Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“That’s true,” she scrunched up her nose. “They already replaced me. They said I would have a job when I came back but…”
“Then tell them you’re not coming back,” I stated. “And, just sayin’, but you don’t live on Eleventh Street anymore. You could totally drop yourself from the neighbored watch leader and just take over as the liaison for all of the watches.”
“True,” she said. “I could ask Nick. He’d love it.”
Nick was nosy as hell.
And a good guy, despite his poor female companionship decisions.
He’d be a great leader of that neighborhood watch.
“And,” I said, “you could switch to online classes instead of in person. If we had a baby.”
“And you?” she asked. “What are you going to do?”
I still didn’t know.
“Well, as you know, I don’t plan on doing anything undercover anymore,” I paused. “I was actually considering moving to Sunnyvale.”
Her eyes opened wide. “Really?”
“Really,” I said. “I love DPD, but I’m ready for a quieter life. Plus, I’m not that excited about going back. I’ve already set an interview for tomorrow.”
“But you go back to work on Monday at DPD.” She looked confused. “What are you going to do there?”
“Give my two weeks’ notice if the interview goes as well as I’m expecting it to,” I admitted. “Dad has me on light duty, anyway. I need to stay there exactly two more weeks to get my ten-year bonus. Then I’m done.”
She shook her head. “A bonus?”
“Yep,” I grinned. “Enough to pay for a honeymoon.”
Her smile was breathtaking. “That sounds perfect, Gable.”
That smile fell. “I got a call today while I was getting ready.”
“Yeah?” I asked, not liking the way she’d started that sentence.
I hated when her smiles fell.
“My sister got her kidney,” she said. “Surgery went well. My mom called to tell me.”
“Did you tell her you were getting married?” I asked.
“No,” she shrugged. “I don’t really care anymore, Gable. I don’t want her to know about any of my life events. I’m glad my sister found her kidney and she’ll live, but other than that, I don’t want them anywhere in my life. I’m done with that chapter, and already onto a new one.”
I squeezed her thighs. “One that’ll be a whole lot better than the last one.”
She stopped with the curling of my hair and said, “I don’t know. The last chapter was pretty magical. It had some hiccups, but I got you out of it.”
I lifted her to rest on my lap. “You did, baby. You did.”
“What do we do now?” she asked, settling fully onto my lap.
“We live.”
Hey, sorry I didn’t respond, I’ve been busy watching people clean dirty rugs on TikTok all day.
—Athena to Gable
ATHENA
“Hey, baby.”
I looked up to find my husband sliding into the booth across from me and the kids.
“Hey,” I smiled softly. “How’s work been so far?”
He grimaced. “Not great.”
“Daddy,” my five-year-old daughter, Camila, called to her father. “Would you like to look at the menu so we can order?”
My seven-year-old son, Gavrel, who couldn’t be more different from his sister, looked over at his sister and scoffed. “He needs time.”
The wrinkles around Gable’s eyes creased.
God, I loved those wrinkles.
I loved his smile.
I just loved him.
“I think I’ll just get a burger,” he said to our daughter. “How was your day?”
“My day was magical.” She batted her eyelashes at him. “Want to hear about it?”
“Of course,” he answered instantly.
“Well, I woke up this morning and thought, self, you should really get your nails done today.”
My daughter was hilarious.
She had my brains—not saying that Gable wasn’t intelligent, but she’d already skipped two grades and was in the same one as Gavrel, but to his chagrin—and her daddy’s charisma.
There wasn’t a single person she couldn’t charm.
And her daddy? He was the most charmed of them all.
“So then Mommy, Gavrel, and I went to do that. Since I convinced her,” she continued, showing off her pastel pink fingernails. “Then we went to Aunt Maven’s, who made us these perfect eclairs. Followed by a day at the mall buying school clothes. We ended it here, for dinner, with you. Now how much more magical can you get?”
Gable, the child spoiler, said, “Nothing better, Princess.”
“It sucked,” Gavrel, who was Gable’s mini-me in every way, declared.
The waitress came up and smiled at my kids, pausing our conversation.
“And what can I get you two darlings?” she asked.
“I’ll have the vagina,” Ferris ordered from underneath the table.
Ferris was our four-year-old boy who didn’t resemble either one of us. He was wild and impulsive, smart and sneaky.
He also detested people and hated going out to eat.
Hence him being under the table.
There was a moment of silence before my daughter said, “He means the lasagna. He can’t get anything right.”
The waitress’s smile was blinding, “Got it, darlin’.”
“I’ll have the cobb salad, ranch. Extra croutons. I want my chicken slightly overdone, with crispy edges,” my daughter ordered.