Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
No way for us to meet in the middle.
Which nearly freaking killed me.
I’d tossed all night, silently begging him to change his mind and come to me. To offer me the same that he was asking of me.
His trust.
His belief.
For him to tell me that we were more than the sorrows scattered between us. More than the baggage that we both dragged behind us.
Because I knew I was so close to giving him all of myself.
And after last night, I didn’t know where he and I stood. If him walking out had been an ending to something that had just begun—a blossoming of new life.
My chest pressed full with the hope of it.
God, I really was a fool.
Raven
Details, please! That boy has it bad.
Charleigh
I’ve never seen him like he was Friday night. Foaming at the mouth.
Raven
Hello, Piper Poo, you sexy bitch. I know you’re there. Give us all the dirty deets. Wait, no, save them for in person. I want to see your expression when you fess it up.
Charleigh
You can’t break Nolan’s heart. He can’t wait to meet Finn. He’s already packed a bunch of different toys for him to play with.
Emery
Maci cannot stop asking about meeting him, either. And I have to admit, I’m excited, too. I haven’t been around a super little in so long!
Charleigh
Gah. Baby cheeks. I’m going to need all the kisses.
Raven
We’re going to have two babies now. What is this amazing life?
They were talking about us like we’d become a permanent fixture in their family.
My spirit thrashed.
So desperately wanting to be a part of something so beautiful.
“You going to stare at that thing all day or cover that potato salad and take it to your party?”
A yelp ripped out of me at the voice that hit me from out of nowhere. I must have jumped three feet in the air.
Gasping, my hand flew to my chest as I whirled toward Nelly who was looking at me with her brow quirked for the sky. “My, my, you’re a jumpy thing.”
I scowled at her. “That’s because you scared the crap out of me. Why are you sneaking up on me like that?”
Incredulity filled her features. “Snuck up on you? I just waddled my way from the bedroom, all the way across the living room, and into the kitchen in plain sight while you just stood there chewing your nails down to the nubs with your potato salad half done.”
I glanced down to the big bowl that I’d been working on for the last two hours. “It’s finished. I just need to wrap it.”
“The question is, are you actually going to do that and go to your party?” she prodded.
I wavered. Caution tape wrapped around my spirit, all while I wanted to rip it away and run free.
“I don’t know what I’m doing, Nelly,” I admitted as I blew out a weighty sigh.
“You’re making friends.”
My insides twisted and snarled. It wasn’t as simple as that.
It was…bigger.
More important.
“It’s all happening so fast, I wonder if I’m rushing into something without really thinking through the consequences.”
A frown dented between Nelly’s eyes, though there was a softness to it. “I know you’re scared, Piper. I know this is all new and different and unexpected, but usually the best things in life are things we don’t prepare ourselves for.”
Air puffed between my lips. I never could have prepared myself for Theo. For this man to come storming into our lives.
And the scariest part of all was I wanted him to be there.
“What?” Nelly pressed, her love moving through her grayed eyes as she shifted around to stare up at me.
“I think I’m falling for someone who can’t love me back.” Pain splintered through me at the thought. No question, I was already long gone.
She scoffed. “You are talking about Theo? Because that boy is head over heels.”
My head barely shook. “I don’t think so.”
“We are talking about the same man who brought us a Christmas tree, got everything to decorate it, then spent the evening snuggled up with you and your son on the couch like you’re a family?”
“It wasn’t—”
“Don’t downplay whatever went on last night,” she said, cutting me off. “I might be old, but I’m not blind, and I don’t think you are, either. Not once have I seen you and your son smile like that, and I promise you, Theo’s smile was to match.”
“He’s…broken, Nelly.” I didn’t know how else to explain it.
“Well, I’ve got news for you, Piper. We all are. We’ve all been fractured and shattered and cracked. We have all lost pieces of ourselves that we never believed we could survive without. We have been hurt and wounded, and some of those scars are deeper than others. But that doesn’t mean we don’t still exist. It doesn’t mean we aren’t still breathing. It doesn’t mean our hearts aren’t still beating.”