Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
She stands. “Is that so?” she asks, and Luna stands there with one foot on her other. “Well, go choose which one you’re going to take.”
“Okay.” She turns and skips out of our bedroom. My eyes go to the frames she’s added next to our bed. One is with Koda and me, her in front of me, my arms around her as we stare into the camera. It was taken the day my family came down to welcome her. The one beside it is of the four of us sitting in her family room right after we ate. The frames are in my bedroom or what is now called our bedroom. We started with dinner there a couple of times a week when I was in town and then had sleepovers. Slowly, but surely, they brought more and more things over. Her house is now being rented out by a rookie on the team who got traded and needed a house for him and his family.
“Really?” Koda looks at me. “A camera in her room?”
“Yeah, sort of like those baby cams.” I walk in and around her suitcase, grabbing her hips and pulling her to me. “Hi, by the way.”
She puts her hands on my chest, and I look down at her bare hands, knowing that my ring will be on her finger after this holiday. “Hi.” She smiles as I lean down to kiss her.
“I guess I should thank you for not giving in and letting her bring five dolls.”
“Well, if she hadn’t told me you said no.” I wrap my arms around her, pulling her to me. “I probably would have.” She shakes her head, chuckling. “How was this afternoon?”
“Well.” She walks away from me, my hands falling to my sides. “One, are we going to talk about the fact you left when you knew Eddie would be here?”
“Nothing to really discuss,” I tell her as she raises her eyebrows. “Eddie was coming to see the girls.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “And it wasn’t my place.”
“Do you not live in this house with us?” she asks, and I try not to roll my eyes. “This is your house; how could it not be your place?”
“You know what pisses me off?” I point a finger at her. “This is our house. Do I need to remind you again?” Her cheeks get pink as she thinks of the last time she called this my house. I waited for the kids to go to bed and then ate her out on the couch for an hour, never letting her come until she said what I wanted her to say.
“Christopher,” she hisses out my name.
“It’s the first time since he’s been back from Florida. I thought it would be good for him to have time with the girls and not feel like I was breathing down his neck. I did it more for the girls than anyone else,” I admit finally. “How was he to you?”
“He was fine. Cordial, the way I wanted it to be. He looks like he’s aged ten years.”
“Well, his son died,” I point out, “and the way we found out he’s been dealing with it for a while, the guilt will sometimes push you even lower than you think you are.”
“I can’t imagine.” She takes a deep breath. “But that’s Eddie’s journey.”
“It is.” I watch her. “But whatever his journey is, it’s going to be the girls’ journey also.”
“It will be part of their journey,” she agrees. “A very, very small part of their journey, you know why?”
“No, but I’m sure you’ll tell me.”
“Because we are going to make sure the rest of their journeys are filled with so many things that it won’t matter. It’ll always be their journey that their dad died and there will always be memories of before Dad died and after Dad died. But there will be so many more journeys and memories after he died that they’ll fill up all the gaps and all the holes. I know this because you’ll make sure we do it together. Me and you.” I’m about to tell her I love her when she holds up her hand. “And by the way, I love you.” I laugh. “I said it first.”
I can’t help but shake my head. “Fine, you said it first today.”
“To me that’s called a win,” she says. “Did you pack?”
“I’m packing tonight,” I tell her, and she gasps.
“The flight is literally at seven o’clock tomorrow morning.”
“It’ll take me ten minutes to pack. I need shorts, shirts, and a couple of pants.”
“How insane will the next two weeks be?” she asks of my family’s annual vacation.
“It’s going to be over the top. The girls are going to be spoiled to no end. We are going to have crazy, wild vacation sex.” I smile at her. “It’s going to be fucking glorious.”