Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 55769 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55769 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
“So what does this mean?”
“His sentence can be reduced to five years, which means he’s eligible for parole next year.”
“Blooming heck,” she mumbled. But more clearly, she asked, “Why wouldn’t he want me around when he talked about that?”
“Because he didn’t know if you’d take it as good news or bad, and he didn’t want to be there if you took it as bad.”
“Oh,” she whispered, the sadness not lost on him, even with that single syllable.
He held out his hand to her, demanding, “Hand.”
She put hers in his.
He curled his fingers around and rested both on his thigh.
“Write to him,” he encouraged. “Let him know you’re feelin’ good about this possible change.”
“Okay.”
He brought her fingers to his lips and brushed them there.
“Do you still hate him?” she asked quietly.
“I won’t, if he gets out and considers his term in prison as indication he should retire. And then he retires. I will, if he causes you any worry, upset, or puts you in danger.”
“It’ll be interesting to see how that goes,” she murmured.
Maybe interesting to her.
Hector was dreading it.
He knew she’d pick him and her new life over her father if it came down to it. Regrettably for Seth, he might have spent years smothering her with his brand of protection to keep her safer than he did her mother, but he hadn’t spent those years being a good dad.
But even if she’d been dead for years, for Sadie, she’d essentially just lost her mother.
He didn’t want her to lose the last blood family she had left.
Nope.
That wasn’t right.
He never wanted her to lose anything she didn’t want lost ever again.
In other words, whatever happened, he’d suck it up.
For Sadie.
He came in the back door with Eddie. Jet was there, and Sadie was cooking dinner for all of them.
Eddie barely cleared the door after Hector when they heard shouted, “Are you high, Claree?”
Hector stopped and looked to Eddie.
Eddie grinned at Hector.
A five-month-old German shepherd crashed into his shins.
He bent down to give his girl a head rub, agreeing with Sadie.
He missed her floppy ears.
But she was still their gorgeous girl.
“Hola, mi perrita tan hermosa,” he murmured.
Gretl licked his wrist.
“Ralphie, calm down,” they heard Sadie demand.
“Midnight blue and ice?” Ralphie asked. “Ice isn’t even a color.”
“Yes, it is!” Tod declared irately. “Look, right there.” They heard some pounding, likely on the dining room table. “I only have seventeen swatches of it.”
“Hermano,” Eddie said low, still grinning. “I told you, put her in a plane, marry her in Vegas, and skip the wedding planning.”
Sadie had her ring.
Sadie also had her last induction ceremony into the Rock Chicks.
Tod started a wedding planner book for her approximately a nanosecond after they announced they were engaged. And he could do this because he’d already bought a blank one for them. Not only that, but Sadie told him Tod had already added some “preliminary concepts” in it.
Apparently, he and Eddie had walked in while they were engaged in a Rock Chick Gathering, nailing down those concepts.
Hector and Eddie, with Gretl circling around Hector’s legs, walked into the kitchen, and Hector saw through the doorway that led to the front of the house that the gang was all there, crowded around the dining room table. So many of them, they’d had to take the stools from the kitchen and still, some asses were sharing seats.
But only Ralphie and Tod were facing off.
“Sadie veritably screams pink,” Ralphie proclaimed as Hector and his brother made the room and took the only positions they could since the room was so crowded.
They leaned against a wall.
“We already did pink for Indy,” Tod sniffed.
“Indy doesn’t own the color pink,” Ralphie returned. “There’s ballet pink. And bubblegum pink. And watermelon. And blush. Rose. Mulberry. Carnation. Powder puff. Seashell. Flamingo. Fuchsia. Oh my God!” Ralphie shouted, turning to Sadie. “Fuchsia and cobalt blue!”
“Jumpin’ Jehoshsphats, hot pink would be just plain hawt,” Annette put in.
“There’s also Barbie pink,” Roxie said, and Hector hoped like fuck she was joking.
“Wait, isn’t Barbie and hot pink the same?” Stella asked.
“Nuances, girl,” Indy answered.
“Strawberry!” Daisy shouted out like it was a game to name all the shades of pink. “You could do one of those chocolate fountains, sugar, and have lots and lots of strawberries.”
“Whatever it is, it’s gotta go with my ’fro,” Shirleen decreed. “By that I mean, have a glitter spray that complements it. Though fortunately, with my skin, all shades of pink deliver.”
“Hot pink and Prince purple rain. Done. And sofa-king phat!” Annette threw up the devil’s horns. “Totally rock ’n’ roll!”
“Kill me, love of my life,” Tod begged Stevie. “Plunge a knife in my heart and end my misery.”
“Oh please. Can anyone say drama?” Ralphie asked.
“Cobalt blue and fuchsia?” Tod shot back.
“I think it’s probably best not to remind Tod at this point he suggested chocolate and mustard for Indy,” Ally stage-whispered, and Tod’s head snapped around.