Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107667 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107667 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
She groans. “Now you’re marrying him?”
“He hasn’t asked, but the answer would be yes.”
“Tennessee Lynn, you sound crazy.”
“Maybe I am,” I admit, shrugging. “Because if being crazy is believing I am deserving of his love, then yeah, I am.”
“Lordy me, Tennie. I can’t with all that. I need you to be at this wedding. My best friends are asking, and we are all family.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I haven’t heard from Josie’s and Lindy’s mommas. They are nothing to me. You are my momma, and Daddy is my daddy, and Dart is my love, but that’s where my family ends.”
“Baby, you don’t mean that. Y’all had a spat. Move on and be supportive of your friend at her wedding.”
“To my ex!” I yell, completely unable to grasp how she thinks this is okay. “She has never been supportive of me. Hell, she told me to settle for him, Momma, and then she turns around and gets engaged to him? Explain to me how you are okay with this!”
“Honey, her momma said it was a one-night stand and she got knocked up.”
I laugh at that. “Man, karma is a bitch, huh? She does know she doesn’t have to marry him? She can just raise her baby on her own.”
“You know she’s not strong enough for that, and she’s scared what her parents would say,” she tells me, and I shrug, even though she can’t see me.
“Sucks to suck, eh?”
“Tennessee, you don’t mean that.”
“I’m not going. When Dart and I come, we’re coming to go to the game with you and Daddy, and that’s it.”
“Please don’t be hardheaded. Think about it.”
“I’m good. But I do love you, and I’ll talk to you later.”
“Tennessee Lynn—”
“Bye, Momma.”
I hang up and shake my head once more in disbelief. I think my momma has lost it. If she truly thinks I’m gonna support Josie and Denis, she has another think coming. I refuse. I can’t. I won’t. Jesus. I set my phone on the counter and go to get myself a drink of water. But before I can even reach for a cup, his low voice runs down my spine.
“Hey there, baby doll.”
I whip around, my heart flying up into my throat at the sight of him. I know every word I said to my mom was the truth as his eyes burn into mine. A sob almost escapes as I run around the counter, and he drops his bag just to catch me. The force of my body slams him into the door, but that doesn’t stop him from capturing my mouth with his. He wraps his arms around me tightly as my legs and arms do the same, placing me right where I belong. The hum I swear I feel between us is back, and gone is the conversation with my mom. Gone are the four days of missing him. Everything is a distant memory, and I can remember only him. Just Dart’s lips on mine as we hold each other with all the love we have in our bodies.
Dart carries me to the bedroom, laying me down before he sinks his body into mine. Our lips move together, and I can feel his heart slamming into his chest, just as mine is. I glide my fingers up his back, spreading them over the nape of his neck as I cup his strong jaw with my other hand. I pull him back, and just as I’m about to tell him I love him, something in his eyes makes me crush my brows together.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” I see such sorrow in his blue depths. His jaw is tight, and this isn’t my normal, exuberant man. He tries to shake his head, bringing his lips to mine, but I stop him. “Dart, I can tell something is wrong. What is it?”
He pauses, his eyes looking everywhere but into mine. He drops his head to my chest, inhaling deeply as I lie there, waiting. I stroke my fingers along his scalp, and I press my lips to his temple, kissing him softly as he breathes in and out.
“Dart,” I whisper, caressing his neck. “My love, you’re scaring me. I promise I did nothing but watch Angie plant stuff. I haven’t even seen Troy—”
His eyes meet mine, confused, but a bit of annoyance is there too. “Do you really think I’m upset because I think you stepped out on me?”
“I don’t know…? I’m freaking out.”
“Do you trust me, Tennie?”
“With everything,” I answer without hesitation.
“Exactly,” he says, his voice low. “I trust you completely.”
“Then what is it?”
His throat works, his Adam’s apple bobbing before he lets out a long breath. “Sabine called me upset because the nanny and my mom got into it about my mom going out. I had just sent her five hundred dollars for groceries for the month, and she went out to the bar with it.” I continue to caress his neck, watching his face as the stress of the situation with his mother and sister fills his features. “I talked Sabine down and then called my mom. She said some real fucked-up shit to me, telling me that Sabine only loves me for the money, that I’m not meant to be loved, only to be fucked, because I’m just like her—”