Total pages in book: 225
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
My parents both look thrown. Of course they are. They met him ten minutes ago.
“I’m sure you’re both looking forward to grandkids, aren’t you?” Derek asks.
Mom looks shellshocked.
Dad shrugs, “Well, sure. Right Pam?”
Mom doesn’t look so sure. “I mean… I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. I hadn’t thought of Chloe as ready for that step yet. She’s never mentioned plans for a family.”
“She’s very career-minded, yes, but she has this endless well of love and nurturing inside her,” Derek adds. “As you know…”
My parents nod some more.
Oh for fuck’s sake. It’s taking everything inside me to not scream at the top of my lungs right now.
“So, you’re based in Columbus, then?” Dad asks, sipping his coffee.
Derek shakes his head. “Most of my family is. I grew up with that being home base, but once I started building my business, I’d spent most of my time in Cleveland. I have three nightclubs there, three in Columbus, and two in Cincinnati. But Chloe likes having access to Columbus and her friends there, so we just bought a place in Dublin, Ohio, actually. I surprised her with it and then dropped the engagement ring on her finger while she was asleep. That was how I sold her on marrying me today. The place is great. Perfect place to raise a family.”
Derek smiles and shrugs.
Mom looks at me with astonishment on her face. “That’s very … romantic.”
“Never been one for grand gestures before, but they say that when you know, you know. I just had to make this one fall for me.” Derek sips his coffee.
I glug down a long drink of my water but drink it too fast and wind up choking.
Derek pats my back as I recover.
Finally able to breathe regularly again, I say, “I’m sorry you found out through that gossip thing, Mom.”
Mom nods direly. “I just got a text with a screenshot of what was posted.”
“Ugh,” comes from me.
Derek pipes up. “We suspect Hallman’s ex fiancée runs that blog. And… of course she doesn’t know the whole story, so is taking it upon herself to try to smear Chloe’s good name because she thinks Chloe left him high and dry because of his disability. But the fact of the matter is that it was mostly the other way around. We found out that Adam met that ex the night of the accident. He never told Chloe about it. He was also hiding money. Telling other lies. Just… very selfish. If not for losing use of his legs I’m sure they wouldn’t have lasted as long as they did.”
God, Derek. Stop.
Mom is wide-eyed. “That’s terrible. And it doesn’t seem like him. I mean, we didn’t know him very well, but from what we did know of him, that’s shocking.”
“Chloe was pretty shocked too,” Derek mutters, sipping his drink.
“I’m not interested in getting caught up in the past,” I say, grabbing Derek’s knee. “Or gossiping about other peoples’ business.” Derek puts his hand on mine and weaves our fingers together as I keep talking. “I wanted to come and talk to you about the gossip blog. And to apologize if it causes nonsense for you to have to deal with.”
Derek pipes up. “I was planning to take her on a honeymoon but with the gossip and the fact that she didn’t want you both to find out from someone other than herself, we’ll reschedule that after my parents’ fortieth anniversary celebration, which is this coming weekend. Any chance you two can get down to Columbus and join us on Saturday night? I’d love for you to meet the whole family.”
Oh God, no!
“Well, um…” Mom looks awkwardly at Dad.
I speak quickly. “No, no. I told Derek you guys would prefer to meet my inlaws in a much more lowkey, intimate way versus a party for four hundred.”
“Four hundred?” Mom asks.
“At least,” I say.
“Yes, that… low key is probably better,” Mom says.
“Ah, too bad,” Derek says, then takes another sip of his coffee. “Well, we should hit the road. We didn’t intend to barge in on you both unannounced so late and it’s a long drive back to Dublin.”
“You could stay in Chloe’s old room if you prefer,” Dad pipes up.
Derek looks agreeable to that.
Oh no. Hell, no. Mom shoots Dad a look that says this is the last thing she wants sprung on her out of the blue on a weeknight.
“No, no, that’s okay,” I get to my feet. “You both have work tomorrow. We should go.”
Derek gets up. So do my parents as he says, “We appreciate the offer. Well then, we’ll have to have you over for a weekend once we finish settling in at the new place.”
“That sounds lovely,” replies my mom, politely. “We’d love you to stay any time, but you two got married today. Surely you don’t want to stay here tonight.”