Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 73884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Forrest looks to Briar, his eyes pleading. She shakes her head. He’s such a pushover when it comes to the girls.
“Don’t you want to eat at the table with the rest of us like big girls?” Maddox asks them.
“We’re big.” River squares her shoulders, and Maddox chuckles.
“Come on. I’ll give you a ride.” He turns and offers River his back, and she latches on.
“Hop on, sweetheart.” Forrest does the same for Rayne, and the girls giggle and laugh for the whole twenty steps or fewer it takes to get to the dining room.
Briar and I grab their food and cups and get them all set up before we make our own. The girls carry the conversation as we eat. Mostly that it’s weird that we call what we’re eating chili because it’s not red.
These two, they always manage to make me smile, and I miss them so much. I’m glad Maddox suggested we get together. It’s eerie how well he already knows what I need without me having to tell him.
“We’ll clean up,” Forrest says, when Briar stands and reaches for my bowl. “You two go get caught up. We’ve got this, and the girls.”
“Oh, Uncle Maddox, wanna play with us? Daddy said we could play salon and paint his nails.” River bounces in her seat.
“Sure,” Maddox says, holding his hand out for her to see. “What color are you thinking?”
“We gots lots of colors, Uncle Maddox.”
“Finish your dinner,” Forrest says, smiling at them. “Then we’re all yours.”
“Thanks, babe,” Briar tells her husband.
“Never thank me for taking care of our daughters, Briar.”
I lean over and whisper in my sister's ear, “I think that was in the manual too.” The words are barely out of my mouth before Briar is cracking up laughing.
“We’ll be in the basement.” She grabs my hand and tugs for me to follow her. Once we’re settled on the couch, with the television on for noise to drown out our conversation, she gives me a pointed look.
“What do you want me to say?”
“Anything. Everything. I know you well enough to know you’re hiding within yourself. You’re still married, and the last text message you sent me said we’re seeing where it goes.”
Sitting back on the couch, I close my eyes. “He asked me to give him six months.” I take a few minutes and replay that conversation in my head, just as I have every day since it took place. Finally, I open my eyes and glance over at my sister. “He says that in six months, neither one of us will want to walk away. Briar, when we got here, he told me to stay put. I thought he wanted to carry me to the house, like he has before.”
“Wait. Hold up. He carries you to the house?”
“Well, I mean, he carried me inside that first day when we got home from Vegas, and again because he didn’t want me to walk in the snow.” My face heats as I explain this to my sister.
“Damn,” she mutters. “Maddox is a dreamboat.”
“Stop.” I swat at her arm, laughing. “Anyway, I told him he didn’t have to carry me and he said he just wanted to open my door for me. Then I spouted off how he doesn’t need to treat me like glass because this is all new to me, Briar. I’ve seen what happens in the movies and on TV. I see how Forrest, Roman, and Legend treat you, Emerson, and Monroe, but I have no first-hand experience myself, and honestly, I feel like I’m living a damn fairy tale, and I’m waiting for the credits to roll, and for it to all be over.”
“I know that feeling, but, Brogan, this is real life. We’ve had our share of pain. It took me some time to realize that our past doesn’t define our future.”
“Okay, now you sound like Susan.”
“Thank you.” Briar nods, and I smile. I really did need this time with my sister. “So, what did he say to you, telling him he didn’t have to treat you like glass?”
“Something about how he’s treating me like his wife, not glass, and that I better get used to it because it’s going to be the standard for the next fifty or so years.”
“Damn,” Briar says, her mouth hanging open. “He’s got a way with words, that one.”
“See! That’s what I mean. How can I trust him when he’s that smooth?”
“Brogan,” Briar says gently. “You can trust him. He cares about you. Anyone can see that. To hear Emerson and Monroe tell it, these guys, when they fall, they fall hard, and they turn into giant teddy bears for the women in their lives. I know Forrest did. You see how Roman and Legend are with their wives. That’s what he knows. That’s who he is. It’s not fake.”