Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 112762 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112762 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
A sadness crept into Sloane’s eyes. “Are you?”
The question, the tone, was like a punch to the gut.
“Oh, look at all these goodies.” A woman interrupted us, surveying Sloane’s baking.
Sloane turned from me, and I felt unease creep over me at her melancholy question. At the disbelief in her voice. The unease felt a wee bit like panic. No. Not a wee bit. A big bit. Indignation simmered as Sloane was inundated with people buying her cakes. I’d never told a woman that I was hers. Ever. I finally had, and she didn’t believe me?
My phone buzzed in my back pocket and when I pulled it out to see my friend Sully’s name on the screen, I took the opportunity to put distance between me and Sloane while I was pissed off.
“I need to take this,” I muttered to her as I passed.
I sensed her turn to watch me, but I strode out of the room, phone to my ear. “Give me a minute to get somewhere quiet, Sul.”
“No probs, mate.”
Less than a minute later, I was outside the school entrance, the Baltic December air cutting through my Henley shirt. “What’s up?”
“Where are you?”
“A school bake sale.”
His tone lilted with amusement. “How the fuck did you end up at a bake sale?”
Sully was one of my mates from school. We’d joined the marines together, and he was one of the blokes I met up with every year for fishing and drinking. That meant the guys would know soon enough about my change in situation. “The woman I’m seeing has a wee girl.”
Sully was silent for a few seconds. Then, “Fuck, Walk. Never thought I’d see the day.”
“Aye, me neither.” I scrubbed a hand over my beard, trying not to think about the shit moment with Sloane back in the cafeteria.
“She must be something. What’s her name?”
“Sloane. Wee girl is ten. Callie. Cute as fuck.”
“I bet she’s got you wrapped around her finger.” He chuckled.
They both did.
“I’m pleased for you, Walk.”
“Aye, aye, thanks.” I sighed and stared up at the bright winter sky. “Since you didn’t know about Sloane and Callie, I can’t imagine they’re the reason you’re calling.”
Suddenly, his tone was somber. “My mum got a call. From your mum. She wants your phone number, Walk. I didn’t want to give it without your permission.”
Fuck.
Blood rushed in my ears as I rubbed the nape of my neck and tried to control the million feelings flooding me at the news.
Her face flashed across my mind. The stunned look on it as we stared at each other on Princes Street. And if I let myself think hard enough on it, I’d seen something like regret and pain in her eyes.
“Walk? You all right?”
“Aye.” I let out a shuddering exhale. “Give her my number, Sul.”
“Good,” he murmured. “That’s good, Walk. I will.”
Thirty-Five
SLOANE
“Walker’s house is so clean,” I told Monroe as I passed a pristine and sparse spare bedroom and stopped at the threshold of an impressive home gym. “And the man works out. Every time I see this gym, it makes me want to do a hundred squats.”
Roe’s snort of amusement echoed out of the speaker on my phone. “Somehow I doubt that.”
“Okay, it makes me think about doing a hundred squats. The only exercise I get is—”
“Is working eight hours a day in a massive castle and running around after your child twenty-four seven.” Roe yawned suddenly. “Not to mention all the sex you’re having at the moment. I seriously don’t know how I’m going to manage returning to work, being a mum, and having the energy to jump Brodan. I mean, I look at him and, of course, I want to jump him, but I’m so tired. I’m exhausted all the time. And that’s with a husband who’s lucky enough to take time off work for a while. Brodan and I have had no time for each other, and that’s fine because we’re getting to know Lennox, but it makes me anxious about the future and how we’re supposed to do it all.”
Hearing the weariness in her voice, I felt a surge of guilt. I’d been so wrapped up in my stuff with Nathan and then Walker that I hadn’t been a good friend to Monroe. She’d done so much for me, and what had I done in return? She and Brodan only found each other again after a bittersweet eighteen years apart! I knew they were ecstatic to be parents and Lennox was the love of their lives, but they deserved time with each other, too, after all that time apart. “Okay, this weekend, Callie and I are taking Lennox for the day, and you and Brodan are going to have some one-on-one time.”
“Oh no, Sloane, I didn’t say it for that—”
“I know you didn’t.” I turned on my heel and strolled to the kitchen. Callie was having dinner with the Adairs, so I’d come to Walker’s after work and he was out grabbing us takeout from the only Chinese restaurant in the village. “But I am doing this for you, and you’re going to let me.”