Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“You tell the bastard, honey.” Pippa gave Gunnar a salute with her beer bottle before Hannah clinked bottle necks with her again.
“You got this, big brother!”
Gunnar turned and pointed at Hannah. “I have to take that from Pippa. She’s my woman. You on the other hand --”
“Am your little sister, and you will take anything I dish out because you love me.”
“You’re ten minutes younger than me!” The man really was a horrible patient.
“Which you used to your advantage every single time you wanted to pull rank on me our entire childhood.” She grinned at the big VP. “Suck it up, buttercup.”
Veda laughed and quit trying to pretend watching Gunnar grumble through physical therapy after he’d nearly died didn’t give her as big a relief as it did the rest of us. This was our family. All of us. Then Pippa jogged over to smack a kiss on his cheek before he could start another tirade.
I stood there in the yard a minute longer, soaking in all of it -- the noise, the family, the ordinary chaos of people who loved each other being loud about it -- and felt I belonged. I never wanted that feeling to leave.
Veda fell into step beside me as we headed for the main house, looping her arm through mine. “She’s exhausted,” she said to Nadine, who’d come out onto the porch to greet us. “Sleeping half the day some days.”
Nadine’s gaze slid to me, gave me a quick once over, then smiled warmly. “Come on, sweetheart,” she said, hooking her hand through my other elbow before I could protest. Tonio gave me a gentle shove in her direction, urging me onward as Nadine continued to speak. “Let’s get Pain to check you over. Just to be safe.”
The clinic had a light bleach smell underneath the scent of the lavender hand soap sitting by the sink Nadine used to wash her hands. I supposed, if I had to get bad news, I’d rather it come wrapped in lavender. All my problems weren’t over, but oh my God, I loved that scent. Not that I expected bad news. I was just exhausted. With everything that had happened, not to mention all the sex I’d been enjoying with Tonio, it was no wonder I felt tired.
Pain worked quietly, letting Nadine do most of the talking. They took two vials of blood, then handed me a plastic cup and Nadine led me to the little bathroom off the exam room. Nadine kept up a steady stream of light conversation while we waited on results, gossip about somebody’s cousin twice removed who’d married a man nobody liked, whether Gunnar was going to actually behead his physical therapist before the month was out, and whether Ellie’s cats had finally stopped giving Chains, Ellie’s man, the creeps from hell. Yeah. The man was terrified of black cats. All three cats were black. Jet black. And they all looked at Chains like they’d love to steal his soul. I couldn’t help but giggle at the mental image. It was easy, comfortable noise, the kind that let me breathe instead of spiral.
Then Nadine gave me a gentle smile as she continued asking me questions. “When was your last cycle, hon?”
I opened my mouth to answer and nothing came out, because I genuinely didn’t know. I sat there running back through weeks, then months, and came up with nothing solid to grab onto. “I don’t…” I frowned, actually working the math like it might change the answer. “Not since before Éclipse. Not since before they took me.”
Nadine paused, studying me carefully. She didn’t look alarmed, so I let it go. “OK,” she said, easy as ever. “That’s good. I think Pain’s running the blood test. Our machine is more basic than we could get at a hospital or doctor’s office, but it’s really all we need here. He’s checking your blood for anemia and the very basics.” She smiled. “Shouldn’t take long.”
Nadine stayed with me, chatting lightly as she offered me a cold bottle of water from the fridge and handed me a pill.
“What’s this?” I looked up at her questioningly.
“Just a multivitamin. I can tell by looking you’re at least slightly anemic.”
Pain came back into the room and I automatically checked his expression for a clue as to what he had to say. I had no expectation there was anything wrong with me other than stress. So why did I feel like I was missing a big piece to the puzzle?
He nodded to Nadine, and she reached for a small gadget with a little probe on it that kind looked like a fucking pocket rocket.
“Uh, Nadine?” I looked up at the other woman. “I really like you, but I don’t swing that way.”
Nadine barked out a laugh and Pain actually had to turn away and covered his mouth with his hand. He still chuckled.