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)
What the hell were the chances?
And what else could I do but laugh?
Merriam was still laughing when she tore into her next gift.
Her mouth fell open upon what she saw.
“What is this?” I asked as I looked at the photo.
“This is a canning cookbook,” my sister said. “I just thought it was super cool because you could make all these recipes with banana bread, apple sauce, and all kinds of other things.”
I looked at Merriam, who was looking at me with wide eyes.
This was super weird.
First my photo from Chris that was of a man and a woman on a motorcycle, and now this.
It was like the universe was sending us all kinds of signs.
Chapter
Sixteen
I love my man so much I wish he was a seahorse so I could get him pregnant.
—Merriam’s secret thoughts
MERRIAM
I woke up in his arms again.
This time, though, it was with a toddler smushed in between us.
I grinned when I saw my daughter’s face pressed against the other side of Jeremiah’s chest just like mine was.
“You awake?” he rasped, voice deliciously dark.
“Yep,” I said.
“Good,” he groaned as he let me go. “Because my arms are about to fall off.”
I giggled when he extricated himself from between us, then shifted so that he was lying behind me, and Anleigh now had her own half the bed.
“I’m a cuddler,” I explained. “But you should feel extra special, because Anleigh usually hates cuddling.”
“You’d never be able to tell.” He laughed. “I’m not sure when she decided to join us, though.”
“She’s a wild child and moves around a lot. If it was for very long, you would’ve woken up to her kicking you in the throat like I do,” I admitted.
He snorted, then kissed the back of my neck. “I was dreaming really hard, and have no clue when she arrived, or if she kicked me.”
I smiled, my eyes drifting closed again as I agreed with him.
“It’s so weird,” I agreed. “I keep having my own dreams. Though, I’ve had them since I was a kid, really. They feel like mine. Like, for real, I feel like I’ve experienced them. Things that I’ve never, ever done before in my life. Like canning food, you know? I’ve never had the opportunity to do that, let alone learn. How is it that I can tell you exactly how to can a jar of pickles if I’ve never done it before in my life?”
He was silent for a long second before he said, “That explains your reaction to the canning cookbook my sister got you,” he acknowledged. “I had a similar dream last night. I was working on an old Harley Roadster. I can tell you the exact part number that I ordered in the dream. Then when some parts company brought it to me, I literally put it on. Why would my brain know how to fix a bike, to the point where I can tell you right now exactly how to do it, yet I’ve never even come close to doing something like that in real life?”
I shook my head, unable to come up with a solid answer. “Do you think it’s just us that’s having dreams like this? Or do you think that everyone does it?”
He looked thoughtful for a long moment and then said, “I asked my sister once. She said that she’s never had dreams like that in her life.”
I looked down at my hands. “I dreamed about you before I met you.”
His hand came up to cup my chin, tilting my head up and back so he could study my eyes. “The morning that we met, I had this feeling that my life was about to change. That I was about to have something happen that would literally change the course of my life. I’ve been dreaming for years about a woman that would walk into my life and make my soul complete. And then I saw you.”
Overwhelmed was too big of a word for the emotions I was feeling.
“I…”
Jeremiah’s phone vibrated on the table beside the bed across from us, and I reluctantly pulled myself free of his arms, carefully reached over Anleigh, and caught it up.
Handing it to him, I crawled back into his arms.
“It’s for you anyway,” he said as she showed me the screen.
I read the words on the screen, and my eyes widened.
After everyone had left yesterday, I’d asked Jeremiah how they’d all shown up with gifts for Anleigh and me, and he’d smiled and explained.
Spare presents or not, they meant the freakin’ world to me.
So, when Ginger and Noel texted in a group chat, including Neesha, to ask if I wanted to go out to lunch with them and grab some coffee afterward, I nodded my head. “I’d love to, but…”
“If you’re comfortable with it, she can go with me over to Grams’s place. I want to do a check on everything after the storm. Plus, she’s really comfortable with Grams, with what I saw yesterday.”