Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25885 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Van is my world now. As much as I hate Cooper, he gave me one of the greatest gifts I’ll ever have. Our son. He also gave me a family. It wasn’t one I pictured, but Sebastian, Sadie, Van, and I do fine together.
“Sadie has a crush,” Van blurts out.
“Van!” Sadie hisses at him. Her whole face turns bright red. She may be outspoken, but she’s shy when it comes to these sorts of things.
“Really?” I perk up. Sadie has never had a crush. Not that I know of, anyway.
“He’s a dick,” Van mutters.
“Oh.” Okay, that’s not so good.
“He is not! He was nice to me.” I’m not sure which one of them to believe. If anyone knows a girl can be blind to what a boy wants from you, it’s me.
“Well, I asked around. They say he’s a dick,” Van clarifies. It does not surprise me that he’s done his research on this kid. Van doesn’t miss much, if anything.
“You’re listening to gossip?” I give him a stern look.
Maybe I should have listened to gossip once upon a time. I shake that thought away. No, then I wouldn’t have my Van. I wouldn’t change one second of what happened if it meant not having Van. It doesn’t matter if it left a hole inside me that I can’t fill. It was worth it. Even in those moments that might have been fake for Cooper, I’d felt cherished.
“I poked around. She’s my baby sis.” Van shrugs, confident it’s his God-given right to do so. I won't admit it out loud, but I love how protective he is over Sadie.
“You’re like two seconds older than me.” Sadie rolls her eyes at him. “Why are you even snitching on me?” she growls. Sometimes I’m not sure how she’s not my daughter because Sadie sounds so much like me at times.
“Cause I saw how he was staring at you.” Van doesn’t sound the least bit happy about it.
“He was staring at me?” Sadie’s face lights up.
Van isn’t wrong. She really does have a crush. I worry about her. She has a tender heart and always gives people the benefit of the doubt. And sometimes people take advantage of that. Again, she’s a lot like me.
“It’s fine. We all have our first crushes.” I try to cool the room.
“But never a second?” Sebastian whispers beside me so only I can hear him. I elbow him in the side. As much as he wants us to marry for his family’s sake, he also hates that I close myself off to the opportunities of dabbling in the world of dating, if only for fun. He does but very discreetly.
In fact, I’ve pondered a few times why he picked River Oaks to expand his business. I’m pretty sure he’s seeing someone, but he’s not giving up any details. I don’t push for them. If he wants to tell me, he will. Both of us know what it's like to have family push into your life when you don’t want them to. As close as we are, some wounds never heal. The scars left behind may fade, but they always remain to remind you every day.
Van and Sadie don’t have those scars. They will be all up in each other's business to make sure the other is okay. Sebastian and I might not be able to do that, but thankfully we’ve given our children a life without those wounds.
We gave them what we never had. Unconditional love.
CHAPTER 5
COOPER
Duncan is quiet on the way home.
“Did I embarrass you at school? I didn’t mean to,” I say to break the silence. “The kid, the one with the girl, he caught me off guard. You know him?”
“No.”
The answer is abrupt. I glance over to catch a glimpse of my boy’s face. It’s grim. He doesn’t want me talking about this boy. I clam up too, but that doesn’t stop my thoughts from whipping around my skull like a whirlwind. The boy was Duncan’s age. If Fischl and I had a kid, he would have been about his age.
But Fischl wouldn’t have hid that from me, right? And when I went to see her, she had a girl with her, not a boy. It must be some freak occurrence. Everyone has a doppelgänger that exists in this world, and that boy is mine.
“Should we stop and get burgers?” I suggest as we near home. I’m not in a condition to whip something up for us. My mind has been all over the place.
“Sure. Can we get it to go? I’m not up for being in a restaurant.” He props his elbow onto the window opening. I’m not sure what is up with him, but I don’t press.
I whip into the nearest burger joint, and we place an order for carryout. As we wait, Dunc scrolls through his phone as if it contains the secrets of the universe. It probably does. Kids these days live on their phones. I barely know how to send emojis. I think my fingers are too big. I was made for an analog era.