Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 104151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
I smiled. “Okay. I believe you. But I still think my dad is looking for any reason to kick me out.”
“Wherever would you go?” she asked, focusing on her needle and yarn.
“I’d stay at the hotel or live in sin if Kyle lets me move in with him.”
“It’s better to live in sin than die in sin.”
I giggled. “You think?”
“Oh yes. When you die, that’s when you do all that confession stuff, begging for forgiveness, requesting permission to cross the golden arches.”
“Grandma, I think it’s a golden gate, not an arch. McDonald’s has golden arches.”
“Potato potahto.”
“I’ll tell them this Sunday after church.”
“During dinner?” she asked.
An idea hit me, and I grinned. “Yes. That. Definitely that.”
“Where have you been?” Mom asked when I peeked into the kitchen.
“After work I went to the nursing home, then I stopped to talk to Erin. Need help?”
“No. It’s just chili. It’s simmering, and the cornbread is on the cooling racks. Do you want to take some over to Kyle and Josh? Or do you want me to run over there? Your dad said we needed to give Kyle a little space. Last night, Kyle and Fred had quite an argument over everything. Kyle thinks he can do it all alone, but I know he’ll feed Josh TV dinners every night if we don’t send over some food.”
“I’ll take it over there and eat with them. Then I can make sure Josh gets tucked into bed. He might want me to stay again. If he wakes in the middle of the night, he could try to jump in bed with Kyle and hurt his arm.”
Mom cringed. “I didn’t think of that.”
“Yup, it could be bad. I’m going to run upstairs and take a quick shower.”
“Okay, hun. I’ll wrap up some bread and ladle the chili into a smaller pot.”
I took a quick shower and fully dried my hair. Even though Kyle was in a sling with a broken arm and plenty of pain, I wanted to look nice for him.
Since I had so much to carry, I packed it in my car and drove to his house.
“Eve’s here!” Josh and Clifford ran down the porch steps as Kyle slowly stood from the swing.
“Hey, Mister. How was school?”
“Good,” Josh said, taking the bread while I carried the soup.
Kyle held open the door with his good arm.
I stopped while Josh continued toward the kitchen. “Hi,” I whispered.
Kyle’s grin mirrored mine as he ducked his head to kiss me. “Hi,” he said after a slow kiss.
“How are you feeling?” I headed toward the kitchen.
“Better now.”
I shot him a flirty look over my shoulder. And he winked. God, I loved that wink.
The three of us ate dinner together, and it felt so natural. Afterward, I ensured Josh bathed, put on his jammies, and brushed his teeth. While Kyle read him a story, I tidied up the kitchen, took Clifford outside, and put a load of laundry into the washing machine.
“You don’t have to do our laundry,” Kyle said.
I turned on the washer and pivoted to face him. “I know. You don’t have to love me, but you do it anyway. So laundry seems pretty simple in comparison.”
With his good shoulder leaned against the doorframe, the corner of his mouth twitched. “Where did you go earlier?”
“To work.” I stepped closer.
“Is that it?”
“Doesn’t matter. Just kiss me,” I whispered.
He gazed down at me with what I’d come to recognize as love in his eyes. “I need a shower.”
“You mean a sponge bath since you can’t get your incision wet.”
“Yes. I need help bathing. And it’s a little degrading.”
“Are you in pain?”
“Not when I’m looking at you.”
I slowly shook my head. “That’s code for you’re hiding your pain from me. Let’s go.” We shut off the lights on the main level, and I locked the doors. Then we headed upstairs.
I ran water in the bathtub and helped him out of his clothes. The water hit just above his waist when he eased into the tub. I grabbed his soap bar and started washing what I could without getting his injured arm wet.
“Ignore my erection,” he said.
I grinned, kissing his ear. “I can’t ignore it, but I won’t acknowledge it if it makes you feel better.”
We stared at each other while I washed him. It wasn’t sexual, despite said erection. But it was intimate. Sometimes, he let his eyes drift shut like my touch took away some of his pain, especially when I guided his head back and washed his hair, massaging his scalp.
Our flirty glances continued as I helped him out of the tub and dried him off.
“I could get used to this,” he said as I pulled his boxer shorts up his legs.
“Says the guy who kicked his family out because he wanted to do everything himself.” I hung up his towel and then squirted toothpaste onto his toothbrush.