Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 80930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
"I was married," I remind him.
"Yeah, I was there.” He shakes his head. “What I mean is that you’ve been in love with her forever. You’ve just figured it out.”
“I have no idea what you are saying right now." I turn to him and put my hands on my hips.
"Think back," my father suggests. "Every single time she’s in the room, do your eyes find her?"
"Um yeah, we are usually there together," I point out.
"Not the way you look at her," he shares. "And it wasn’t overnight either." He doesn’t say anything as I think back as far as I can remember. "Every single time you are around her, you have to touch her." He doesn’t stop. "Whether it’s your hand on her shoulder or her sitting next to you. You have to touch her."
"But she’s my best friend," I remind him.
He laughs. "I’m assuming that you didn’t just wake up this morning and decide that you love her?" I look out toward the water. "I’m also assuming that she doesn’t make her bed every single morning."
"It just started a couple of months ago. I kissed her and …"
"And." He slaps my shoulder. "Things shifted." He smiles, and I nod at him.
I swallow the lump forming in my throat. "Things shifted," I confirm, understanding it. "It."
My father smiles. "It’s the best feeling in the world." I smile. "Love is easy when it’s right. I’m not saying it’s an easy road, but loving someone shouldn’t be hard. It should be just like breathing." I think about his words, and I’m shocked that he’s right.
"It’s always been easy with her," I say out loud, and I turn to look at him as he laughs.
He grabs his fishing pole, and all he can do is shake his head. His face beams with pride while he says, "Dumbass."
Chapter 30
Erika
"Can we go play in the sand?" Emma looks over at me as I fold the clothes I just took out of the dryer. When the girls complained of tummy aches, I didn’t even think twice and opted to stay back. I knew how much spending the day with his family would mean to him.
"How is your tummy feeling?" I ask as she climbs onto the bed next to me. "Does it still hurt?" I left her downstairs while she played a game on the iPad. After I got her, her twelfth snack.
"No, it’s better," she says, grabbing a shirt, trying to fold it. "Is this good?" She holds it up, and it falls to the bed.
"Here is a trick," I share, grabbing a shirt and shaking it out. "Put it down and then put one arm in." I fold the shirt. "Another arm in." I repeat it. "And then fold."
She picks up the shirt and does what I did, the smile filling her face. "I did it," she cheers, and I feel stirring beside me and look over to see Mia waking from her nap. She asked to watch television in the bed, so I brought her upstairs to the bed and laid her down. She was out before I even put a movie on. I cleaned up the house a bit and did a load of laundry before walking back downstairs and sitting with Emma.
"You did do it." I lean over and kiss her cheek. "It’s perfect. Hi," I say to Mia, who sits up and comes over to crawl into my lap. "How was your nap?" I ask her as I rock her back and forth.
When we finish folding the laundry, I take the girls downstairs and make them both grilled cheese sandwiches and then finally give in and agree to go to the beach with them. We change back into our suits, and I make sure I put sunscreen on them here and not at the beach.
When I walk down the steps and head down to the beach, I’m shocked to see the girls. “What is this?” I ask when I see Karrie sitting with Allison, Vivienne, Caroline, Zara, Zoe, and Parker. Franny and Vivi, along with Alex, are sleeping on the daybeds.
Karrie looks up and smiles. "We decided that it would be a better day without the men." She smiles at me. "How are my girls?" She holds out her arms, and Mia runs to her.
"Apparently all better," I reply, sitting in the empty seat. "They wanted to get out and play in the sand."
"Can I wet my feet?" Emma asks me, and I just look at her while she giggles. "Just one time."
She holds up her finger, and she smirks exactly like her father.
"Fine, I’m a sucker for the smirk," I admit, and everyone laughs.
"I’m not," Franny grumbles from her bed. "The key is not to look into the eyes."
"I’ll remember that," I say, laughing as I watch the girls run in and out of the water.