Total pages in book: 150
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142818 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
I had not heard from Elden since the day it rained. My Mom and Swiss came to visit exactly one month, to the hour, since I called them.
Mom took me shopping, and Swiss fixed things around the house while Sariah followed him around asking about brothers and cousins.
My roommates were vaguely obsessed with my mother and stepfather, which made sense because my mom was amazing as was Swiss. Together, they were something else entirely.
It was our final night, out for dinner, just the three of us when Mom shared the news.
I had suspected since she was constantly nursing a glass of wine, slyly handing it off to Swiss when she thought I wasn’t looking. Then there was Swiss being extra protective of my mom, which was saying something. He threw a fit when she walked in with her arms full of shopping bags.
But I’d wanted Mom to have her moment.
So I let her take us out for a nice dinner and watched her shift nervously in her seat as she worked up the courage to tell me. She was likely rehearsing some kind of script in her head.
But by the time the waiter came with iced waters, she just blurted, “I’m pregnant.”
I didn’t
Visibly react.
Swiss tried his absolute hardest not to chuckle.
He failed.
Mom hit him in the bicep, which likely did more damage to her hand than his arm.
“Don’t laugh at me,” she snapped.
His eyes twinkled. “I’ve got an eternity with you, can’t make that promise, Countess,” he said. “Plus, you’re fucking funny.”
“I have to agree with Swiss on that,” I chimed in. “Though sometimes not on purpose.”
Mom scowled at me before her brows quickly pinched in worry. “Are you mad?”
I blinked at her. “Mad?”
“That I’m pregnant,” she explained. Swiss tucked her into his shoulder, obviously unable to see my mother in even a little bit of turmoil without touching her.
“Mom!” I half yelled at her. “I am not mad, I’m so, so happy for you. I cannot wait to have a little brother or sister.” I was telling the truth. My heart did swell with happiness, not just at the prospect of a baby sibling, but for my mother getting the chance to have a different kind of life. The kind she deserved.
“You’re really happy?” Mom asked.
“Are you happy?” I countered.
Her eyes swelled with tears, and she didn’t speak, only nodded.
Swiss’s face was soft, his own eyes alight with something that could not be described as simple happiness.
“The restaurant is going to be ready to open in a couple of months,” she told me, wiping away tears.
My jaw dropped at both the change in subject and the news. I’d finished off my designs for the space, sent them to an actual architecture firm and contractor.
“I didn’t think contractors moved that fast.” I took a long sip of my wine, attempting to regain my composure
Mom looked at Swiss. “They do when my husband is around,” she muttered with a grin. “We’re having the grand opening,” she looked back at me. “You have to be there.”
I did have to be there. To support my mother.
In just under two months. That was enough time. To get myself strong enough to see him again. Maybe I wouldn’t even see him.
“Of course, I’ll be there,” I promised my mother.
Maybe those months would change everything.
Maybe I wouldn’t feel this way.
Or maybe I’d feel exactly the same. It didn’t matter. I had to go back eventually. Had to face him some time.
Chapter Six
TWO MONTHS LATER
“Sweetheart, you outdid yourself,” my mom hiccupped from beside me.
We were standing in the middle of ‘Violet’s.’
It was the day of the grand opening.
I’d had the week off for mid semester break and arrived a few days ago. Though I was full of complex feelings about Elden, though I hadn’t been able to sleep the week leading up to this visit, everything in me relaxed once I made it through town limits. I opened the window of the car and leaned out, smelling the crisp, desert air that was welcoming in warmer weather.
Most of my time was spent doing last minute stuff with mom for the restaurant, working on assignments and helping Julian out at the coffee shop. I made time to hang out with Colby at the club, and when I was there, I jumped every time a man in leather walked through the door.
“He’s off on a run,” Colby offered when I almost gave myself whiplash trying to see who had entered the room this time.
“Who?” I replied when I saw it was just Javier, who had yet to understand I was never going to sleep with him.
“No one,” Colby grinned. “Because I know you don’t have anything going on with anyone wearin’ a patch. But you know, if you did, that particular person would be out on a run. Not due back until next week.”