Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
That’s when I heard Travis.
“I’m never fucking doing it again,” I heard him say to Baylor. “It’s a pain in the ass, and a fucking joke.”
“That’s what marriage is about, man. Doing stuff that you don’t want to do.”
“Well, I don’t want to do that, either.”
My belly dropped as my throat started to constrict. Tears burned my eyes, and I was on the verge of tears before I’d even walked all the way through the door.
“Hannah?” he asked. “You make sure it was all right with her before you decided this?”
“No. Hannah’s awesome, but I’m not doing it again. I’m glad that I didn’t do it before because then she’d expect me to follow through.”
The words hit me like an anvil straight to the chest.
I swallowed the tears and shut the door a little harder than necessary to announce my arrival home.
Travis and Baylor looked up, and I decided that I needed to tell this asshole Travis, not my usual Travis, that what he was doing wasn’t acceptable. Starting with the very first thing he’d done to piss me off this morning.
“I’d appreciate it,” I told him, “if you wouldn’t intervene when it comes to Reggie’s father and Reggie. It’s hard enough having to explain to her that he’s not coming. I don’t need you adding your two cents and breaking her heart.”
Travis’ face shut down.
“You baby her,” Travis countered. “You’re not doing her any favors by lying about that piece of shit.”
I ground my teeth together and pierced him with a withering glare.
“First of all, you’re not her father,” I told him. “And apparently, you’re not even going to be her stepfather.”
Travis’ molars audibly snapped together as he tilted his head to the side.
“Yeah, I heard that,” I told him. “Would’ve been nice if you discussed with me that we were no longer engaged, but that’s just me I guess.”
Travis didn’t say anything, and Baylor chose that moment to check out.
He got up without a word and walked outside, leaving both of us alone.
Thankfully.
“Hannah,” he stood up.
I clenched my hand into a tight fist and opened my mouth to let him have it, but before I could, a sound came from my purse.
My phone rang, and thinking it was Joshua calling me back, I answered it without looking.
I was pleasantly surprised when I found not Joshua, but Wolf, one of my best friends in the entire world, on the other end.
“Hey, girl.”
“Hey, Wolf!” I cried out, happy that he’d called. I could use a dose of happy right now. “What are you doing?”
Wolf and I had met when he was in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound to his head. I’d been his nurse, and he’d been my patient each shift that I worked until he was released.
Travis also hated him because he was married to his baby sister—and had plans of divorcing her.
Unfortunately, Abby had died in the same accident that had gotten Wolf shot in the head, and Wolf never got the chance to divorce her.
Travis also hated that I was friends with Wolf. He still thought we were more than friends, despite my telling him that we never were more than that.
I knew without looking that Travis’ face had turned thunderous.
“I’m in town for something, and just found out about Allegra. What the fuck, Han. Why wouldn’t you have told me about that?”
I sighed. “I haven’t had time. I’m running behind, and there’s absolutely no time to do anything, much less call you and tell you about all the problems I have. And I’m so sleep deprived that any spare moment I have, I use it napping. TJ has colic.”
Travis set his cup down and walked out, leaving me alone in the room.
“You don’t sound good.”
I wasn’t.
“I’m okay, Wolf. How’s the boy doing?”
Nathan wasn’t his son. Nathan was his best friend’s son who’d died in the same tragic killings that had taken Abby and almost taken him. Nathan had suffered the same fate as Wolf, but unlike Wolf, he’d not fared as well.
Now, though, he was doing remarkably well for what he’d been put through over the course of his short life. He still had a few developmental delays, but day by day he was smashing every single glass ceiling that was put over him. He was surviving and thriving, and that made me extremely happy.
“He’s doing great,” he said. “You want to have lunch with me?”
I thought about that. “The hearing is at nine. The custody hearing is at eleven. I can do lunch about twelve thirty if you want.”
“That’ll work for me. I’ll meet you at the courthouse. That’s where I’ll be anyway.”
I didn’t bother to ask.
Wolf was working. His cases were almost always confidential. I knew that this was going to be something he couldn’t talk about.
“Sounds great.”
Then I went about cleaning up after the asshole who couldn’t be bothered to put his own fucking cup into the goddamn sink.