Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
He grinned.
“I got that impression myself,” he said. “Which was why I asked if I could go home with you instead of with them.”
I nodded my head in understanding.
“They’re sad, and a little bit brokenhearted, but deep down they understand,” I patted his hand.
Elise followed suit, patting his hand as well.
He chuckled and held his hands out, and I automatically relinquished her to him.
“When do I get to go?”
He sounded so hopeful that I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it would likely be later this evening.
His doctor had to see his latest test results, and if everything was okay, then he’d be released to go home.
The bad thing was that the lab was backed up today, and likely wouldn’t get around to running his numbers until later on in the day.
Meaning he had at least another four more hours with his parents, who really had no idea just how intimidating they were.
***
“What is this place?” Bowe asked exactly four hours later. “It’s like a fucking castle.”
I nodded my head.
“About three years ago, my dad won the lottery,” I said. “It wasn’t the jackpot or anything, but it was enough that he had a substantial amount.”
I cleared my throat.
“When I was pregnant with Elise, I don’t know if my dad finally grew a backbone or what, but he tried to make things ‘right.’ But those things weren’t enough. So his efforts kept getting more and more elaborate until he bought me this place.”
Bowe choked.
“He bought you a house?” he asked in surprise.
I nodded my head.
“Yes,” I said. “And I was homeless, scared, and pregnant. There was absolutely no other choice for me right then, so I took it. And here I am.”
“I remember a little bit about what you told me about your dad, but not much more. Why such a long separation?” He moved around the car at a snail’s pace, and I hurried to the passenger side back door.
With practiced ease, I lifted Elise’s car seat from the base that was installed in my car, and started lugging her up the front walk behind Bowe.
Bowe was staring at my house like it was a circus sideshow, and I supposed that it would be quite grand to the average eye.
Me, I didn’t see it.
I only saw money my dad forked out to try to bribe me into liking him again.
Not that that was ever going to happen.
Still, he tried.
“My dad was in the military,” I pushed past him to open the door with the key ring in my hand. “And he came home and divorced my mom while on emergency leave from his station in Germany.” I let the front door open on its own, and gestured Bowe inside. “He immediately deployed back there again before the ink was dry on the divorce papers.”
Bowe’s eyes stayed on me instead of taking in my house, and I felt suddenly self-conscious.
“When he returned from his station in Germany, we met him at the airport, only he wasn’t excited to see us. He was excited to see his new family, and didn’t give me or my sister the time of day. Not to mention my brother was sick in the hospital and my father didn’t bother to go see him,” I told him bitterly.
Bowe’s eyes held compassion as he held my eyes, and I found that I quite liked that he didn’t feel pity for me.
“Why was your brother in the hospital?” he questioned.
“My brother has Crohn’s Disease,” I grimaced. “He’s had some trouble with his intestines since he was a young kid, and that was one of the many times that the disease hospitalized him.”
Bowe grimaced.
“I remember what Crohn’s is. I remember everything medically related to being a paramedic. I just don’t remember the actual act of having the job.” Bowe pursed his lips. “This is extremely aggravating.”
I winked at him.
“It’ll come back,” I rubbed my hand up and down his bicep. “Now, come into my house and let me give you the grand tour. I just have to put Elise down.”
Bowe waited patiently as I put Elise down onto the floor in the living room where her toys were surrounding her, and turned back to him.
“This is a big ass house,” he surmised, taking his first good look around.
“Those ceilings are twenty-four feet tall, and those windows lining the wall are a bitch to clean,” I informed him.
The house was set up as an open concept. The kitchen linked to the living room, and separating the two rooms was an island with seating around the edge. The walls were tall, and one wall was filled with wall to wall windows that went all the way up to the roof.
“This is the living room, and I have a love/hate relationship with it.” I led him to the back first.
I loved it.