Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92743 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92743 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Steven looks uncertain for a moment, but nods. “Okay. But you’re not going to like it.”
“That’s okay,” I say, a humorless smile twisting my lips. “I don’t like anything that’s happened today. Might as well add one more topping to the shit sundae.”
Steven grunts out a soft laugh. “Yeah. That sounds about right.” He rests a hand between my shoulder blades as we walk to the ICU. “Wouldn’t be a Sullivan family weekend if there wasn’t drama.”
He’s right, but this is a lot of drama, even for our family.
Still, I do my best to put it out of my head as we enter Gramp’s room. He looks so small in his bed, despite his ample belly. So small, and so frail. All I want to do is hug him and tell him how glad I am he’s alive, but the tubes hooked up to his chest and my sling make that difficult.
I end up resting my forehead on his for a moment and whispering, “Don’t leave me, old man. I still need you.”
He smiles as I pull away. “Of course, you do.” His gaze is tired, but clear as it shifts between Steven and me. “Glad they sent you two. I don’t have the patience for the rest of those clowns today. Don’t let Cathy in here. If I have to hear her say ‘I told you so’ about all the butter I put on my lobster roll, I might have another heart attack.”
We laugh and promise to keep Cathy away, then move on to discussing the surgery and next steps. Gramps is eager to be home, but they’ll be keeping him for five or six days, until they see how he’s healing up. Then, he’ll need to take it easy for a couple months as he builds his strength.
“We’ll need to get help for you on the boat until I’m back on my feet,” Gramps says, scowling as he eyes my sling, seeming to notice it for the first time. “What happened to you?”
“Long story,” I say, forcing a smile. “But I’ll be out for a while, too. But don’t worry, I already have some thoughts on who to hire to fill in for the rest of the season.”
“Not the Cooper kid,” Gramps says, scowling harder. “He’s strong, but he’s an idiot, and I don’t want an idiot wrecking my boat.”
“Not the Cooper kid,” I agree, but hold up a hand when he starts running through a list of other people he doesn’t trust with his baby. “We’ll worry about it later, okay? We have time. Our profits are up over last year. We can afford to take a few days off while I figure this out. And I will figure it out,” I emphasize. “All you need to worry about it resting up and getting better. I’ve got this.”
And I do.
I can handle staffing the boat and figuring out how we’re going to pay a crew and still eek out enough profit to stay ahead of our bills.
What I’m not sure I can handle is the truth.
What if what Steven tells me changes everything? What if it burns what I’ve built with Weaver to the ground?
Or…what I thought I’d built.
Could be this love is built on shifting sand.
Guess I’m about to find out.
chapter 25
WEAVER
I don’t hear from Sully Saturday night.
I wake up several times, checking my phone for texts I might have missed, but there’s nothing.
Sunday morning passes in continued silence, until I begin to worry that something’s happened. Maybe her grandfather didn’t make it through surgery.
Or maybe…she’s recovering from surgery and too out of it to use her cell.
Fuck.
I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.
Yes, she was fine to text me yesterday, but that doesn’t mean her injuries didn’t take a turn for the worse sometime in the afternoon or early evening. The woman I love could be in a hospital bed right now, and I’ve been sitting here with my thumb up my ass because I was afraid of pushing her to pick me.
But fuck…I want her to pick me.
She’d be better off picking me. The Sullivans are an anchor, wrapped around her ankle, dragging her down, a fact proven yet again yesterday, when I learned the redheaded asshole from the boat is also a Sullivan.
A Sullivan with an anger management problem, who punched the deputy who showed up to question him about the incident on the yacht and ended up getting himself arrested…
I have to get Sully out of here, away from Sea Breeze and her criminal family.
She’s so much better than this. She’s an artist with a gifted eye, an incredibly hard worker, and one of the kindest people I’ve ever known. She deserves the chance to rise in the world, to make her dreams come true without this tangled web of insanity shutting her down at every turn.