Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Jolene, though, was giving me and Shawn a look like we were dumb as bricks.
“Well, yeah, obviously,” she said, staring at us like she was waiting for a punchline.
“Wait, what?” Shawn said. “You knew about us? Did someone tell you?”
“Tell me?” Jolene said, barking a laugh. “You think I needed someone to tell me when I have two eyes, two ears, and a brain inside this thick skull?”
I paused, and Jolene just kept talking.
She laughed. “I could tell you two were gettin’ it on from the moment you were both under my roof in one place.”
“Jesus Christ,” Shawn said, and I bit back a smile.
“So what’s the deal with trying to set Shawn up with Mr. New Gay Rich Guy over there, Momma Jo?” I asked her.
Her brow furrowed, and the you’re an idiot, aren’t you expression came over her face again. “Rush, I’ve been calling you on the phone every single time it was your birthday since you were in San Francisco,” Jolene said. “I’ve been asking you if you found a partner each year, and you would say one thing to me.”
“Shit,” I muttered. “I forgot about this.”
“You’d say nope, I’m going to be a bachelor forever,” she said. “I know you’ve been hanging out with my son, or bumpin’ uglies, or whatever it is you want to call it. But I know you don’t want to belong to anyone forever.”
I’d been avoiding looking around, but when I glanced away from Jolene, I noticed there were at least ten more people staring over at us now at the center of the big room, watching the latest town gossip play out in front of their eyes.
Christ. Was she about to have an even bigger freakout than Nathan had? I’d always felt like the Wood household had been my second home, but it was definitely possible that she would hate the idea of us dating and quickly try to cut me out of her life.
Fuck, this was real.
But Shawn was probably the best thing that had happened to me… well, ever, really. And I didn’t have anything to hide.
I didn’t have anything to run from anymore. Including myself.
“I did think I’d be a bachelor forever,” I said, standing up a little taller, realizing I was basically saying this to twenty people at this point, not just Jolene. “I thought that I could never be with anyone long-term, actually. And Shawn has changed all of that for me. There was a time I thought no one could ever truly love me. Not the real me. And now, well… now I think there’s a chance.”
“Wow,” I heard an old lady say from halfway down the table.
“He’s already changed my life,” I said. “And all I want is to see how he’ll change it more.”
“You mean it, don’t you?” Jolene asked, her expression changing as she realized that I really meant what I was saying.
“More than I’ve ever meant anything.”
“Oh my God,” she was saying now, her eyes wider than I’d ever seen them. “Holy fuckin’ pumpkins in a patch, Batman.”
Shawn’s dad just let out a low chuckle, standing up to give Shawn a pat on the back. “My boy. I’m happy for you.”
Maddy was grinning as she took a bite of kettle corn. “Oh, this is hilarious.”
“Honey, holy shit.”
“Holy shit, or holy pumpkins in a patch?” Shawn asked, teasing her.
But as she looked up at us, still sitting at the table, I watched as a tear—a real, actual tear—rolled down her cheek.
“I can’t even believe it,” she said softly, though, as a disbelieving smile started to appear on her face. “You guys are perfect for each other!”
She shouted the last sentence loudly enough that even more people started looking our way, and I felt my cheeks heating up from the attention. I had a feeling that this particular small town gossip might be making the rounds for months.
Soon Jolene was standing up and tackling me and Shawn into huge hugs.
“Oh, I always knew you’d find the right person to calm you down, Rush. To settle you. Not that Shawn is going to make you settle, or anything, oh, that’s not how I mean it—”
Shawn laughed. “I can’t believe it,” he said. “And trust me, if anything, Rush is settling me down.”
“We’re going to have to have another stocking at Christmas for you, Rush,” Jolene said, clearly already thinking ten steps ahead. “Do you like marshmallows in your sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving? Or are you a more savory kind of guy? Oh, God, I can’t remember any of this from when you were a kid, and I know tastes change over time, and shit, I’m just overjoyed.”
She came and gave me another hug, then leaned back to look me dead in the eyes.
“What’s up, Momma Jo?”
“You hurt him, you’re gone,” she said, serious as a cowboy in an old Western. “You know that, right?”