Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Twenty-Seven
Zach
As we pull up in front of my parents’ house, the front door opens just a fraction and Dog shoots out like water from a pistol.
I open the car door and hear my father shouting. “Dog, get in here!”
The black Lab crashes into my calves and I bend and pet his head. “Hey, crazy boy.”
“Bring him in here, will you?” Dad calls from the door and then disappears back inside. Some welcome.
Ellie slides out of the car and shuts the door. “Sorry about him,” I say, nodding at the door. “His ‘people skills’ gene was removed at birth.”
Ellie laughs and I pause to watch. She’s so fucking beautiful. A blush has crawled across her cheeks, like we’ve just finished a walk along the coast. Her t-shirt and jeans cling to her, revealing nothing and everything. Her hair is down and reaches that part of her lower back I like to run my fingers down when I’m behind her. My dick twitches, and she shoots me a look like she knows exactly what I’m thinking.
I pull her hand into mine. “Thank you for coming.” Even the journey up here was better because she was next to me, talking about her scholarship applications, her hand on my thigh as we sat side by side.
“Thank you for inviting me. Oh, let me get the thing I made.”
“The thing you made?” I ask.
She opens the back door of the car and pulls out a cake tin.
“You didn’t say you made anything. I could have done with a snack on the way up here.”
She grins. “Hence why I didn’t tell you. It’s French apple cake. Your mum won’t be offended, will she?”
I laugh and we head inside. “Pretty impossible to offend my mother. She’s had five sons. That’s five boys trying to offend her to make her and each other laugh on a daily basis. A cake is better than your sons learning to fart in unison.”
“You farted in unison? How is that possible?”
“A lot of baked beans. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Zach!” My mum throws up her hands, a tea towel in one of them, and beckons us into the kitchen. “And, Ellie. It’s so lovely to meet you. How are you, my love?” She pulls Ellie in for a kiss and takes the tin from her. “I do hope this is something you’ve made. Zach has told me you’re a phenomenal chef.”
“Just a self-taught home cook.”
My mum peels off the lid of the tin Ellie has brought. “Oh, that looks delicious.”
“It’s French apple cake.”
“French apple cake?” Dad asks as he enters the kitchen. “Have you made one, Carole? I’ve not had that since we went to that place down in Dorset. What’s it called?”
“Dad, this is Ellie.”
He turns around sharply, as if he’s encountered an intruder. “You’re with Zach, are you?”
Ellie glances up at me.
“She’s my girlfriend, Dad, be nice to her.”
Dad takes her hand in both of his. “My deepest condolences. Any woman that has to put up with any of my sons deserves a place in British history.”
I roll my eyes. “You’ll get used to him.”
“It’s tough,” Ellie says. “Getting him to even speak to me in the beginning was like getting blood from a stone, but I wore him down. Turns out he’s one of the kindest, most thoughtful, loyal men I’ve ever met.”
Dad pats her on the shoulder and my heart lifts. Dad spends at least ninety-eight percent of his time moaning about the five of us, but I know he loves us all. I know not because he’s always telling me, but because I’ve overheard him talking to my mum about how he worries about various issues we’re having, and because he always asks us when we’re next coming up to bother him, and because his hand on Ellie’s shoulder is him agreeing with her.
“You better keep a tight hold of Ellie, Zach.” He starts to laugh. “I’m going to say the same thing to Nathan when he arrives.”
“What, that he needs to keep tight hold of Ellie?” I grin, proud of my deliberate misinterpretation of what he’s saying. My mother laughs. She’s always my very best audience. I hope I don’t see that light in her eyes dim when I tell her my news.
“You’ll be laughing on the other side of your face when your cousin arrives…” He checks his watch. “In about an hour.”
“What cousin?” I ask.
My dad holds his stomach and starts to chuckle.
“John, stop it. I’ve told you, Vincent isn’t going to be stealing his cousins’ wives and girlfriends.”
“Vincent is coming?” I shoot a look at Ellie. “Since when?”
“He won’t need to steal them,” Dad says. “They’ll go willingly.”
I roll my eyes, but on instinct I sling my arm around Ellie’s shoulders.
She looks up at me. “Is this the cousin who lent you the Rum house?”