Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 100713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
While I worked, I thought of nothing but her.
How beautiful she was, inside and out. How seamlessly she fit into my life. How much joy she brought. Not just to me, but to my dad too.
Over the past week, she’d been endlessly patient with him, and beyond generous with her time. She and Elliott took him anywhere he wanted to go—downtown, the lighthouse, the library, the diner. She bought him an antique map of the area, and he spent hours studying it, pointing out things he remembered. They even went to the Bellamy Creek Historic Village, toured the museum, bought candy in the old-fashioned General Store, and sat in the train station with him, eating peppermint sticks and waiting for a train that was never going to come.
I thought about Elliott too—about how lucky his father was to have a son so smart and funny and caring. So quick to help. Quick to laugh. Quick to learn. He treated the animals with sensitivity and kindness, and he was responsible and diligent in everything he did. I never had to ask him twice to complete a chore, and he never quit working until he’d done the job fully and correctly. When you told him he did a good job, his brown eyes lit up, and his grin was a mile wide.
It made me furious that Maddie’s ex was such a dick he couldn’t appreciate all the things that Elliott was because he was too busy focusing on what he wasn’t. Or too wrapped up in himself. How was Elliott supposed to learn that a real man didn’t neglect his children? Didn’t put his own needs first? Didn’t lie or cheat or take the easy way out?
I thought about the lessons I’d learned from my father.
A real man had honor and respect. He protected his family. He worked hard to provide for them. He knew who he was and what he stood for, and he wasn’t afraid of anything . . . except maybe expressing his feelings.
But that was just it.
I knew who I was. I knew what I stood for.
But what I felt for Maddie fucking terrified me.
I was a numbers guy. I’d made a lot of money performing complex financial analysis and assessing risk. And I’d been good at it—the numbers told me when a high risk was worth taking, and when it wasn’t likely to pay off. So it was hard, looking at the odds of something like forever, to believe that they were in my favor.
I mean, what the hell was love anyway?
Was it that wobbly-kneed feeling I got when she walked in a room? Was it that heart-pounding thing that happened when she kissed me? Was it that aching need to be inside her I experienced when her skin was next to mine? Was it the warm, possessive rush in my veins when I held her at night? Was it the million things I wanted to do for her, big and small? Was it all the promises I wished I could make for the future? All the things I wished I’d said in the past?
Or was that just a unique form of torture that would ease up when she was gone?
How could you ever know for sure?
When I came back in the house, Maddie was making breakfast in the kitchen.
The moment I saw her, my knees did the wobbly thing.
“Morning,” she said as she stirred something in a big bowl. “You’re up early today.”
“Yeah.” I tried to go to the coffeepot without touching her and couldn’t. Catching her around the waist, I pressed my lips to her cheek. “I was grumpy after you left me. Couldn’t sleep.”
She set her whisk aside and hugged my arms. “Me neither.”
I kissed her once more and went for the coffeepot. “Elliott still asleep?”
“Nope. He’s getting dressed. He wouldn’t skip out on morning time with the goats for anything. He’s going to miss them like crazy when we leave.”
“Any time he wants to come visit them, he’s welcome,” I said, trying not to think of the kitchen without her every morning.
“Okay.” She smiled at me, and my heart stuttered. “I have to run by Moretti’s office to sign some things this morning. And I have to go into town to pick up my dress for the wedding this afternoon. I’ll take your dad with me.”
“He’ll love that.” I took a sip of coffee. “I actually had a few replies to my ad for a caretaker this week. I’ll make some calls today.”
“Oh, good.” Her smile was relieved. “I’ll feel so much better when I leave if I know you have help.”
I took another quick gulp and set the cup down. “I’m gonna wake Dad and head back out. My guys will be here any minute and I need to check in with them before I ride out and rotate the herd.”