Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 22109 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22109 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
I lean back on the pillow. “Shoot. I’m sorry, I wanted to give her a way to call me. I should have told you.”
His voice is smooth and deep. “It’s fine, Ellie. I don’t mind. But she seemed like she really wanted to talk to you. I didn’t want to give her your number so I thought if you want to talk to her, you can call her.”
I look at the phone in my hand and then put it back to my ear. “My number? I have a number?”
He hesitates for just a second. “Uh, yeah, I got it the other day when I went shopping, but you were a little overwhelmed with the gifts, and I didn’t want to totally upset you.”
“Gray, you have to quit spending money on me.”
He chuckles. I can hear some guys talking in the background. “That’s not going to happen.”
I roll my eyes. “I was hoping you’d be here when I got up.”
His voice gets deeper. “Me too, Ellie, but Pres called, and I had to come in for a little while. You doing okay with everything from last night?”
I stretch my arms and legs. There’s a soreness in my muscles, but I smile all the same. It’s amazing. I haven’t had any sickness since I’ve moved to Whiskey Run to be with Gray. “Last night was perfect. I’ve never felt better.”
He laughs out loud. “I was talking about everything with the robbery, but it’s nice to know you enjoyed what happened later as much as I did.”
I should be embarrassed because obviously I have a one-track mind, but I’m not. “Yeah, I did. When will you be home?”
“Just a few hours.... You going to call your mom?”
His voice that was calm and happy is now serious. He sounds as if he may be worried or something. “Yeah, I’ll call her. I’m sure everything is okay, but I’ll let you know. I’ll text you from my phone that I apparently have now.”
“Sounds good. If you need anything, just call me.”
Before I hang up, I ask him, “Did you save my number in your phone?”
“I sure did. It says wife.”
“Well, okay, I’ll text you in a bit, husband.”
He groans, and it’s just like the groan he gave me last night when we were in bed.
I hang up the phone before I do something crazy and confess my love for him.
I smile happily as I climb out of bed. I do it slowly, waiting to see if the nausea comes, but when it doesn’t, I walk to the bathroom. I shower and get myself together before finally sitting on the couch and calling my mom.
It’s not a phone call I’m looking forward to. I’m still sort of mad at her and my father, but honestly, if they hadn’t kicked me out, would I still be in Texas and without Gray? I don’t even want to think about that.
“Hello,” my mom answers in her gravelly voice.
“Hey, Mom.”
She starts to ramble, and she doesn’t stop. I try to make sense of what she’s saying, but it’s hard to get it all. “Slow down, Mom.”
She takes a deep breath, and her words slow down. “Okay, so I talked to your dad. He’s going to let you move back in. We’ll help you take care of the baby until you graduate school.”
“I’m not in school, remember? I had to quit because I was too sick to work and do school,” I deadpan to her. She acts like she didn’t kick her pregnant daughter out of the house with nowhere to go.
“I know you quit school, but you can reenroll or whatever. You’re a single mother. The state will probably pay for you to go to school. Your dad and I will take care of the baby. He was talking about how he would like to get a second chance since he fucked up the first time.”
I rear back and look at my phone. Did she really just say that? “Wait, what does he mean he fucked up the first time? Is he saying that because I’m twenty-three years old and pregnant, I’m some kind of disappointment or something? That’s ridiculous, Mother.”
“Honey, now don’t go getting hysterical. He just means you’re single, pregnant, a college dropout...”
Her voice trails off, and I’m speechless. My own mother thinks I’m a screw-up. I never told her that I was married because I knew she would find me at fault for doing that too. All the old hurts are coming back to me, and it’s like a weight on my chest.
“So what do you think, you coming home?”
I don’t have the energy to argue with her. “Let me think about it, Mom. I need to go right now. I’ll call you back, okay?”
I don’t wait for her to answer. I click the end button, and the good mood that I had before the phone call is completely gone. My phone dings in my hand, and I look at it in frustration until I see it’s a text from Gray. “Did you call your mom? Everything okay?”