Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Good thing the weather’s nice,” Esther said to me as I followed her. “It gets pretty crowded when everyone has to eat inside.”
“There’re my girls,” Tommy announced, setting down his beer and striding toward us. “Lookin’ gorgeous. Bloomin’.”
“I’m huge,” Esther teased as he kissed the top of her head. “You can say it.”
“You’re perfect,” he argued, kissing the top of my head. “And so are you.”
He took the platter out of my hand and carried it to the table, but I couldn’t make my feet move. He’d kissed my head. Like it was nothing. He’d just kissed my head and walked away like it was the most normal thing in the world. I couldn’t even be embarrassed about the way I’d frozen in place, because I was so stunned that he’d done it. I couldn’t remember the last time a male had casually kissed me. I didn’t think it had ever happened, actually. My dad had never been affectionate. Racking my brain, I tried to remember if my uncle had ever kissed my head the way Tommy just had, but I didn’t think so.
“They’re affectionate,” Nova said quietly. She seemed to be the only one who had noticed my small freakout. Wrapping an arm around my shoulders, she led me back toward the kitchen. “Hopefully, you’ll get used to it, because I don’t know that they could stop it even if they tried.”
“I just—” I shook my head, struggling to put my thoughts into words.
“One of the best things Grease and Callie taught their children, who then taught their children, is how to show affection. They hug and they kiss and they tease, it’s like breathing. They do it without thinking.”
“I just wasn’t expecting it,” I said quietly, embarrassment finally kicking in.
“I grew up with it,” Nova replied. “So, I don’t think anything of it. But I could see that it freaked you out. You looked a little shellshocked.”
“Don’t tell Tommy,” I blurted, glancing toward the door. “I don’t want him to feel bad.”
Nova smiled. “I won’t.”
“We’re having hamburgers, baked beans, potato salad, green salad and….something else I can’t remember,” Heather announced, swiping her hair away from her face. “I hope that works.”
“Diana will eat anything,” I replied, moving toward her. “Ariel’s a little pickier, but she’ll find something she likes.”
“Oh good,” she said with a little laugh. “I realized about a half an hour before you got here that I hadn’t even asked, but by then it was too late to change course.”
“It’s perfect,” I assured her. “Thank you so much for doing this.”
“Of course,” she replied, smiling at me. “We’re glad you’re here. It’s reason to celebrate.”
“I’m gonna eat all the tomatoes,” Asa bellowed as he ran through the kitchen and out the door, Flora, Ariel, Eloise, and finally Diana, chasing after him.
“Plus,” Heather mused as the door swung halfway shut behind them. “It gave me an excuse to make everyone come over.”
“You’re lucky your family is so close,” I said, stacking the napkins she’d been pulling out. Everyone had moved outside and it was only the two of us.
“Not lucky,” she corrected, shaking her head. “We worked for it. Me and Tommy always knew that we wanted our kids to be close like he and his siblings are. I have a sister, too, but we never had that kind of relationship. I love her, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t really mind when she moved down to California because we didn’t spend much time together anyway, you know? Tommy and his siblings aren’t like that. They talk to each other most days and can’t imagine it any other way.”
“That’s nice.”
“It is,” she agreed, crouching down. “I have a feeling that’s how you and Esther will be from now on.”
“I hope so, especially since I’m living with her. It would be pretty awkward if we weren’t talking,” I joked.
Heather made a pfft noise, her head still inside the cupboard. “You’ll have your own place soon enough, I bet. Enjoy this time while you have it.”
“I will.”
“Where the hell did I put that bowl?” she complained.
Movement out of the corner of my eye made me turn.
Titus was standing only a few feet away, unmoving in the middle of the kitchen.
We didn’t say anything as we stared at each other.
He was bigger than I remembered. Taller, but also broader. His face was covered in a five o’clock shadow that he definitely hadn’t been able to grow when he was seventeen, and there were laugh lines at the edges of his eyes that hadn’t been there before either. The brackets at the corners of his mouth were deeper and his jaw was more defined, but his eyes were the same.
I wondered what he saw when he looked at me.
“Dammit, I think it’s in the stupid dishwasher,” Heather said, rising to her feet. “Oh, hi, honey. You’re late.”