I had a Cosmic Brownie, a Swiss Roll, and an empty Zebra Cake wrapper.
I took a seat on the couch with my spoils in my lap.
Then the words from Ande earlier had me whipping my head toward Hollis once they finally processed in my brain.
“You’re pregnant?” I squeaked, then remembered a passing comment Quaid had made about her. “And thirty-two weeks at that?”
“Yep,” she patted her belly. “The doctor said that my placenta is attached at the back, and that he’s more toward my spine than out the front. But I do have a belly finally.”
She moved to the side to show me her belly and I laughed. “That’s like a food baby. But that’s good that you don’t have to lose all that weight after pregnancy. You get the best of both worlds. A baby, and your body.”
A warm hand closed around my hip and pulled me into his side, and I looked up to see Quaid chowing down on a turkey leg.
“Where’d you get that?” I asked curiously.
“Dad’s smokin’ ’em,” he said between bites, offering me a piece of his massacred turkey leg.
I shook my head, slightly disgusted for some reason.
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind sharing a lot of things with this man, but a turkey leg just might be one of those things that I wasn’t willing to share.
“Do you want children?” Germaine asked, coming into the living room from outside with a massive Tupperware container full of turkey legs.
He waited in the mouth of the hallway for my answer.
“I’d love to have children,” I answered. “My dad wanted me to have fifteen of them to help on the farm. Now that I’m not living in the same area, he wants me to have none because he doesn’t want them to grow up without him.”
His eyes twinkled as he nodded and disappeared into the kitchen, which I assumed was where the hallway led.
“And do you plan to stay here forever?” Ande asked.
“Actually, yes,” I answered. “Before, I’d planned on only being here to go to school and get the experience. Where I lived didn’t have a trauma center. The closest one was in Hot Springs. But over time, I’ve fallen in love with the area. I don’t necessarily like the traffic all that much, and the crime is way more than I ever wanted to live around. But you can’t beat the food and the events. For someone who craved anything to do besides look at fields of crops, this place is like a godsend.”
Quaid chuckled. “He could always move here.”
I snorted. “Dad wants nothing to do with city life. He’ll live and die on his land.”
“What happens to the land when your parents pass away?” he asked.