Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 22788 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22788 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Emily sighed. “Pull over.”
Pete frowned and glanced over to his wife, but she pointed toward the side of the road.
It was already dark, as they wanted to spend the whole day with their kids. They might have also helped them stay awake for a good long time, by plying them with lots of candy that had warnings about making kids hyper.
He brought the car to a stop but didn’t turn it off. Emily released her seat belt and then he was taken aback as she moved to straddle his lap.
“What are you doing?” he asked, not that he had a problem with this position. It felt really good having her in his lap.
“Getting your attention, and sometimes I know the best way is to grab it before anyone else would even dare.”
He couldn’t help but smile as he stared into his wife’s dark brown eyes.
“There is no one, do you hear me? No one else I have ever wanted. I wouldn’t care if you were still bouncing from job to job. You were doing everything you could to provide for me, and then when Kasey and Leah came along, you were there.” She kissed him. “Don’t ever doubt my love for you. Not what you can provide, but all of my love for you.”
He stroked some of her hair back. She had long stopped dying it black. In fact, it was at the end of high school, he finally got to see the natural dark brown of her hair. A different shade to Mae’s auburn hair.
Pete had loved this woman when she would paint her eyes and lips black, and he also loved her when she went for her natural makeup look. He just loved Emily. Those feelings had not changed, even as they grew up.
He put the car into “park.”
“How about we start making a baby right now?” he asked.
“Uh, Pete, I think there is something I need to tell you.”
****
The screaming didn’t stop until after midnight.
At first, Mae thought there was some kind of apocalypse horror sequence of events happening. From the moment she arrived at Emily and Pete’s house, the two kids had been on a hyper kick. Caleb arrived a few moments after her, and before any of them could say anything, Pete and Emily left, telling them to have fun.
That should have been her first clue, but she didn’t think their parents would ply them with candy before babysitters arrived. She should have known by now, Emily and Pete had always been a little devious. Now, she and Caleb had to literally stop them from crawling up the walls. That had been so hard.
She had worried that the neighbors would complain about the noise. Seeing as they wouldn’t stop screaming, she and Caleb had no choice but to run around the house and check to make sure every window was locked. They were.
There were no calls to the cops for the noise. No neighbors coming around to tell them to stop. Mae didn’t know if they were just being polite.
Getting the kids to bed had to be one of the hardest things she ever had to do. Both of them decided that would be the perfect time to be quiet and play hide-and-seek. It turned out she and Caleb were crap at the game. The kids knew all the best hiding spots, and it took them over an hour to find them. It was only because a floorboard had squeaked, and simple powers of deduction, that she’d been able to grab Leah. Caleb had found Kasey.
Taking them to bed now was even more difficult. Neither of them wanted to go. They’d put them in bed, try to leave, and seconds later, they would suddenly need the bathroom or a glass of water. Leah was the one to finally decide she was just too awake to go to bed.
She and Caleb just looked at each other. She’d found the evidence of her friend’s cruelty in the trash bin, and rather than fight what their parents had done, she embraced it. She turned the music on and up, but not too loud to disturb the neighbors. That had stopped them from screaming, but until after midnight, she and Caleb had danced around the house like crazy kids, as the other two eventually wore themselves out.
A sugar high soon turned into a sugar crash, and within minutes, she and Caleb had to carry both girls up to their room, because they were completely down for the count.
After taking a long shower, Mae had changed into a pair of pajamas, and they had set up the sofa bed in the main sitting room. Pete and Emily only had one, so they would have to share. Caleb left to take a shower, and Mae made her way into the kitchen.
Her friends had at least stocked the fridge. Grabbing a carton of milk, she started to make two hot chocolates. She hadn’t asked Caleb if he wanted one. She just assumed after the night they had, they could both use one.