Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“Yes, which is good, since I love you too, and I’ve learned it seriously sucks when that’s one-sided.”
Even though it felt shit he put her through that, a chuckle erupted from him. She looked up at him and smiled.
Thank Christ.
He wanted to kiss her.
But he couldn’t yet.
He’d held back, and she’d suffered for it.
She had to have it all.
“Right then,” he began, “We’re gonna wait because I don’t want to steal Chloe’s thunder. But Dad left me something else in that box.”
Her brows knit.
“I never met my paternal grandparents,” he kept sharing. “I told you I knew Dad didn’t have a great relationship with them. Now I know why. Mom’s parents lived back in Chicago. They were in my life, but not much. Too far away. I loved them, they loved me, but I got the sense they were disappointed in Mom for being how she was, I think, looking back on it, particularly how she was with me.”
“Quelle surprise,” she muttered sarcastically.
He fought a grin and kept talking.
“My real grandparents were Robert and Marilyn Swan, Genny’s folks. They were around all the time. I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone more loving than them, particularly Marilyn. She doted…” He shook his head, his lips twitching just thinking about Marilyn. “Actually, she doted on everyone. She was a real character too. And she absolutely adored my dad.”
Hale watched her face get soft. “I’m glad he had that.”
“Me too,” Hale replied.
He then took their hands and lifted them to his lips, twisted them, so he’d touch her ring finger there.
After he did that, he shared, “Marilyn gave him her wedding rings to give to me. It’s Chloe’s time to be the belle of the ball. Then I’ll give you a part of what Dad wanted you to have. You’ll get the other parts later.”
The tears were back, but this time they competed with love and wonder in her eyes.
It was so beautiful, he memorized that look instantly.
“Hale,” she whispered.
“I’ll say the words then, baby,” he vowed. “It’s just that I fell down on communicating, even after we promised we’d do better. So I’m not going to fall down again. And now you know where I’m at.”
She sniffed, controlling her emotion, and said a shaky, “Yes. I know where you’re at.”
“Now you wanna tell me why Oskar and your mom are here?”
Her expression registered surprise at the subject change, and then it brightened.
When Hale saw that, he took in yet another breath.
And finally, it came easy again.
“Well, you know, the drama at Chez Cohen doesn’t die down for long,” she declared.
“Shit,” he mumbled.
“So, the thing with me brought Mom and Dad together and made them realize they’d lived decades together peacefully, they shared history and kids, and they might not love each other or agree on everything, but they’ve been friends for ages. They rekindled that, and Mom has been worried about me, so she’s been over a lot, fussing on me.”
“Is this good?” he asked.
“Yes. For me. For Dad. Mom. Oskar. Not so good for Emilie.”
Ah.
“I’ve noticed her absence.”
“Well, I hesitate to hark back to that night, but do you remember that phone call about Scott’s apartment?”
“Yes,” he said slowly, after they worked things out, not sure he was prepared to hear more because he was feeling good right now because Elsa was good. He didn’t want to get pissed.
Elsa gave it anyway.
“Okay, so, Mom has been to Scott’s pad, and she definitely noted she liked it. But she didn’t say she wanted to live there. In fact, she’s feeling this new singledom, this new space to find herself. She likes my apartment. She says she feels bohemian, more herself than she has for years. She’s got a job at a law practice as a receptionist. Oskar called in a favor and some friend of his from law school hired her. She loves it. She gets to organize things, and she gets to dress in cute work outfits. It doesn’t pay the moon and stars, but she’ll have a nest egg when the settlement goes through, so she doesn’t need that. Just a little extra to make life better.”
“That’s great, but…” he prompted because he knew there was more.
“But…Scott would need to jump his lease to move in with Emilie, which incurs a fine. He doesn’t want to pay the fine, so he wants to postpone them moving in together or she has to move in with him where he is now. Since he was on a two-year lease, that would mean she had to wait thirteen months or wedge herself into Scott’s space. That didn’t line up with Emilie’s vision of her life as a surgeon’s live-in girlfriend, so behind Mom’s back, she tried to sort it so Mom would take over Scott’s lease with Scott’s landlords none the wiser, with Oskar and me paying for it.”