Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“Oh God, Jake. Yes. Yes.”
She shudders and lets out a sound like relief, and then all the tension in her melts away as she curls up against my touch, smiling with closed eyes and finally sighing. Then she notices the approaching boats.
She scrambles to get back to her spot so fast that the boat finally has enough.
It tips to the left. We both panic, trying to correct by leaning right. But we over-correct. It completely topples, sending us into the cold harbor water.
“Oh my God,” Caroline says, teeth already clattering. “We’re going to die like Jack and Rose from The Titanic.”
“Rose didn’t die,” I say, clinging to the boat with one hand and helping hold her afloat with the other. It’s cold, but we should be fine. The approaching boats are only a minute or so away now.
“You watched The Titanic? Did you cry?”
“What?” I ask. “This is the question you’re asking me at a time like this?”
“Yes. Distract me. I don’t want to die. Not like this.”
I pull her into me, holding her against my body tightly. “I’ve got you. And no, I didn’t cry. Movies never make me cry. If I did cry, though, it would’ve been when Jack sacrificed himself because Rose refused to make room on that piece of wood that was big enough for both of them.”
She shivers. “It was a romantic sacrifice.”
“Never… let… go…” I say, adding some dramatic emphasis as I pretend to lose my grip on her slowly.
“Jake!” She says, laughing but looking a little worried. “Don’t you sink, even as a joke. There could be… harbor sharks or something down there.”
“Never… let…” I let go of her and let myself sink below the water. A split second later, I feel her hand scrabbling for a hold as she yanks me back up, face scrunched up in annoyed fury.
“If I was Rose and you were my Jack, I wouldn’t let you make a romantic sacrifice. So you’re stuck here, helping me change diapers.”
She says it like it’s a threat, but I can’t lie. Part of me doesn’t think that sounds like such a bad thing.
26
CAROLINE
The B&B is finally patched up with a full set of fresh pipes, the wedding games concluded yesterday, and I’ve got a particularly light batch of bookings for the weekend. There’s just one young couple with no kids and an elderly man who came to bird watch.
I fed Walker and got him changed, whipped up breakfast for everyone, did my usual administrative work, and then curled up with a book in the lobby with Walker making soft grunting sounds as he played with toys in his crib.
Now I’m alternating between my thriller book and stealing peeks at Walker, who is trying to chew his way through a brightly colored plastic set of keys.
Jake met with the hockey guys to work out and then headed to the rink to play a practice game. Retired or not, Nolan still keeps himself in shape and likes to practice with the guys when he can. Apparently, their new goalie, Vlad, is good, but no replacement for Nolan.
Mia comes in with a plate of what looks like fresh-baked cookies.
“Hey, momma,” she says, beaming. Her hair is pulled back in a loose ponytail, and she’s wearing her chef’s uniform from Taste.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” I ask, but my eyes are on those cookies.
She sets the plate down in front of me and then leans over Walker, baby-talking and tickling him for a few moments before giving me a response. “Yes. Sort of. I have minions for the prep, and they can manage not burning the place down for little stretches of time. Honestly, it’s easier with Edgar on vacation. He’s a bad influence on some of the younger guys. I’m almost sorry he’ll be back tomorrow..”
“That makes two of us. These cookies look good.”
“Then eat them!” She says, picking a cookie up and shoving it toward my face.
I laugh, taking a huge bite and nearly dying. “So good. Oh my God.”
Mia beams. “I know they are. I’ve been messing with the recipe. Baking really is fun. We spent a lot of time on it in school, but I haven’t had as much time to work on it until recently. Did you know altitude has a big impact on recipes? Isn’t that crazy? Something about the oxygen and–”
I pretend to start snoring.
Mia wrinkles her nose at me but smiles. “So… the wedding is getting closer. How are you feeling?”
“Good!” Was my voice a little too high-pitched there?
Mia purses her lips. “You’ve been telling me to push back a whole lot of stuff. Stuff that can’t all wait until the last minute unless you guys are planning to tie the knot in a random church in Vegas or something. And I don’t want to pry… okay, that’s a lie. I’m going to pry. Is something wrong between you two? Because sometimes, it looks like you’re getting cold feet. Like you don’t want to make any plans too concrete because you don’t know if it will actually happen.”