Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 51122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Get updates on your favorite couples during COVID-19. These stories were written in the very first weeks of the Covid-19 Pandemic. You’ll see some of your favorite couples as they navigate that time period. Their coping mechanisms to being locked down can be kind of…flamboyant.
Somethin’ About That Boy: You’ll get some of the ‘rest of the story’ from Banner and Perry’s new life together far away from their family and friends. But don’t worry, big, rich, all grown up and famous Slone and Titus make appearances in their update. You’ll also get the story between Blue and Titus that you’ve been waiting for in Titus’s very own short story.
But don’t despair, Viddy and Trance, as well as their kids, have their own Christmas story, too!
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
SPURLOCK SURPRISE
CHAPTER 1
Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy a Mercedes. And it’s more comfortable to cry in one of those than on a bicycle.
-Food for Thought
PERRY
“How’s school going?”
I looked at Banner with a glare in my eye, though he completely missed it seeing as he was halfway around the world, doing God knew what, God knew where.
He’d been gone for a long time.
When he’d joined the Navy, a day hadn’t gone by that I hadn’t worried for him.
That worry, however, had been taken up about fifteen notches when he’d been sent on his first mission.
He was officially a Navy SEAL. And I was officially a Navy SEAL’s wife.
Some days, I didn’t know if I could handle it.
And others, like today, I knew that if I just heard his voice every few weeks, I could.
“Were you listening to anything I said?” I asked curiously, wondering if he’d heard me, or if he’d just pretended to listen like he sometimes did.
Banner glanced down and flashed me a grin.
We were Facetiming. Only, Banner had the phone in his lap, so all I could see were his nostrils, the underside of his chin, and a few flashes of grins.
“I’m listening,” he promised, not bothering to fix his phone’s positioning. “I just didn’t hear that part. I’m in a bad area.”
I didn’t think about the ‘bad area’ or the fact that I didn’t like him being in a bad area.
“It’s going,” I admitted somewhat sullenly. “Switching to online classes was the better choice.”
I’d switched to online classes after a few too many incidents with needing to puke all the way through class. And hell, all the way through the day.
When Banner had gotten me pregnant about a year too early I’d panicked because I wasn’t sure what that would mean for me and schooling.
I was so close to being finished.
I’d spent the last four years going to school.
The baby, although a very welcome surprise, kind of put a kink in my plans.
“I thought it might be.” Banner glanced down at me and smiled, a gleam in his eyes. “How’s my baby?”
Always his baby. Never mine.
I rolled my eyes as I shivered at the sound of his voice.
Still, to this day, Banner Spurlock gave me an ooey gooey feeling in my stomach that felt like it was permanently filled with trapped butterflies.
“Your baby is keeping me up at night. It’s like I switched from one hell to another,” I admitted.
Going from hyperemesis to insomnia was trading one very bad thing for another.
But, at least while I was awake, I could eat whatever the hell I wanted.
I’d lost nineteen pounds since I’d gotten pregnant.
“Did the baby accidentally show you his junk?” Banner teased.
“Actually,” I admitted, “no. I have one more ultrasound in the package that you got for me today at four. The last one they’ll do before Christmas day. I still can’t believe they’re open.”
Then again, with the popularity of this place, I was sure that some people would come in on Christmas day if they were allowed.
Banner chuckled. “Your lucky day, I guess.” He paused, wincing slightly. “I have to go. There’s something going on up ahead. Will you send me lots of pictures?”
I snorted. “Don’t I always?”
I did, too. Every single photo that might or might not appeal to him, I sent. Along with about a half a million memes. I was sure he had to scroll through about half a million messages at a time to get to where he’d left off last.
He sent me an air kiss before saying, “I love you, Perry.”
There was that ooey gooey again. “I love you, too.”
Then the line went dead.
But not before I heard what sounded like…cows?
Not even two seconds later, my mom was knocking at my door.
My mom and dad had come down a few days ago and were planning on staying for the next month until I had the baby.
It was decided by Banner and my dad that, since Banner couldn’t be here in the event that I needed him, my dad would be.
More, I knew that Banner couldn’t stand the fact that he wasn’t there to protect me in case I needed protecting. My dad, however, was a good enough substitute.
Which was why I had my dad and my mom in my cramped two-bedroom house.
“You want to go to Walmart with me, baby?” my mother asked.
No, what I would like to do was have my husband home. What was going to happen was my husband would still be on deployment for freakin’ Christmas, and I’d be stuck pregnant, alone, and…
“Baby?” she snapped my mind out of the continuous loop of sadness.
I just wanted him home. Was that too much to ask?
“Yes,” I croaked, clearing my throat right after. “I will.”
My mom’s hand caught mine, and I had to swallow the tears down in order to offer her a smile.