Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 106346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
“I mean, no one has ever bought me flowers,” she says as if it’s fine when it’s not. I make a note to buy her flowers every fucking week.
I finish making the pasta, and we eat inside at the counter in the kitchen side by side. I even make garlic bread, which burns a touch but still tastes good. When she gets up to clean, I tell her to sit down.
“You know the rules,” she says, and I look at her.
“You worked all day. I got the dishes. Why don’t you and Dylan go and choose a movie?” I say, and she doesn’t get a chance to answer because Dylan pulls her down to the bedroom.
I have most everything cleaned and put away the leftovers when she comes back into the kitchen. “Are you almost done?”
“Yes,” I say.
“You did a lot today,” she says, and I smile. “Dylan told me you said lots of bad words also when you were hanging the fort.” She rolls her lips.
“I did.” I laugh. “There were a couple of colorful words, but I told him that you aren’t allowed to say them until you’re forty.”
“You aren’t even forty.” She laughs, and the sound fills the room.
“You’re beautiful when you laugh,” I say, and she blushes. “You should do it more.”
“Something says that with you around, I’ll be doing a lot of smiling,” she flirts with me.
“Is that so?” I grab her hips and pull her to me, and she laughs.
“I found the movie,” Dylan says, and I look at her.
“When my family comes, my brother is going to babysit him for a whole weekend,” I say, and she stops laughing.
“When is your family coming?” she asks me, and I see the nerves set in.
“You’ll get to meet them next weekend,” I say, and the horror sets in.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she starts to say, but I don’t let her continue.
“Well, I told them about you, so if you don’t, my mom will think you don’t like her.” I totally play the low card, but I have no choice.
She stands there with her mouth open, and then closes it, and then opens it again. “But …”
“Then my sisters will want to know where you are, and I’ll have to say you don’t want to meet them.” I walk over to the freezer and take out the ice cream.
“You wouldn’t do that,” she whispers.
“Dylan, come get ice cream!” I shout for him and get the ice cream cones.
“I chose the ice cream,” Dylan says. “I want a big scoop.”
We get the ice cream, and she glares at me as I give her a cone. We walk to the fort, and I press play, and I about groan when I see that it’s Frozen. “Why?” I ask him.
“I wanted to know why you don’t like this,” Dylan says, hiding his laughter while he licks the ice cream. We start watching, and twenty minutes in, Dylan is all into it, and I lean over and pull Caroline to me.
“Will you lay with me?” I ask, and she leans down and kisses my lips, her lips all sweet.
“Yes,” she says softly. I wrap my arms around her, and she lays on my chest. With her head on my chest, her hand on my chest, her in my arms, and Dylan beside me, I know this is where I was always meant to be. I don’t even give a shit that he’s playing the movie I hate most in the world or that he laughs when I groan.
After Frozen, he puts on Tangled, and I swear he’s doing it to punish me for kissing his mother. I turn to the side, and Caroline drapes her arm over my stomach and looks up at me. “This has to be the best night I’ve had since I gave birth to Dylan,” she says softly. “Thank you for giving us this.”
“For you two,” I say. “Anything.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Caroline
“Sweetheart,” Justin whispers from beside me, and I open my eyes. He’s got me wrapped in his arms since we laid down. I was going in and out of sleep, trying to keep my eyes open. “Do you want me to carry you to bed, or are you okay with sleeping here?”
“What time is it?” I ask, looking up at him.
“Almost ten,” he says, and I bury my face in his chest, laughing. “Thank God, he fell asleep before the last credits. I think he would have chosen Beauty and the Beast next, and I think I would have put my foot down.”
“You lie,” I joke with him. “He has you wrapped around his finger.”
“I can be mean,” he says, and I look up at him and see that his hair is everywhere.
My hand moves up to play with his hair. “Yeah?” I ask him, trying not to laugh at him. The whole night was a dream. Coming home after this morning, I didn’t think I would be able to think of anything else. But here with Justin, he made me look at things differently.