Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 120708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Dirk leaned back and looked into the kitchen to make sure no one was listening. He turned back to me and lifted his brows in concern. “I don’t really know how to tell you this, but she almost said the L-word.”
“The L-word?” I asked, confused.
“Yeah. The L-word.”
I shook my head in confusion. “What’s the fucking L-word, asshole?”
Dirk stared at me with a disbelieving expression etched on his face. “Are you fucking serious right now, Shaw? The L-word. Love. Love, dude! She almost said she was falling in love with you.”
I should have been scared shitless. Instead, I smiled.
Dirk snarled his lip, then rolled his eyes. “Christ, don’t get all Ty and Brock on me. You need to be careful with this one.”
“Why?”
He looked back into the kitchen, and then leaned in and whispered, “She said something about being scared and having some pretty fucked-up trust issues.”
“She told you that?” I found myself whispering back to him.
He nodded.
“Yeah. It was crazy. One second she was a crying mess, then the next second she wiped all the tears away, stood up tall and straight, and said she needed to win you back. It was weird, dude. She started mumbling as she wrote on a piece a paper. All I heard were a few words here and there. Something about rope and matches.”
His words caught me totally off guard. “What…what does that mean?”
Dirk smiled. “She’s either plannin’ on tying you up, or setting something on fire. Who knows with women. Maybe she’s planning make-up sex.”
He simply shrugged. I was positive my mouth was gaped open. I shook my head to get all of Dirk’s bullshit out. “That makes no sense at all. What are the matches for?”
Dirk tossed a piece of cookie dough into his mouth and laughed. “Beats the hell out of me, but I can’t wait to find out. Keep me posted, man.”
He turned and headed back into the kitchen. He must have made his way over to Kaylee because I heard Ty yell at him. “Get your paws off my wife, dickhead.”
“Jealousy doesn’t become you, Ty,” Dirk mused.
I walked back into the room and looked once more at Timberlynn, but she was lost in a conversation with my mother. She had a smile on her face and seemed to be fine.
“That will not do!” I heard my mother say as she walked Timberlynn over to my father.
“Ty, our sweet Timberlynn has never made sugar cookies or decorated them. I’m officially making her your partner.”
My father gave Timberlynn a wide smile. “Finally, a girl partner and not Tanner.”
“Hey!” I said as everyone laughed, including Timberlynn. She looked at me and smiled. It was a smile that said a million different things. She was okay. She was happy. She was sorry. Or maybe I hoped it said all of that.
“Granddaddy, may I bake with you and Timberlynn?” Blayze asked with as innocent of a smile as he could muster.
“Oh Lord, son, why?” Brock said as Lincoln giggled and handed Morgan to him.
“Blayze, I was really hoping we could be partners,” Lincoln called out.
Blayze’s eyes lit up. “You don’t want to be partners with Dad?”
Lincoln scrunched her face up and shook her head. She pretended to whisper, “He rushes the decorating.”
Brock rolled his eyes, but then gave Lincoln a loving smile.
“We’re going to win, Mama!” Blayze said as he rushed over, climbed up on the stepstool, and got to work helping Lincoln.
“Traitor,” Brock mumbled.
My mother took my arm and pulled me to the other side of the kitchen. “I’ll take Tanner and Dirk.”
“Why does that make me feel cheapened?” Dirk said, tossing another piece of cookie dough into his mouth as he made his way over to Mom’s area of the kitchen.
Mom simply laughed and put both of us to work rolling out the dough and cutting out shapes. She declared she’d be decorating. She lost that battle, though, when Dirk and I started to compete with one another on who could decorate the best cookie.
I won. At least, in my eyes I had. Every so often I’d sneak a glance over at Timberlynn. She truly was enjoying herself with my father, and that made me both happy and sad. I felt bad for the way her father had treated her, but happy as a fucking clam at how my father was doting on her. I looked at my mother and asked in a low voice, “You put her with Dad on purpose, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “Kaylee told me a little bit about Timberlynn’s past with her mother dying and how she and her father aren’t very close. I thought maybe she might like the experience with more of a male parental figure.”
“When did you become so smart, Mama?”
“When did I become so smart? Son, I’ve always been smart. I’ll have you know, Tanner Shaw, I don’t miss a thing. Like how you left to go to the office with Timberlynn, yet came back alone and she came back looking very confused and on the arm of Dirk. Or how Dirk ushered you into the mud room for a little chat. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you and Timberlynn keep looking at one another when the other one isn’t paying attention. I see all, child. I see all.”