Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 122966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 615(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
I scrubbed a hand over my mouth to hide my smirk. My nerves went away too.
Later, Pipsqueak and I had to sit down and discuss her definition of “forever.”
Darius grunted noncommittally, looking anything but impressed.
“Who told you?” I asked.
“I already had my suspicions about that one,” he said, nodding at Elise. “Then Ethan told me you had a date in the marina last night, and I knew Elise was out too.” He shook his head and scowled at me. “Is there something in the fucking water around here? Can no one find partners their own age? Cradle robbers, the bunch of you.”
The bunch of us…? It was Ryan and me. That made two.
“To be fair, the cradle robbed him,” Elise drawled.
I let out a laugh. I couldn’t help it.
At Darius’s glare, Elise dropped the humor and became serious. “Don’t be mad at him, please. We were going to tell you soon.”
“At him?” Darius responded incredulously. “I’m more irritated with you, Elise. Now I’m gonna have to put one of my best friends in the hospital if he hurts you.”
“I’d help you if that ever happened,” I replied. I understood his position, so I wasn’t going to give him any crap. And to be honest, he was taking the news rather well. “This is serious, though. She’s changed everything for me.”
He eyed me for a beat, some of the hostility melting away. “The guys who snatch up Elise and Willow are either good guys or complete fucking idiots.” Because the girls had an arsenal of protective brothers. “Don’t be the idiot, Ave.” He wrapped that up by extending his hand to me.
It was a good deal. I shook his hand.
“All right,” he said. “I smell bacon, and I smell coffee. You shits gonna invite me in or not?” The bastard didn’t even wait for a response. He squeezed his way through with a faint smirk that told me everything I needed to know. He did not mind playing chaperone and cockblocker.
Elise snickered, and it was impossible to miss the relief in her gaze as I closed the door.
She and I were officially official to everyone in her family. I’d heard from my Pipsqueak that Mary had told Evelina, who had obviously told Lias.
I felt the relief too.
“Let’s go entertain your brother.” I kissed Elise’s temple.
A lot happened in the days that followed—enough to make me feel overwhelmed, so the fact that Elise was holding it together… On the other hand, setting things in stone had a larger calming effect on her than the rushing unsettled her.
My house was on the market. All my personal belongings were in storage, aside from furniture. Darius, Ethan, and I were moving that tomorrow after Elise had returned to San Francisco.
I’d secured two jobs that started this fall. Four days a week, I’d teach civics and history at a severely underfunded public high school in Oakland, which, to be honest, had worried me a little—not that I was going to tell Elise that—because of how low the pay was. But as of yesterday, that problem was taken care of. I’d be making some extra money teaching social studies to a GED prep class in Alameda. It would only be two nights a week, but it was enough to ensure living in California wouldn’t set me back too far financially. Because holy fuck, day care was expensive down there.
Which was another thing I’d covered. After making calls to half of California, I’d found a private playgroup in Berkeley that catered mostly to university personnel. A phone interview later, I’d had Grace in my lap this morning when we met Susan Lu at Berkeley Young Minds over Skype. Grace was in, and I was mailing the paperwork tomorrow.
“Hi, Dada, hi!”
“Hi, love.” I helped her up on the couch. “Have you been helping Nana and Pipsqueak with dinner?”
She ignored me completely and thought it was more interesting to grab for my glasses.
“I know, I look weird, but Elise says I have to wear them,” I said, dodging her little fists.
“I heard that!” Elise hollered from the kitchen. “It’s bad to lie to your daughter!”
I grinned and made funny faces with Grace. “Daddy’s not lying,” I whispered.
Grace giggled loudly and bounced on the cushion.
Maybe Daddy was lying a little. Pipsqueak had just caught me one too many times straining my eyes, and I’d run out of excuses.
The front door opened, and I heard Darius and James. Now we were just waiting for Ethan. Tonight was a farewell dinner of sorts, though it had to be the most drawn-out farewell in history. Grace and I had been sleeping in one of the guest rooms upstairs the past few days, and at least twice a day, Mary would get teary-eyed and say how much she was going to miss her little ray of sunshine.