Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“Yes, sir.”
“I don’t know any same-sex couples, and so I was thrown yesterday, and then this morning your boss and his husband—them being together is possibly the least interesting thing about them.”
“Oh, you’re not even kidding,” I said, chuckling.
“Owen is—he solved a crime simply sitting here on his computer.”
I shrugged. “That’s normal for him.”
“And Mr. Colter—Jared—I’ve never actually met a person like that.”
“He has spooky friends too.”
“I have no doubt,” he replied, smiling. “All this to say, I would very much like you to consider coming for Christmas and meeting the entirety of our family.”
I had no idea when I walked into this house on that Sunday morning that my whole life was about to change. And now here was this man accepting that his son wanted me in his life and welcoming me with open arms. It was overwhelming.
It took a moment for my voice to work. “Yes…yes, sir, I would love that.”
“Traveling in December,” Luke began, sounding like he was in pain. “I’m not sure that’s the best—”
I turned and stared at him.
“Yeah,” he told his father. “Great. Good.”
John smiled, reached across the table with an open hand, and I took it and held on.
“Oh God,” Luke mumbled under his breath.
I couldn’t have asked for a better day.
FOURTEEN
Of course my amazing day took a turn, because halfway through a late lunch, Darwin had to get up and run to the guest bathroom. The sounds of the barfing were horrific enough on their own, but, of course, he missed the toilet with the force of the projectile vomiting. Since Luke could not clean that up—the instant retching told me that wasn’t possible—I was on latrine duty while he and his mother put Darwin in our bed because we wanted him close enough that we could hear him if he needed us.
An hour later, Griff succumbed, and though he said he’d be fine in his room, he was nearly an adult, after all, I made him get in our bed as well and heard the relieved sigh when he didn’t think I was paying attention.
Luke went to the store for supplies like Gatorade, saltine crackers, chicken noodle soup, and ginger snaps for the nausea. No one believed me, but Shaw’s mother swore by them for herself and all her daughters-in-law when they were pregnant, and stomach flu had nothing on morning sickness.
Wanting to be close to Griff and Darwin, who were propped up in our bed, with buckets on the floor for emergency spewing, and watching Lord of the Rings, I sat in the wingback chair, which Luke and John had retrieved from the attic, along with the matching ottoman. Viola came in, and seeing it, explained that she’d gifted it to Caitlyn and Luke when they were newly married.
“I loved it as soon as I saw it in this beautiful antique store in Cape Cod, but it simply wasn’t her style. I offered to pay to have it reupholstered, but it just went in the basement in their old place and up into the attic here.”
“Well, I love it. It’s a nice big chair, firm but comfortable, and I feel like the lord of the manor when I’m sitting in it.”
She laughed, clearly delighted and then suddenly scowled as though she’d thought of something. “May I ask a question?”
“Of course.”
“What on earth is with all the casseroles in the refrigerator?”
I waggled my eyebrows at her. “When your son got home, all the lovely women in the neighborhood brought him sustenance.”
“Is that right?”
“Handsome unmarried man,” I reminded her.
She grunted. “I would have brought sandwiches or a fruit salad if I was trying to court a man with kids.”
I shrugged.
“But c’mon, that’s food for a wake not food for popping over and bringing a snack.”
“I completely agree.”
“And some of that—I don’t think it’s good.”
“You know, I gave away like six huge casseroles.”
“There’s a tuna one in there,” she said with a shiver. “Who eats that?”
“You’re being prejudiced against tuna,” I scolded her.
She studied me and I couldn’t contain my grin.
“I was worried for a second that we weren’t going to be friends.”
“I hate it so much,” I confessed.
Her chuckle was warm. “That’s because it’s disgusting.”
“Feel free to get rid of everything. There’s tape on the bottom of the pans so the kids can return them.”
“I’ll make some pound cake to send with them.”
“That would be really nice of you as long as one stays here.”
“Fond of pound cake, are you?”
“I like lemon.”
“I can do that.”
“Thank you,” I said, smiling at her.
“Okay, good, that’s all settled,” she announced, leaving the room.
When Luke returned, he said the Eena police station was swarming with federal agents in windbreakers or head-to-toe hazmat-looking suits.
“Jared Colter does not mess around.”
“No, not ever,” I replied.
Luke crossed the room to me then, and dropped down to one knee beside the chair.