Series: Like Us Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 241
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
He’s punctured my cynical heart and filled it to the brim.
Cordelia muses, “Two souls inextricably intertwined…there were many paths, but all would always lead you to each other. There is only life together.”
Destined. The overlapping timelines of our love has already made me believe that we’re meant to be. I didn’t really need a stranger to confirm what I feel for me to take stock in it.
“Now…” She exhales, her smile on him, then me. “You will have—”
“Sorry to interrupt,” Donnelly says quietly to her. “Love this and all, but if you’re about to say anything about kids, could you just write it down and not show us?”
Good idea. I’d rather this not be known right now. What if it’s a disappointing prediction? What if she says we’ll never have a baby—not even in the faraway, distant future?
Cordelia tips her head in a sweet nod. She procures planetary stationary from her worn satchel. She scribbles on the purple paper, then folds it into threes. Handing it gingerly to Donnelly, Cordelia says, “You will never fail her. She will always be with you.”
Tears try to sting my eyes.
Donnelly is choked up a bit, not such a skeptic. He nods in thanks and clutches the prediction. And then Cordelia sweeps us all with the same fond smile when she entered the room.
Her gaze slows on the Moretti brothers, and she says, “Be happy.”
Thatcher rotates fully away, shielding his overwhelmed face, and Jane speaks rapidly and quietly to him, her eyes flared in concern.
To everyone, she says, “All of you. Simple joys are the sweetest. Aren’t they? Now…” She takes a calming breath.
Orion barks and his paws scratch across the floorboards while he races to Donnelly for comfort. What’d he run away from?
“You alright, boy?” Donnelly ruffles his furry head with two hands. Orion pants at me like he’s ensuring I’m here too, and I bop his nose with love. He licks my fingers. Cats suddenly spring out from the hall like we’re in Jumanji and animals are escaping certain doom.
“What the hell?” Xander mutters, lifting up his feet. “Moffy…? The ground is wet.”
A slow trickle of water slips towards us. A loud bang jars me, and noises pierce my ears as people run towards the danger. Directions are yelled from bodyguard to bodyguard, from sibling to sibling—I can’t keep track. My pulse goes haywire.
I stare at the water pooling in from the wide hall. “Are we sinking?” I ask like we’ve somehow boarded the Titanic. Is this all a simulation? Did I drown and never wake up? Fear tries to transport me, but Donnelly clutches my cheek and I’m on my feet with him.
“Are you okay?” I ask him.
“Yeah, you?”
“Uh-huh,” I say, right as the sprinkler system switches on. Water sprays everyone in the packed living room. Audrey shrieks.
“Two pipes have burst!” Thatcher calls out from the hallway. “Banks, I need you! The valve is bent to fuck, and the water won’t cut off!”
“Roger that.” He races to the source of the problem. “Nine!” Banks locates Akara before he disappears. “There should be a master water shut off valve in the building.”
“I’m calling maintenance now.”
An inch of water already soaks the hardwood.
The penthouse is flooding.
65
LUNA HALE
“There are zero nanny cams in Luna’s bedroom,” my mom reiterates for the literal fourth time as Donnelly throws a duffel on my bed. “Please keep all private matters to your private bedroom.”
I’m grinning, just happy my mom is allowing Donnelly to stay in my childhood room. Even if it is because Easton is occupying the guest room down the hall. She could’ve made Donnelly blow up an air mattress and camp out in the home office.
I feel like the two of us have leveled up in a way.
“Thanks, Mom,” I say, on my knees as I dry off Orion with a Power Rangers bath towel. Donnelly and I are still soaked from the sprinklers.
It took maintenance three chaotic hours to finally shut off the master water valve. Something Jane called questionable competence. Within the first twenty minutes, we had already loaded the cars with animals, babies, and important personal items. It was clear no one would be spending the night there. Anyone who was sober became DDs and drove to our parents’ houses.
Mom has a hand on the doorknob, and her eyes swim with warmth. “I know I should be very upset that your apartment flooded, but it’s nice having all of you back under one roof.”
“Might be longer than you think,” Donnelly warns her. “Building manager said it’d take seven days to evaluate the damage.” He digs in a duffel pocket. “If we need to get a hotel—”
“What? No, no, no.” Mom raises her hands like she’s stopping traffic. “Stay a week, a month, a year, the door is always open.”
I smile more at Donnelly. His chest rises. He seems beyond touched, and he nods into a slow-rising grin. “Thanks, Luna’s mom.”