Total pages in book: 212
Estimated words: 207966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1040(@200wpm)___ 832(@250wpm)___ 693(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 207966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1040(@200wpm)___ 832(@250wpm)___ 693(@300wpm)
But I also knew I didn’t want to raise a family in a big city. I didn’t think we needed to be here for me to continue working on my music. I wanted to raise our family in the country. Get a big piece of land like Ella and Deacon did. Lots of room for kids to play. Grass. Trees. Room for a dog. A swimming pool. Maybe on a little body of water. Privacy. Big ole fire pit so we could have parties with our loved ones. And we could still hit the road in the motorhome when my man got wanderlust and I could easily travel to big cities when I needed for my music.
My phone rang and I wondered if Jesse would be home late or not. I’d resisted the urge to call him with the news, wanting to do it face-to-face instead.
Jojo Forker was calling.
“Hey Jojo,” I greeted. She was still my best friend even though we didn’t see one another every month. We gabbed on the phone at least twice a week.
“Hey!” she said excitedly. “Has he asked you yet?”
“Who, what?” I asked.
“Shit. I should’ve waited for you to call me, but I was so excited. My man talked to your man and your man is gonna come home and talk to you about something. Do you wanna call me back after that or do you want me to tell you what he’s gonna talk to you about?”
“Um…” She was making my head spin.
“I’m bustin’ here,” she said excitedly.
“Okay, shoot,” I invited.
“Me and Christian are moving to Deadwood. He’s taking over as Rapid City Prez for Stoagie, who’s retiring.”
“You’re kidding. Are you excited?”
“So excited! I’ve already picked out the house we’re buying. Can’t wait! The girls are gonna have so much room to play.”
“That’s amazing! Congrats!”
“Yeah. So, Christian asked Jesse if he’d come and be the VP.”
My mouth dropped open.
“Are you there?” Jojo asked.
“Uh huh,” I replied, stunned.
“Christian said he seemed very interested. Ready to settle down somewhere quieter than where you guys are. Said he was gonna talk to you and see what you think. But it sounds like he wants to say yes, so I’m hoping you’re gonna say yes.”
“Oh.”
“Oh?”
“Um… wow.”
“Wow? You’re killin’ me here. What do you think?”
“I think I’ve got to talk to my man about it.”
“But what’s your gut telling you?”
I smiled and put my hand to my still flat belly. I saw visions of family. Of the family I always wanted. Of having that big family around for our child to grow up with.
“I’ll have to ask my gut and see what he or she says,” I said cheekily.
“So ask, girlfriend!” Jojo sassed me and then giggled. “Wait! No way! You’re preggers?”
“I can’t answer that until I tell my man the good news first. So shush.”
“Holy shit. I mean… shushing. I’m shushing. Tell your gut Auntie Jojo says she wants to be neighbors. Or close to it. So far, he’s tryin’ to recruit Jesse as VP, Scooter as Road Captain, and Justice to be Secretary and Treasurer. Oh, and I preemptively talked to Leah and funnily, Christian had already approached Axel, too. They’re thinkin’ on it. Might make sense to be near Axel’s dad as he’s gettin’ up there. There are a few older members and a couple young’uns. It’d be small to start, but it’s a quiet club so I think it’d be good.”
“My gut’s telling me that this might be the perfect blend of fresh start and familiarity,” I said, “But I’ve got to talk to Jesse.”
I might also ask him to talk to Fork about Victor. Trace told me he was looking for a change the last time we talked on the phone.
I heard the pipes of his motorcycle. “Oh. Speak of my sexy, salty devil…he’s home.”
“It’d be so awesome if you guys came and did this.”
“Yeah,” I said.
Jesse walked in, smiling. He jerked his chin up.
Yeah, he usually came in smiling but he absolutely still had his salty moments.
“Jojo,” I mouthed.
He smiled wider and held out two bottles of champagne. I looked closer. One of them was non-alcoholic.
See? He knew it would be positive.
“It would be really, really awesome for us to be able to see each other every day,” Jojo said.
“Yeah,” I replied. “It will be.”
The End
(For now…)