Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
The only problem was that we had no idea when the right moment would turn up. Divorce was a difficult topic, regardless, and it wasn’t as if they’d be happier in a year.
These days, I hate that you hold such power over me. You can still make my heart beat faster. You can send my pulse through the roof and give me shivers. You make me react so strongly.
You used to call it your superpower—and proof of how fucking perfect we were together, because of how we made each other feel.
“We’re magnets, baby,” you joked once.
Maybe you were right, considering I can’t fucking free myself from your pull.
The irony of those words isn’t lost on me. Free myself… I’m not free. I haven’t felt free since you and I were solid.
CHAPTER 11
Eight months ago
Acadia National Park
Ash Riley
“Please, Dads,” Hallie begged. “The rails are up and everything! It’s not like I’m gonna fall down.”
I was on the fence. So was Nate.
I checked the sturdiness of the rail on top of the RV. Dylan wanting to sleep on the roof didn’t worry us as much. He went bouldering with me in the summers, and he had coordination skills. Hallie could still trip over her shadow. Or, as today’s hike had proven, over a pebble.
We’d rented this particular RV this year because of those rails. Dylan had been quick to ask if he could sleep under the stars, and we’d spent a couple of sunsets up here already.
I went over to the ladder and climbed down, and I met Dylan’s gaze.
He shrugged. “I can keep an eye on her.”
Until he fell asleep. Then what?
Nate left the grill and came over to us. “Maybe we give it a try? We don’t know yet if it’s going to be too cold for her. She might climb down before midnight.”
We were having an awfully chilly summer vacation, and it wasn’t just the fact that we were in fucking Maine.
Hallie beamed. “Yes! We’ll try.”
She might climb down before midnight.
She might also fall down and break her neck.
God. What was it with this family and wanting to try? Had they no damn respect for the risks?
I released a heavy breath and put my hands low on my hips. “All right, but on one condition,” I told Hallie. “You and Dylan sleep head-to-head, not next to each other. I want you both at the center of the roof.” I looked at Dylan. “Inflate the mattresses before you climb up, and bring the mosquito canopy. I can already picture her batting some critter away and falling off the roof.”
Dylan cracked up. “Yessir.”
Mikey came over to me and hugged my hips. “Can I also sleep on the roof?”
That was funny.
I smiled down at him and wove my fingers through his hair. “You get to sleep in the big bunk with me.”
“I’m not sleepy, Daddy!” Lily hollered over by the table.
I chuckled. “I know, princess. I’m talking about later tonight.”
“’Kay.” She returned to guarding the ketchup bottle.
“You don’t want to sleep up there anyway, sweetheart,” Nate told Mikey. “It’s gonna be cold, and there are mosquitoes everywhere.”
Mikey scrunched his nose. “Why do Dylan and Hallie wanna do it?”
We sent the two eldest warning looks, so they didn’t sell the idea to him. Hell, even I wanted to sleep up there, preferably alone with Nate, but life didn’t work that way.
Hallie shrugged. “I’ll probably come down in the middle of the night.”
“I want more space,” Dylan said. “You hog the bed.”
“Aw, the hell he does,” I replied. “He’s just a cuddler.”
“Yeah.” Mikey jutted his chin at Dylan.
If we ever went on another family road trip together, we were gonna have to rent a bigger RV. So far, Nate had bunked with Hallie and Lily in the bed where two parents were supposed to sleep. And I had squeezed my body up in the big bunk above the front seats with Dylan and Mikey. It’d been…tight. Although, I’d appreciated having Mikey snuggled up against me. He talked in his sleep, almost exclusively about food and animals. It was fucking adorable.
“Come on, let’s eat,” Nate said. “The hot dogs are done.”
At around ten-thirty, Nate and I helped Hallie and Dylan get settled on the roof. We sent up the air mattresses, two sleeping bags, the bug net canopy, a flashlight, binoculars, and a small cooler with drinks and snacks. Hallie dutifully stayed away from the edge.
Fingers crossed that the temperature dropped a fuckload.
“Here’s your camera, son.” Nate climbed up the ladder enough for Dylan to reach the camera bag. “Do you need anything else?”
“I think we’re good for a week,” Dylan chuckled.
“Seriously, how many snacks did you pack?” Hallie giggled.
“Well, in case you got hungry…” Nate climbed down once more.
I glanced up there. “Dylan, remember—if Hallie needs to come down, help her.”
“Oh my gosh, Daddy, I’m not a baby,” Hallie complained.