Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 67465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67465 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
“Well, shiver my timbers and shave my sheep. I think that’s a great idea. Curly Cookie, you join hands too. Let’s see it.” Nanny holds out her palm. “Paw, dear. Right here.” He complies, eager to shake for her, probably for more of those bacon treats. “Come on, sweetheart, take his other paw. He’s part of the family too. We won’t be a closed circle if we leave him out.”
I hold out my hand expectantly. “Okay, Poo-flinger, let’s have it. Paw to my palm,” I mutter under my breath, but I’m happy. Oh god, I’m happy, and my chest is going to burst wide open with it. This is a fresh start. This is having my family back. This is everything I gave up hoping for and everything I always did hope for because even when you give up, you’re still holding on, clutching tight, hoping against hope.
I’m so happy that I take the big, warm paw without hesitation. The fur feels dusty, the pads are a little scratchy, and they’re like tiny furnaces in my palm, but I don’t care. Nanny takes Kimmy’s hand, Kimmy takes Mom’s, I take my mom’s other hand, and then we’re joined—an unbroken circle. A family.
“Should we chant?” Nanny asks.
“Nah,” Kimmy says. “Let’s just enjoy the quiet together.”
I think we’re all surprised, though we shouldn’t be. Kimmy’s always been so, so strong. Always full of surprises. I’m in awe of my little sister all over again.
“What’s a newb?” Nanny asks after a few moments of quiet, and we all break out laughing. We finally release our hands and just sit across the table from each other again, relaxed and at peace.
“A newb? Where did you hear that?” I choke out.
“On that darn app. Those kids with their foul little mouths. Talking smack again.”
“One of them called me a pleb!” I say, rolling my eyes.
“You need to get off that app, Nanny,” Kimmy chides, even though I’m sure she doesn’t know which one it is. Or maybe she does. Maybe she rocks at it and passes levels for Nanny all the time.
“I can’t. I’m hopelessly addicted. It’s not my fault that a bunch of four-year-olds is better than I am. Pah! They’re born with a phone in one hand and a computer in the other. It took me years to even learn how to turn my tablet on. I think I’m doing just fine.”
“You are, Nanny. Just ignore the rude little cusses. They aren’t nearly as cool as you, even if they can sling around words like newb and pleb,” Kimmy advises, a beautiful smile on her lips. Seeing her smile softens her face. It softens her so much. “Or let me at them, and they’ll regret ever insulting my Nanny and brother.”
“I don’t want to get banned for life from the app! Next time one of them calls me a newb, I’ll tell them to piss down their own throats. How’s that for an ancient-sounding cuss? I read it in that racy, historical fiction romance smut book you lent me, Kimmy.”
“I most certainly did not,” Kimmy scoffs.
“Alright, so I snuck it off your bookshelf the last time I was at your house.”
“I do not have any such things in my house! I would never read something like that!” Her lips are twitching in time with her right eye, though, and it gives her away. I love that she still has the same tells she did as a kid.
I love that we’re here now, smiling and laughing, and Mom is getting up and talking about the roast, saying it might be burning, while Nanny is advising about the gravy, of course, and how much to set aside for Curly Cookie. This was my dream for so long, and now I’m living it. It is truly the greatest gift I could ever have imagined.
When Kimmy’s eyes meet mine across the kitchen, the hostility is gone, replaced with warmth and maybe even forgiveness. There was no flinging herself across the table for hugs, no sobbing, no outward show of affection, and no I’m sorry I almost killed you with laxatives the first time we’d seen each other in a lifetime. That’s just Kimmy’s way, and it doesn’t mean any less to me that she can look me in the eye right now after all the pain we’ve endured and the pain-filled conversation we all sat through. It’s enough to make me believe that a fresh start might just be possible.
CHAPTER 17
Remi
There’s nothing like watching a hot, hunky man do home renovation projects, especially when that man is Van. As a thirteen-year-old girl, I fell in love the way thirteen-year-old girls do, but ever since then, it’s always been Van who hung the stars, even if right now he’s just hanging up a new set of blinds—to replace the ones he broke—over my bedroom window. He might have been gone for most of his adult life, but he’s back, and we’re here right now. Even after all this time, he’s still all the constellations for me. Mad passion? Definitely. Mad love? As I said before, I hope that’s coming.