Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 95678 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95678 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 478(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
“Dr. Wilde?”
“Wha—?” I blurted, snapping my head up to see that I wasn’t, in fact, in Adriana’s house any longer. I was standing at the nurses’ station at the hospital with someone asking me a question. I cleared my throat and pulled myself together. “I’m sorry, what did you need?”
The young nurse smiled at me, and I realized it was a woman named Darci who’d been trying to catch my brother Hudson’s attention for months now.
“I just wanted to make sure you knew about the bonfire party Saturday night out at Walnut Farm,” she said in her usual friendly manner. “There’s going to be a ton of people there, and we’re doing hamburgers and hot dogs. It’s just a BYOB thing, you know? I was hoping you might come by and maybe…”
Here it comes, I thought.
“Bring your brothers and sisters,” she finished. I noticed a pink blush rise up on her fair skin and wondered why the hell Hudson hadn’t asked her out yet. The woman was sweet as hell and great with the patients.
“Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun. You need us to bring anything in particular?” I asked, shooting her a wink and causing her blush to deepen further.
“Whatever you think would make for a good time will be fine, I’m sure,” she said.
“Gotcha. I’ll tell the Wilde crew and see you Saturday night. Thanks for letting me know.”
I completed the notes in my charts before heading out to the parking lot. I’d intended to drive back home and finish up some paperwork at the office before heading to my grandparents’ house for dinner, but of course I found myself heading to Adriana’s house to stop in and see Pippa.
When I pulled through town, I spotted Nico’s rental car parked out front of the bakery. I wondered if the baby was with him. It felt a little strange to see him somewhere out and about in town. As if he had a life that wasn’t limited to looking after Pippa while stuck inside Adriana’s little house.
It wasn’t really any of my business though, so I kept driving, past the sandwich shop and the bookstore until finally pulling down my own street toward home. Despite knowing what Nico Salerno did was truly none of my concern, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Why the hell was I so obsessed?
On my way to Grandpa and Doc’s house a little while later, I realized what it must be. I simply wanted to understand why he’d left town when he did. Why had he left Adriana and their mother at the mercy of the Billinghams? Sheriff Billingham had always been an overbearing son of a bitch, and his two sons were mirror images of the man himself. Had he truly left because of them?
It had only taken Curtis Billingham forty-eight hours after our interlude at the movies to join in with some friends of his, calling my cousin Max a queer after they caught him checking out some guy’s package in class. After that, it had taken all my self-control not to out Curt to his supposed friends. Instead, I’d simply rebuked his further efforts to get me to suck him off, and I’d told my family the guy was an asshole, and we’d all done our best to ice him out.
The fucker still hadn’t gotten over my rejection nor had he stopped trying to get into my pants every time he had a little too much to drink.
Adriana had always wondered why Nico had left, and I’d always felt guilty for having a suspicion and never telling her. I wanted to know for sure. Had it been because of what he’d overheard us talk about that night in the movie theater?
I felt an ache in my jaw and realized I’d been grinding my teeth in frustration—something I’d been doing more and more of lately. I didn’t like not understanding something. Or someone.
When I parked in front of Grandpa and Doc’s farmhouse on their sprawling ranch a little ways outside of town, three dogs came leaping off the porch and running toward me. The largest was a sweet old coonhound named Grump and the two little ones I always referred to as Sweet and Salty because of their personalities.
I reached down to greet them with ear scratches when I heard the front door open and the sound of Grandpa’s voice calling out to me.
“Get your ass in here before I kill your other grandfather.”
I looked up to see Grandpa’s narrowed eyes and stiff jaw. I chuckled. “What’re you guys bickering about this time? Did Doc forget to turn the car off before going into a restaurant again?”
And just like that, Grandpa’s ornery mood dissolved into a smirk. “Oh god, that was the funniest thing ever. Come on in and let’s give him hell about it again.”