Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“What?” I barked. I couldn’t see anything wrong, but her face had paled and her eyes were as wide as saucers, the pupils dilated with pain.
“Cramp,” she breathed, her lips barely moving. She was barely even breathing. “My legs.”
“Which part?” I barked again, reaching for her. I knew before she’d even replied. Both of her calves were as hard as rocks. “You need to stretch them.”
I looked over my shoulder and yelled for my mom. She must’ve heard my panic because she came running.
“What’s wrong?”
“Both of Esther’s legs are cramping.”
“Jesus, Otto,” she said in exasperation. “I thought we were being attacked.”
“Help her,” I ordered, trying to flex Esther’s foot forward as she whimpered.
“I know it hurts like a bitch,” my mom said soothingly as she rubbed Esther’s back. “I got them with all my pregnancies at one point or another. Let Otto stretch them out.”
Five minutes later, Esther was standing normally, her hands in my hair, and I was sweating like I’d run a goddamn marathon.
“Come in when you’re ready to eat,” my mom said before walking away.
“Thank you,” Esther said after she was gone, her hands falling away. “I can’t believe how bad that hurt.”
“Fuck me,” I muttered, leaning my forehead against her belly.
“They’re better now.” She tentatively slid her fingers through my hair again.
“Give me a minute,” I grumbled, gripping her hips.
“I didn’t mean to freak you out,” she said ruefully, letting go of my hair as I leaned back on my heels.
“You need to eat more bananas,” I replied gruffly, getting to my feet. “And drink more water.”
“I’ll remember that.” Her expression was serious, but her eyes were shining.
“I’m serious.”
“I know,” she murmured, smiling a little.
“Come on, let’s grab some food.” I grabbed her hand and led her toward the noisy kitchen. “I’m glad you had a good day.”
“Your mom can shop,” she mused. “She made me write out a list in the car, and I think we found everything on it.”
“You get a dress?” I asked, glancing at her over my shoulder.
“Yep.” Her cheeks grew pink. “But you can’t see it.”
“I’m gonna see it eventually.”
“In three days, apparently.”
“Actually, four,” I mumbled. “We need to go and get the license tomorrow morning.”
“Get a plate,” my mom ordered as we entered the busy kitchen. “The boys made tacos.”
“You cook?” Esther asked in surprise as I tugged her toward the kitchen counter where the different toppings were laid out.
“Tacos are easy.” I handed her a plate. “You just have to cook the meat, really. Everything else is just cut up.”
“I can cook,” she said, quietly proud. “I’m actually really good at it.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yep.”
“We can take turns, then.”
I turned to her when she seemed to freeze in place. “What?”
“You want to cook?”
“Sometimes.” I shrugged and handed her a couple of warm tortillas. “If it’s somethin’ specific.”
“Oh,” she breathed.
She followed me through the kitchen and eventually to the table where my family had kindly left us a couple of seats. I pulled her chair out for her and she’d barely sat down before she started to pop back up again.
“We forgot drinks,” she murmured apologetically.
I set my hand on her shoulder to stop her. “I’ll get ’em. You want some ice water?”
“Yes, please.”
“You all set for the big day?” my dad asked her as I walked back to the fridge.
“I think so,” Esther replied hesitantly.
“We’re set,” my mom confirmed. “Now we just need to deal with the food. We’ll pick up flowers the night before.”
“Oh yeah? From where?”
“That little stand down the road,” my mom replied proudly. “We talked to Brandon and he said he has everything we’ll need. We can just go over and he’ll cut it right then and we can assemble the bouquets.”
“He was surprisingly nice about it,” Emilia said dryly. “Considering Heather knocked on his front door out of nowhere.”
“Well, I’d rather pay him for it than some big store,” Mom said defensively. “He was happy for the business.”
“Here you go,” I said quietly, setting down Esther’s glass of water before dropping into my seat. I dug in, glancing to make sure that Esther was eating, too. I wasn’t sure what kind of food she liked, but she must not have minded the tacos because she was slowly making her way through it.
“Myla, Esther’s going to stay in the extra bedroom, so after dinner, I want you to remake the bed with clean sheets,” my mom ordered, pointing at her.
“Say what?” I mumbled around the food in my mouth.
“Esther’s staying here until the wedding.”
“The hell she is,” I argued.
“Otto,” Esther chided softly.
“You wanna stay here?” I asked in confusion.
I’d been counting down the minutes in the back of my head until I could get her alone. We had about a thousand things to talk about and she hadn’t even seen where we’d be living. How the hell were we going to be ready to get married if she was staying with my parents? How were we supposed to get to know each other when we were constantly surrounded by my family, for fucks sake?