Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“And if we can’t do the renovations ourselves, we can find good people to do it.” My dad picked up his beer. “That’s easy.”
I looked around at my family, grateful for the millionth time. “Thanks, everyone. I’ll keep you posted.”
After dinner, Winnie was sitting with the twins and our parents in the family room while Felicity and I finished up the dishes. “Hey, I’m glad it’s just the two of us,” I said quietly, handing her a serving bowl I’d just washed.
“What’s up?”
I glanced into the family room to make sure no one could hear. “Dex is going to propose at Christmas.”
“Shut up!” she stage whispered, her eyes popping. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I talked to him today. He wants my opinion on the ring before he buys it. We’re meeting at the jeweler’s tomorrow at eleven. You’re invited too.”
“Shoot—I can’t tomorrow,” she said. “I’m catering a lunch. But call me afterward and tell me everything!”
“Okay.” I handed her a small platter to dry.
“Did he say where he’s doing it?” she asked. “Maybe he’ll do it at the Cloverleigh Farms Christmas Eve party!”
I frowned. “I don’t think Dex is the public proposal type.”
“Yeah. Maybe you’re right.” She sighed. “Win is gonna be so happy.”
“She is,” I agreed, handing her another serving bowl.
Felicity was quiet as she dried it. “It will happen for you too, Mills.”
“I know.”
“Like when you least expect it.”
“That would be nice.”
“I love your new business idea,” she said a minute later. “I think that’s the kind of thing you have to do. Focus your attention on some other part of your life, and then bam! Love will just slam right into you.”
I laughed. “I don’t need anything to slam into me. It would just be nice to meet someone who wants the same things I do. He doesn’t have to be perfect. He just has to, you know, need someone like me in his life.”
Felicity tipped her head onto my shoulder. “Everyone needs someone like you in their life.”
“At least until they meet the one,” I muttered.
“What do you mean?”
“Mason is the third boyfriend of mine in a row to marry the woman he dated right after we broke up.”
“So?”
“So you don’t think it means there’s something wrong with me?”
“Millie, don’t be ridiculous. There is nothing wrong with you because three of your exes went on to meet their wives after dating you.” She turned to face me with a barely suppressed grin. “There’s something wrong with you because you’re fucking one of their dads.”
I gasped. And promptly soaked her with the kitchen faucet sprayer.
CHAPTER 14
ZACH
It was close to five by the time I finally got back to my hotel room.
At the foot of the bed was my suitcase, which I’d packed last night and opened back up this morning, pulling out something to wear to brunch. I’d rebooked my six a.m. flight home for tomorrow, which left me with an entire evening to fight the urge to see Millie.
Dropping back onto the bed, I tossed an arm over my eyes. All through brunch, I’d had to sit across from my son, who’d looked at me with an esteem I didn’t deserve. He was curious and inquisitive, as always, especially about my time in the Navy. After boasting to the table about my being a SEAL, he asked all kinds of questions about what the training was like, whether Hell Week was really as bad as people said, what kinds of missions I’d been on, how I’d been wounded. Everyone there had been attentive and interested, but two straight hours of talking about myself had exhausted me.
It was the exact kind of situation I hated—being the center of attention—but I felt so guilty every time I looked into Mason’s guileless eyes that I couldn’t bring myself to shut down his questions or deflect to another topic.
So as much as I was dreading their “special announcement” and the reminder of what that meant for me, I found myself glad when Mason put his arm around his wife and told the table they were expecting a baby next spring. At that point, the table erupted into happy tears and well wishes. People got up to hug. Someone thumped my back and congratulated me. I think I grunted a thanks.
After brunch, Mason and Lori invited me to see their house. I followed them back to a two-story brick colonial on a picturesque, winding street. They gave me a tour, and then insisted on driving me around town so I could see the houses they’d both grown up in, the elementary schools they’d attended, the playgrounds where they’d played tag and Red Rover, the high school where Mason taught, the track he’d been running all his life, the soccer field where Lori had scored so many goals, the coffee shop where they’d had their first real date, the restaurant where Mason had proposed, and the cemetery where Andi was buried.