Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
“Okay. Thank you,” she said, accepting the offer despite her reservations.
Why the hell not? She had been overworked and exhausted for so long now that it would be a relief to have someone to help her out for even a few hours a day. It was hard having three children at once, hard on the body and hard on the mind. The break might be just what she needed to get herself back in focus.
“I have a cook that comes in twice a week and prepares meals ahead of time, so she can do yours too if you just let her know what you want. If you prefer to cook for yourself, that is fine too. The maid service comes on Thursdays and does all the laundry and cleans. They can come more often if needed. We’ll see how it goes.”
“I didn’t expect all this. I’m not really used to people doing all that stuff for me.”
“Well, I want you to be comfortable while you are here. Like I said, I’m not much company. I’ve been here by myself a long time and, to be honest, I’m a bit contrary. I tend to keep to myself. I’ll do my best to spend some time with you when I can, as we need to learn more about each other for when we are talking to others. Can’t have us contradicting one another’s stories. We’ll take this week and get to know each other and then next week, we’ll be traveling to my pack’s motorcycle club to attend a barbecue they are having. It’ll be the perfect chance to introduce them to you and the girls.”
“Sounds like a good deal,” she replied, feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all now that she was knee deep in it. What if she screwed this up for him?
“All right. I’m headed out to the shop. Make yourself at home. There’s plenty of food in the kitchen and you are welcome to whatever you like there. Make whatever space you need for formula and bottles down there,” he said, his eyebrows furrowed together for a moment before he finally shrugged. “I can’t think of anything else to tell you right now.”
A baby began to cry across the monitor, quickly followed by another. It was feeding time.
“Well, I guess I need to take care of that first and then I’ll worry with the rest.”
“Do you need help?”
“No. I’m fine. Don’t let me hold you up,” she said.
“Okay. Oh. I almost forgot,” he said, reaching into the jacket of his pocket. “Here’s a phone. I figured you’d need a new one. It’s a burner phone, but it’ll do until you can get a better setup. My number is programmed in if you need anything. Easier to call than to try to haul three babies out to the shop around all the grime and paint fumes.”
“Thanks,” she said, taking the small cell from his hand and dropping it into her own pocket.
“All right. I’ll let you get to it then,” he said, turning and disappearing out the door and down the hallway as she followed him out and into the next door where the babies were beginning to wake.
She took care of feeding them and played with them for a bit while they were awake, finally getting them back down to sleep and returning to her room to unpack. She walked around and checked everything out, noting the heavy antique furniture and expensive cotton sheets on the bed as she pulled back the thick burgundy bedspread. It was so much nicer than her old house. She found it somehow heartbreaking that a stranger seemed to care more about her accommodations than her husband had.
While their house had been very nice, she had been expected to decorate on a shoestring budget, somehow managing to walk that fine line between not spending too much money and not looking cheap. Blane expected people to be impressed by their home. He had selected the house for the large rooms on the bottom floor that made it appear much larger than it was.
Upstairs, their room was small for a master bedroom, and the two bedrooms on the opposite side of the hallway were tiny. She’d had to get creative to get all three girls into one of them as the nursery, while Blane had taken the other over for himself, using it as a private office, despite having also taken up the large den that sat to one side of the formal living room as his man cave. He was the most selfish man she had ever known, and she breathed a sigh of relief at being thousands of miles away from him now.
She wanted to get settled in, but she was exhausted. She decided, instead, to climb into bed and get a nap before she worried with her things. Her head had no sooner hit the pillow than she was fast asleep, her new phone’s alarm set so that she didn’t oversleep.