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)
“Oof,” Harvey says, taking a second to straighten himself out. “I’m not as young as I used to be.”
“Let’s try to remember that when you’re wanting to play Lewis and Clark,” Jack says, picking up Snaps. “And you, little guy, are the real winner today. Good job, Snapsy. Good boy.”
“Hand me that bandanna,” Harvey says, holding his hand out.
I fork it over.
He ties it around Snaps’s neck. “There you go. You can show off now. You saved Grandpa.”
Snaps barks, wagging his tail. I swear the dog smiles.
But that’s fitting. Because we’re all smiling too.
“All right,” Harvey says. “How in the hell do we get out of here?”
I pick up his blackberry buckets and lead the way.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
LAUREN
Pops!”
The kids file out of the house before racing toward Harvey’s truck. Jack insisted that he drive his father home. Harvey put up a resistance, I think mostly because he thought it was expected, but gave in quickly.
Michael pulls open Harvey’s door. He gets shoved to the side by Maddie.
“What happened to you?” she says. “Oh, Pops. Are you hurt?”
“Are you okay?” Michael asks, taking Snaps from his grandfather.
“I would be if I could get out of this truck,” Harvey says.
I climb out of my car and grin, making sure I grab the first aid kit. Harvey’s wounds, while ugly, are only superficial. Still, they need to be cleaned up and bandaged once we get inside the cabin.
Jack moves the kids out of the way and helps Harvey to the ground. He complains the entire time.
“Hey, Michael,” Jack says. “Will you run over to Pops’s and get him some clean clothes and a pair of slippers?”
“Sure thing.” Michael sets off across the lawn toward the other cabin.
“Is he okay, Mrs. Reed?” Ava asks.
“He’s going to be fine, sweetheart. Thank you for your help tonight.”
“Oh, of course. Um . . .” She glances over her shoulder. “I hope this is okay, but there’s really nothing I could do to stop her.”
“What?”
“My grandmother came and brought dinner. It’s warming in your oven.”
I wrap an arm around her shoulder. “Ava, that’s the best—second-best—news I’ve heard all day.”
She beams up at me. “I made the cornbread. It’s from a box and nothing fancy, but I think it turned out pretty good.”
“I can’t wait to try it.”
She smiles and rejoins Maddie in their joint effort to get Harvey to the porch despite his protests. The only one who seems to be having a good time is Snaps, in his new red bandanna.
Jack reaches behind me and shuts my door. Then he leans against the side of the car. A look of relief is etched on his handsome face.
“How are you doing?” I ask.
“Fine.”
“That had to be scary for you.”
He takes a deep breath. “I’ve had a lot of shit scare me lately. It’s just another thing, you know?”
I hum.
“I want to talk to you about some things later, once this whole thing dies down,” he says.
My brows pull together. “About what?”
“Stuff.”
“Stuff?”
He grins and stands tall. “Stuff.” He walks around me and toward the cabin.
“Jack, that’s not fair.”
“Stuff,” he says again without breaking stride.
If I didn’t love him so much, I’d hate him.
I walk to the cabin, which is all lit up from the inside. Laughter and voices drift through the screen door and the open windows. Scents of cake and spices float along the breeze, and suddenly, I feel like I might cry. But instead of crying for someone else, or crying out of relief or heartbreak, this time, it’s for me. For my happiness.
Things between Jack and me aren’t perfect. Hell, we argued today. But the truth is that they may never be. They probably won’t be. But I’d much rather have imperfection with him than perfection with someone else.
He’s always there when it truly counts. He’s willing to do whatever it takes, even if that means carrying me on his back for a mile through the forest or following his gut when he suspected something was wrong with Harvey. He never stops loving us, even if he gets sidetracked sometimes. But I do too.
I can’t shake the look on Jack’s face when I suggested Harvey move in with us. How happy he was—how much he trusts my judgment. He’s never tried to control me or tell me what to do. And he’s always believed in me as a wife and mother, supporting me in my decisions . . . even if he didn’t bother to weigh in on them. He hasn’t second-guessed me. Ever.
I’m staying in this marriage not because he’s the perfect partner or because I’m trapped in a life with him. Neither is true. I’m staying because what he brings to my life, and what I hope that I bring to his, is better than anything else out there. And when we work together, it’s pretty close to bliss.