Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 81831 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81831 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Mel wipes her damp hands on a dish towel and snatches her phone off the counter, her eyes darting back and forth as she reads the message before a relieved smile bursts across her face.
“Good news?”
“He’s going to tell Ben he probably overreacted. And that if the police aren’t worried about you, then he isn’t either.” She pumps a fist in the air. “Yes! Blackmail for the win.” Her hand falls to her side as another text comes through. She reads it, her smile fading.
“What is it?” I ask. “You okay?”
She nods. “He says that he’s sorry. That he just loves Chase so much and has always wanted a family of his own, and that he might have overreacted a little.”
I nod. “I get it. I’m already annoyed that I have to share Chase, and I only met him a few days ago.”
Her brow furrows. “Yeah. And we can hopefully have more children someday fairly easily. It’ll be harder for Ben and Radcliffe. They’ll have to adopt or find a surrogate, and that takes so much time and money. And some people are weird about gay men adopting and won’t want to consider them as parents. It’ll suck.”
“You’ve got a big heart,” I say softly. “Bigger than you give yourself credit for.”
She looks up, her lips curving one side. “Thanks, but I’m not sorry about the blackmail. That’s what Radcliffe gets for pretending to be French and to have an ancestral estate outside Paris. What a pretentious goober. Ben loves him. He wouldn’t care that he’s actually from Ohio and his real name is Chad.”
I shudder. “Are you sure about the Chad part? That’s a terrible name.”
Typing on her phone, she grunts in agreement. “So terrible. If I have another boy, I want to name him Liam.”
“Or Leith,” I say. “Or Finn.”
She looks up, her eyes wide. “I wanted to name Chase Finn, but Ben said it sounded too fishy.”
I scowl, my head rocking back. “What? It does not. It’s like Huck Finn. Or Finn from Adventure Time. It’s an adventurous rascal name, and who wouldn’t want an adventurous rascal for a kid?”
She smiles. “Six months. Minimum.”
I return her grin and raise her an eyebrow waggle. “Yeah, yeah, we’ll see. I give you three months before you’re begging me to make a baby.”
Her jaw drops, but her eyes glitter. “You’re terrible.”
“And you like it. Your panties are wet right now. Admit it.”
She laughs, her cheeks flushing pink as she whispers, “They are, but hush. We just got Nutty calmed down. If you start saying smutty things, you’ll get him worked up again.”
Nutty, who is currently chilling atop a bowl full of whole walnuts on the kitchen island, nibbling on the pieces of a nut Mel cracked for him, chitters in agreement.
I lift my hand. “Sorry, man.”
He barks, making Mel laugh.
“What are we going to do with the Nutster when we’re travelling for games?” I ask, my brow furrowing. “Do they allow pet squirrels on planes?”
“I’m betting Ben will be fine with watching him,” Melissa says. “He knows how excited Chase is about finally having a pet. Nutty is pretty easy to take care of, really. He has to have been someone’s pet before. He’s so tame and friendly and always poops in his shavings, not on the rug.”
“Right,” I say, her words reminding me, “The raccoons in your attic were someone’s pets, too. They were so friendly when the exterminator coaxed them into his cages that he couldn’t believe they were wild. So, he put out an alert on social media. In just a few hours, a woman on the other side of your subdivision admitted her two raccoons had escaped from her house about a year ago. She’d just been too afraid to say anything since it’s illegal to keep raccoons as pets in Minnesota.”
“Crazy,” Mel says. “So, what’s she going to do? Unless she wants to move, they’ll have to be sent out of state to be adopted. That’s why Christian stole Bella from the shelter and he and Starling do all her vet visits under the table. Pet skunks are illegal here, too.”
“I don’t know. But the woman didn’t say anything about having a pet squirrel, too. Should we ask, just to be safe?”
Mel hums beneath her breath. “I don’t think so. If she wanted him back, surely, she would have said something. Chase would be heartbroken if we had to give Nutty away.”
Her cell begins to ring. She reaches for it, anxiety tightening her features. “It’s Ben.”
“You’ve got this.” I say, nodding in support.
She takes a breath and answers. “Hey, what’s up?” She listens, nodding for a beat, a smile creeping across her face. “Yeah, thanks. Me, too. That’s all I want. For all of us to get along and love Chase and be happy.” Her smile widens. “Yeah, I’d love to talk to him. Put him on.” She waits a beat and then I hear an excited little voice on the other end of the line. “Hey, buddy! Yeah, I miss you, too. I can’t wait to see you on Tuesday. Nutty is excited, too. He’s here eating walnuts, hanging out with me and Aaron.”