Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94639 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94639 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“Umm… I’m pretty sure Landon could afford it,” Calliope says with a laugh. “Nigel loves the Reds and mentioned Landon was the highest paid baseball player. He’s also begged me to ask you to get his autograph.” She rolls her eyes. “Boys.”
As I’m about to respond, my phone rings. Bridget told me I should leave it in the room, but I don’t want to not be available to Landon in case he needs to get ahold of me. He’s doing me a huge favor by staying with the kids this weekend.
Seeing that it’s my doctor’s office calling, I answer. “Hello.”
“Good morning, Ms. Peters. This is Emily from Providence OB/GYN Specialists. We saw that you canceled your appointment and haven’t rescheduled.”
Shoot! “Yes, I’m away this weekend, so I don’t have my calendar in front of me. Can I call you Monday?”
“Sure! We can also call you back if you would like.”
“That would be great. Thanks!”
We hang up and Bridget asks who that was. “My gynecologist’s office. I need to reschedule my annual checkup. I had to cancel it.”
A minute later, my phone rings again. This time it’s Richard. I tap the message icon and respond with a pre-made message: Sorry I can’t answer right now.
A second later, he’s calling again. “Yes, Richard?” I say, knowing he’ll just keep calling until I answer.
“Why the hell is he watching our kids?”
“Hello to you too.”
“Harper!” he shouts through the phone. He’s so loud, Bridget’s and Calliope’s faces swing over to look at me.
“You couldn’t take them and I had plans, so he offered to stay with them,” I say calmly, refusing to let him get to me.
“It’s my weekend!”
“Yes, it is. And you couldn’t take them.”
“That doesn’t mean you leave them with whoever the fuck you want without discussing it with me first.”
Okay, well, I’ve had enough of this. I’m not about to let him ruin my weekend. “When you choose not to take the kids and leave it up to me, I get to make that decision. Just like when the kids are with you and you leave them with the woman you’re with at the time. Now, I’m in the middle of getting a pedicure, so I’m going to have to discuss this with you later.” I hang up before he can say another word, and when he calls right back, I mute him so I won’t see any of his calls or messages until I choose to.
“You handled that well,” Bridget says. “He needs to learn he’s not God.”
“Yeah. I better call Landon and warn him in case Richard decides to show up.”
I dial his number and it rings a couple of times before he answers. “Hey, babe. What’s up?” I can’t quite decipher his tone, but it sounds off… almost nervous… and that makes me nervous.
“Everything okay?” I ask slowly.
“Umm… yeah, everything is good.”
“Landon… Are the kids okay?” The mom in me is starting to freak out.
“What? Yeah. We’re all okay. The kids are right here with me.”
“Okay, then what happened? And don’t tell me nothing. I can hear it in your voice.”
“Well, there might’ve been an accident.”
“What?” I hiss. “Landon…”
“Let’s just say your daughter definitely takes after you.” He laughs, but it’s off. He’s obviously nervous I’m going to freak the hell out, and he isn’t wrong. “But don’t worry,” he continues, his words rushed. “I have everything under control. You just enjoy yourself and we’ll see you when you get home. Love you. Bye.”
He hangs up and I drop my phone onto the table next to me. Putting my head back, I close my eyes and relax. Whatever the hell is going on will be there when I get home.
“Oh my God!” Bridget shrieks with laughter. “Look at this!” She turns her phone around. It’s a picture on Instagram of Ella, in her Princess Aurora dress and crown, holding a bat up in the air. She’s grinning like a Cheshire cat. Bridget swipes left and there’s another photo of Ella, this time of her swinging the bat. One more swipe. A photo of the neighbor’s second story broken window. It was posted on Landon’s Instagram about thirty minutes ago and the damn photos already have thirty thousand likes! I grab the phone from Bridget, so I can read the caption: I might’ve taught the princess how to hit TOO WELL.
The comments range from women begging Landon to marry him, to asking who Ella is, if she’s his daughter or niece. There’s even a couple comments from celebrities.
“Oh, goodness.” I groan through my laughter. “This explains why he was so nervous on the phone.”
Bridget and Calliope laugh.
I grab my phone and pull up Landon’s Instagram account. I’m not big on social media, but when Landon and I got back together, we did add each other on Facebook and follow each other on Instagram. Of course I never really go on, so if it weren’t for Bridget showing me what he posted, I’d probably never have found out.