Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Then Patty spotted her mom and said, “Mom?”
That’s when the others caught the mood and shifted.
“What’s wrong?” Rob asked pointedly, nervousness making him twitchy.
We’d loved Rob for Annie.
We’d loved Annie for Rob.
Rob had no family but us, which sucked, because if anyone deserved to be loved, it was Rob.
He was such a good dad, and supportive.
“Dad?” Dean pushed when we didn’t say anything.
I took my wife’s hand and said, “Your mom got some bad news today.”
Dean leaned forward just as Patty gasped, “What?”
Mary closed her eyes as dismay took over her features.
I looked away so I didn’t follow suit.
“Your mother went in for a routine appointment and they found out that she has cancer,” I said quietly. “It’s bad.”
“How bad?” John asked.
His wife caught his hand and squeezed.
“Bad,” Mary croaked. “The doctor isn’t optimistic with my outcome. They believe that as advanced as it is, I won’t make it past six months.” She straightened her spine. “I’m going to fight it, though. I’m not giving up.”
“We have to move,” I admitted. “The doctor that she wants us to see is in Benton, Louisiana.”
The kids all started talking at once.
There was a lot of crying.
A lot of arguing.
But in the end, they understood our need for the move. Some of them even said they’d follow us.
Hours later, when I told the club, it was Silas who said, “Hear the new chapter that started there are looking for some members. Let’s go.”
I looked at one of my greatest friends and said, “It’d be an honor if you went with me.”
Mary got up and hugged Silas. “Thank you. I don’t want him to be alone.”
Silas hugged her back and whispered something into her ear.
I didn’t get jealous.
If there was a person I trusted most in this world besides Mary and my kids, it would be him.
She whispered something back, then Silas winked at me and transferred her back into my arms where she belonged. “I’ll go make some calls.”
And he did.
Chapter
Seventeen
You know what I heard makes a merry Christmas? If you let me put my penis inside of you.
—Dixie to Mary
DIXIE
Past
The doctor’s news wasn’t good.
The specialist’s news was even worse.
“Stage four,” he said. “It’s very, very bad. It’s spread to her lymph nodes. Her chest is riddled with masses…” he explained everything, then ended with, “I don’t even recommend treatment at this point. What I would suggest was appreciating what little time you have left with each other.”
Ten minutes later, when I was helping her onto the back of my bike, she said, “I’m going to make it to our anniversary, Dix.”
Our anniversary was in ten months.
If she made it that long, she’d be four months past what they said she’d have.
But if there was someone more determined than my Mary, though, I hadn’t met them.
“I know you will, honey.” I put her helmet onto her head.
She leaned her helmeted head against my back all the way home, both of us lost in our morose thoughts.
“We move,” he said. “We move to where you’ll have access to a great doctor. We’ve already discussed it. No one will mind that you’re trying to find someone that’ll help you stay here longer.”
I looked down at my feet. “I’m scared, Dix.”
Dixie’s arms wrapped around me like he knew just by holding me, I would be okay.
And normally, that would be a true assumption.
But this time, I didn’t think everything was going to be okay.
I had a sick feeling in the pit of my belly that was telling me that everything wasn’t going to be okay this time.
It was going to go very, very badly.
Chapter
Eighteen
All I want for Christmas is to whip out your balls, jingle your chimney, ride you like a reindeer, and earn a spot on the naughty list.
—Mary to Dixie
DIXIE
Past
The move took less than a week.
From the moment we started looking for a new place, to the moment we sold our old one, was less than six days.
The six-hour road trip from Tuscaloosa to Benton, Louisiana with a lifetime’s worth of stuff took us roughly eight hours. But it took a whole lot less than it could have had the Dixie Wardens not been there to help pack, drive, and move.
The ladies from the Tuscaloosa chapter had helped us pack up. Both chapters had helped us move. And the ladies from the Benton, Louisiana chapter had helped us unpack.
All in all, the house was perfect.
Except, apparently, for one thing.
“This kitchen is atrocious. And where am I gonna store these jars when I start cooking dinner?” she teased.
I looked at said jars, then looked at my wife. “We’re gonna go out to eat.”
She giggled. “The doctor said you had to start eating better.”
I gave her a droll look. “Let me ask you something, Mary.”
Mary gave me her full attention, setting down the jar rings as she did.