Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 85399 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85399 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
It does sound fine when it’s spoken aloud. Honestly, if that’s what Pops thinks he’s being with his sharp responses and willingness to talk about a lot of things he usually avoids, it doesn’t sound like he has an issue. It sounds normal.
But it’s not. It’s not Harvey Reed. And like Jack, I don’t know what to make of it.
“He had a hard time in the woods today,” Jack says. “And a couple of times, he started going the wrong way. My dad doesn’t go the wrong way. He knows those woods like the back of his hand.”
“I noticed when he was talking to me around the fire that he kept going off on tangents. Or, maybe it was that he kept losing his place in the story he was telling me. But it was very odd, and I wanted to mention it to you.”
Jack nods. “I’ll talk to him about it tomorrow. Prepare for fireworks, I’m sure.”
I laugh. “Oh, that’s a guarantee.”
He rolls over in one fluid movement and pins me to the bed. I yelp, my heart pounding in anticipation.
“In the meantime,” he says, eyes blazing, “let’s make some fireworks ourselves.”
I lift my legs and wrap them around him. “What are you waiting for?”
He captures the rest of my words with his mouth, making it clear he’s not waiting for anything.
Which is good. Because I’m tired of waiting too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
LAUREN
Mom!” Maddie’s cry pierces the air. “Mom!”
I sit straight up in bed, struggling to get my senses together. I have no idea what time it is, nor what day. All I know is that my baby girl is screaming my name.
“Madeline!” I shout, yanking the blankets off me.
Her steps smack against the floor in a rush. Sobs tear through the air, sending a cold chill down my spine.
Jack’s out of bed before me and across the room before my feet hit the hardwood.
My heart thunders, adrenaline spiking at the sound of my child in panic. What’s wrong? Where has she been? Is she hurt?
A million thoughts cross my mind in the ten seconds it takes Jack to open the door.
Jack left the door unlocked last night. Maddie and Michael went to Pops’s. Michael texted us that while we were in the bath.
Did they go out on the boat after that? Is she hurt?
“Mom,” Maddie sobs, the syllable extended to three.
She rounds the corner, passes Jack, and launches herself on the bed. Snaps yelps from under the blankets and scurries out from beneath her.
“Maddie, what’s wrong?” I ask, taking her in my arms. She curls onto my lap with such force that it knocks me back into the headboard. “Honey. Talk to me. What’s going on?”
Her body is racked with sobs. Her long, sun-streaked hair is matted against her face. She heaves air into her lungs in between long stretches of crying, and I have no idea what to do.
“Maddie, talk to me,” I say, detaching her from my chest.
A steady stream of tears falls down her rosy cheeks. Her pupils are wide, and her bottom lip quivers.
“Mads, answer your mother,” Jack says, still standing in the doorway.
I search her face for injuries. Her pajamas are fine, her arms and bare feet clean and seemingly perfect.
“Where is Michael?” I ask.
She sniffles, her chest shaking. “Daniel broke up with me.”
The words open yet another dam of tears, and she howls into my chest. I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight.
Then, with a ton of reservation, I look up at Jack.
Arms crossed over his chest. Jaw clenched into a tight line. Eyes narrowed. Protective Daddy Mode engaged.
“It’s going to be okay, Mads,” I say, rocking her back and forth. “It’s going to be okay.”
Jack lifts a brow. I fire him a warning look.
“He . . .” She hiccups. “I got a text when I woke up this morning.”
“He broke up with you in a text?” Jack asks, his voice much calmer than his demeanor.
“Shh,” I say, rubbing Maddie’s back.
“No man breaks up with a woman by text,” Jack says. “That’s not okay.”
Maddie sits up, her tearstained face glistening in the morning light. “Well, he’s fourteen, so there’s that.”
Snaps jumps up, resting his paws on Maddie’s arms, and tries to lick her face. She swats him away.
“I don’t care if he’s fourteen or forty,” Jack says. “If he doesn’t respect you enough to have a conversation with you, then he doesn’t deserve your time.”
Her bottom lip trembles again. “But I don’t want to let him go, Daddy.”
The stoic Fuck that kid on Jack’s face melts away as his baby pulls at his heartstrings. The love that he has for her pulls at mine.
“Mads . . .” Jack comes back to bed, picking up Snaps and then sitting next to me. “You’re gonna be all right. You know that, right?”
She shakes her head.