Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“She’s Italian, which means she shows her love with food.” I nudge him with my arm. “East is a good cook too. He’s been trying to teach me a thing or two.”
She looks at East. “Does it work? Because it was hopeless when I tried.”
East chuckles. “He does all right.”
“Hey, now. Just all right? First you take Cora’s side and now my mom’s.”
“Smart boy,” Mom tells him, and I know it’s killing her not to hug him, but she doesn’t.
“I’m sorry I’m not getting up to say hello. I’m not trying to be rude, but I’m as big as the house, and it’s a lot of work to move,” Simone says from the chair where she’s sitting.
“It’s fine. You don’t have to get up.” East walks over to her, my sister moving to sit on the arm of the chair. “I’m Easton.” He shakes Simone’s hand. In a town like Birchbark, they’ve heard of each other, but they never met.
“Isn’t she beautiful?” Cora says. “We have about nine weeks to go before this little baby joins us.” She rubs Simone’s belly, the pride she feels shining out of her.
“You don’t have to answer that. I’m sure being with Archer you know how they are, always so damn sweet.” Simone looks at my sister with love in her eyes.
“They’re friends, baby, but I appreciate the sentiment,” Cora says.
Hearing her say that makes my chest burn. East isn’t just my friend. I have to hold myself back from saying so.
“You’re, um…you are beautiful. And congrats, on the baby. Archer will be a great uncle.”
Damned if hearing that doesn’t make me feel ten feet tall. “Thank you.” I put my hands on his shoulders, standing behind him. Is that too much? Hell, I don’t know the etiquette here, so I pull back just as there’s another knock on the door.
“That’ll be Cass and Meadow. I’ll get it,” Mom says. She goes to the door, and there’s hugging and chatter, before my best friend and his daughter come into the room. Dad and Cora hug them both, before Cass goes over and kisses Simone’s cheek and gives her a hug too. There’s a closeness with my family and Cass, a familiarity that I want so damn much for them to have with East.
“How are Pretty Girl and Casanova doing?” Meadow asks East, holding a gift bag.
“Good. He’s a whole lot more comfortable now. She’s teaching him the ropes.”
“Easton adopts dogs no one else wants. He doesn’t care if they have stuff wrong with them. Dad said maybe we can do that too.” Meadow beams proudly.
“Aww,” Simone says. “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“They’re lucky to have you.” Mom smiles at East.
“Nah, it’s me who’s lucky to have them.” His response makes me want to pull him into my arms and kiss him.
“I made these for them.” Meadow hands him the bag, East looking at me, then at her, like he’s not sure what to do. He knows she was bringing him something, but it’s almost like he thought it was a joke, like she would change her mind and not do it.
“Um. Thank you.” He pulls the first dog shirt out of the bag.
“I had Uncle Archer measure them when you weren’t looking, so they should fit. I made them with my sewing machine. It’s for them to wear when it gets cold.”
They’re matching shirts, each with their names on them, with matching ruffles at the end.
“Uncle Archer said you wouldn’t care if Casanova’s has ruffles too. Boys can like ruffles.”
East grins. His hands are shaking. I’m not sure if anyone else notices it, and my own twitch, wanting nothing more than to reach for him.
“Yeah,” he finally replies. “Boys can like ruffles. These are amazing. Thank you for thinking of them.”
Cass squeezes his daughter’s shoulder, clearly proud of her.
“You’re welcome.”
“Maybe you can come over with Archer sometime and see the dogs in them.”
We talked about her spending time with them before, but it never happened.
Meadow grins. “Ooh, can I, Dad? Uncle Archer?”
“You can come too,” East tells Cass. “Or if you want me to bring them to you or something, we can do that.”
I see the moment it dawns on Cass that East thinks Cass might not trust him, like he’s afraid the trouble East has gotten into will come back to hurt Meadow. “She can come over if that’s okay with you.”
“Yeah, that’d be great,” East replies. I wonder if he realizes how incredible this is. The fact that he’s here with my family, that he invited Meadow over to play with the dogs, and that he’s planning on having Morgan, Dusty, and Rhett over too.
When everyone loses themselves in conversation again, I whisper in his ear, “Good boy,” and to my surprise, he takes my hand in his, giving it a brief squeeze before pulling away.