Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 116031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
I click the screen off and tuck the phone in my back pocket. “Why am I the last to know about gigs being added?” When Poppy walks out of the bedroom, that’s when it hits me. Laird has Poppy. Nikki has Tulsa and her daughter, Autumn. I look at Tommy and then at Laird. “Because I don’t have anyone who cares about me?”
“We care about you, man,” Laird says from the other side of the buffet. “What are you hungry for?” he whispers to Poppy.
“You know what I mean.”
Tommy’s digging into the pasta at the far end of the table. “Of course we care. We know your schedule is flexible.”
“Maybe it’s fucking not. Maybe I had plans.”
“Come on, Shane.” Tommy stops eating to look at me over his plate. “I’m the last guy to judge how you spend your time, but the band voted to add the gig.”
“The band didn’t vote. The twins did.”
“Either way, you would have been outvoted.”
“Would have been nice to be fucking asked.”
Laird hands the plate to his wife and looks up. “What’s going on, Shane? Why are you so upset? Missing out on a hot date?”
I’m about to lose my shit, but Poppy is a good reminder to take a breath as she comes around with one arm around her pregnant belly and her plate in her free hand. She stops beside me and says, “I agree. You should have been asked.”
Fuck. Now I feel bad. She shouldn’t have to listen to this shit. “Thanks, Pop.”
She nods, her mouth pressed together as sympathy tugs the corners down. Turning to the guys, she adds, “Shane has a life, too. It’s different from ours but not any less important. He should always be included in decisions.”
Tommy finally sets his plate down. He takes a beer from the ice bucket, and says, “Our bad. It’s not happened before. It won’t happen again.” He tosses me the beer.
We have a few hours before we go on, so I crack it open and return to the buffet. “Thanks.”
Patting me on the back, Laird says, “Sorry, brother.”
“It’s fine.” It’s not fine at all, but I know they didn’t do anything with ill intention. It does mean another night without seeing Cat, and I’m missing her so fucking much that I’m getting cranky. And we haven’t even had sex.
What have I gotten myself into?
I fill my plate and return to the living room. Tommy and Laird stand around the buffet, picking at it, but I sit across from Poppy. “How are you feeling?”
“Ready to live up to my name and pop.”
“I heard Nikki say you’re in your last trimester. I don’t even know what that really means.”
She laughs behind her hand to hide a mouth full of food. When she finally finishes, she replies, “It means I’m in the home stretch. Twins usually come early, though, so we’ll see.”
I eat some broccoli before tucking into the chicken. When I look up from the plate on my lap, Poppy whispers, “I’m good at keeping secrets if you ever want to talk about the woman in your life.”
My eyes dart to Laird and Tommy, who seemed wrapped up in their own conversation and oblivious to ours. “What woman?” I play dumb, but I can tell by the small smile forming that she’s on to me.
“Just offering an ear with no judgment attached.”
I glance back at the guys once more before saying, “I wanted to see her.” What am I doing? I exhale long and slow before my hand starts for my head. I lower it and try to calm the nerves that have come over me.
With the cat out of the bag, her smile is too big to hide. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile like that.”
“I didn’t realize I was.”
She nods, all-knowing with a raised brow. “You sure were. I bet you make her smile as well.”
“Cat’s smile is one of my favorite things.”
Her hand rests on her chest. “Shane, that’s so sweet.” Being a good friend, Poppy glances over her shoulder to make sure no one’s listening, and then whispers, “Do you have a picture of her?”
I wish I did. There hasn’t been a good time to ask if I can have one for the personal library of photos I’m creating of her. Yeah, totally creepy. I can never say that to her, or she’ll be out the door. “Not of her face.” Her mouth falls open. “No. No. I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t have naked photos either.” I mentally note to ask for those as well for the collection. The road gets lonely.
Poppy’s laughing hard enough to make her belly bounce up and down. She’s beautiful, so it’s a given that Laird was attracted to her, but that beauty runs deeper than the surface with her. She genuinely cares about others. I’m reminded of Cat again. I think they’d really like each other. It’s important for a band this small, that spends this much time together, to get along. It’s just as important for our partners to as well.