Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 159(@200wpm)___ 127(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 159(@200wpm)___ 127(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
“Hey, good-looking,” I answered cheekily, putting the phone to my ear as I made my way down the steps at a much slower pace than Lexi had. “How’s the day going?”
“Well…it’s looking up now that I’m talking to you.” His voice was all deep and throaty, and somehow, it still held the power to scatter goose bumps up the length of my arms.
There was just something about my husband that did me in. All the damn time. We’d been married for over a year, and I still felt so in love with him, if not more than the day I said I do.
Although, I couldn’t deny, the emotional stress of the day and the lack of power were still all-consuming when it came to my overall mood.
I chuckled, but there was hardly any humor to it. “That bad, huh?”
“These blackouts are going to fucking kill me, I swear, Fred,” he responded, using my awful nickname in an obvious effort to add some levity to his complaining. Nobody liked to listen to someone whine all the time, but my husband was anything but a moaner. He was a hard worker with a sometimes-broody exterior, but let me tell you, I’d never met a man who put more effort into his family. He didn’t need to work so hard at protecting my mood at the expense of his own needs, but after so many years before him with the kind of men who only knew how to look out for themselves, I was eternally grateful for the effort.
Truthfully, I actually felt a little satisfaction in knowing that I wasn’t the only one feeling off-kilter.
“Aw, babe, I know. I can definitely relate,” I answered. “The backup generator still holding out?”
“It’s running, but we’ve had to consolidate everything from three fridges to one. That’s all it can handle right now, along with basic electricity. Because of that, at least six shipments of chicken have bitten the dust.”
My eyes went wide. “Oh man, that’s no good.”
“I know.” His sigh echoed inside the receiver. “Part of me doesn’t even know why I’m fighting so hard to save everything. If the blackouts don’t stop, no one is going to come to the restaurant to barbecue anyway. Everyone in New York is going to escape to the Hamptons for the Fourth, or, you know, anywhere else but here.”
God. For as long as we’d been together, it still surprised me how much I hurt when he did. I didn’t like disappointment of my own, sure, but oh boy, that was child’s play compared to what I felt at the forlorn sound of Wes or Lexi not getting the outcome they wanted.
“I’m sorry, babe. I wish there were something I could do to make this all easier on you.”
“You’re already doing it, Win. Just talking to you has me feeling better. Not to mention, Kline and Thatch are headed over now to help triage what we can, and then we’ll make decisions from there. Honestly, we might be better off just canceling.”
After all the work Wes and his staff had put into this Fourth of July celebration at BAD restaurant, I knew canceling wouldn’t be an easy decision. I just hoped that whatever he decided to do would make him feel better, rather than worse.
My phone buzzed at my ear, and I pulled it away briefly to check the source.
A group message with Cassie and Georgia sat front and center, the messages piling up on top of each other by the second. Combine that with the fact that my phone was slowly but surely running out of juice, and I needed to hang up sooner rather than later.
Still, I didn’t want to rush my sweet husband.
“Whatever you decide, I know it’ll be the right decision. Plus, just think, if you cancel…well, maybe we can be like the rest of our fellow New Yorkers and escape the city to somewhere that’s still got power? I’m pretty sure my aunt Paula and uncle Brad’s lake house would be an ideal spot…”
“Advantage noted, Fred. I’ll take that under advisement and, either way, decide soon,” he responded, and I loved that I could hear the smile in his voice. Hell, I loved it so much, it had me smiling too.
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Everything okay at home?” he asked, and for a fraction of a second, I thought about telling him about the anticlimactic test, but the mere thought of seeing the words Not Pregnant had a ball of emotion migrating into my throat. I knew he would gladly share any burden of news, but with everything he had on his plate right now, it could wait.
“Everything’s fine. Lex just went outside to play with the mill, and I’m trying not to turn into a puddle.”
He laughed. “Okay, babe. I’m gonna go, but I’ll call you later, all right?”