Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 157175 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157175 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
‘Remember she likes a runny yolk,’ Jacob reminds me, having me looking down at the pan and the two very unrunny yolks. He must catch my frown. ‘Do scrambled,’ he tells me. ‘And salmon. You know that’s one of her favourites.’
‘I have no salmon,’ I grumble, thinking I need to get my arse to the supermarket pronto. We’re low on everything. But grocery shopping is hardly the romantic date I had planned for later. I hear Jacob sigh, and I shrug, because that’s what I do. ‘How’s Maddie?’ I ask.
‘She met a friend. She’s down the beach now.’
A friend? ‘Nice. What’s her name?’
‘Hugo.’
The pan clatters to the stove, my hand catching the burner. ‘Motherfucker!’ I yelp and start jumping around, clasping my hand tightly to stem the pain. ‘You bastard!’ Fucking hell. My knuckles are still sporting the aftermath of my lash out on the mirror and door. Now this? I shake it out, grimacing in pain. ‘Fuck, that hurts.’
‘Jesse Ward!’ The sound of my mother-in-law’s voice penetrates my senses, and I fly over to my phone, just catching Jacob rolling his eyes as Ava’s mother pushes him from the camera. Her face appears, very displeased.
‘Hugo’s a girl’s name.’ I state it as a fact. ‘Isn’t it?’
‘Hugo is a boy,’ she says flippantly. I don’t appreciate it. ‘Just the grandson of some friends. We had dinner with them last night.’
I get my face up close and personal with the screen, noting Elizabeth backing away. My baby girl is on the coast without me there to make sure no little twerps sniff around her. ‘I’m relying on you, Elizabeth.’
‘To do what? Trample in your absence?’
‘Yes!’ I look down at my hand and see a blister developing. ‘Keep him away from my daughter,’ I warn, swiping up my phone and making my way to the sink. ‘Boys can’t be trusted. How old is the little shit?’
‘Thirteen.’
I drop my phone in the sink. ‘Thirteen?’ Oh my God! ‘Elizabeth, this—’ I’m interrupted mid-rant when someone takes my hand, and I peek to the side to find Ava inspecting the burn. She shakes her head, takes my phone from the sink and props it up against the backsplash.
‘Hi, Mum.’ She flips on the tap and forces my hand under the flow of cold water. I hiss as she looks at me out of the corner of her eye, her expression telling me it’s my own damn fault.
‘Hi, darling!’ Elizabeth, understandably, looks delighted to see her daughter.
Too bad. I seize the phone while Ava tends to my hand, keeping it steady under the water. ‘So, this boy.’
‘What boy?’ Ava pipes up, leaning and grabbing a towel off the side.
I ignore her and press Elizabeth for details. ‘Keep him away from my daughter.’
‘Oh, stop overreacting.’ My mother-in-law sighs. She just can’t help undermining me, the fucking pain in the arse that she is. ‘She’s growing up, Jesse. You need to let her.’
I think I might explode. How long would it take me to get to Newquay? ‘Elizabeth—’ The phone is gone from my hand speedily, Ava whipping it away and wandering off. I stare at her back incredulously.
‘Are the kids okay, Mum?’ she asks, looking over her shoulder, giving me a stare that dares me to hijack my phone. It’s a fucking conspiracy. All of them ganging up against me. ‘Good. And, yes.’ Ava pouts. ‘He’s being very attentive and caring. I’m feeling better by the day.’
I don’t want to smile. Not when I’m so pent up and stressed, but before I know it I’m grinning like a loon. She’s feeling great. I was, too, until my mother-in-law ruined it. I huff and plonk my arse on a stool, scowling down at my injured, towel-wrapped hand. Perfect. Fucking perfect.
‘I’m looking forward to seeing you, too.’ Ava joins me, holding up the bath towel that’s wrapped around her as she sits on the stool. I don’t know what comes over me. One minute she’s covered in white fluffy material, the next she’s covered in . . . nothing. The towel hits the floor and Ava gasps, shooting shocked eyes at me. And I just grin. Big, wide and satisfied, making a meal of relaxing on my stool and looking her up and down, up and down, up . . . and . . . down.
I breathe in and exhale loudly. ‘Breakfast’s looking mighty fine,’ I muse, earning a few playful slaps across the head. I laugh my way through it as she scrambles for her towel. Silly girl. I whip it away and run around the other side of the island, waving it teasingly.
‘Ava, you’re naked!’ Elizabeth screeches.
‘Damn FaceTime.’ I shake my head mockingly. ‘You’re naked, baby.’
Her scowl is award-worthy. And so is my smirk. ‘I have to go, Mum. Give the kids a kiss for me.’ She disconnects the call and points the phone at me. ‘You’re in trouble, Ward.’