Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Olivia sounded shocked. “Are you talking about Darren?”
“No, honey. Darren was a gambler, but he liked the ladies. No, I’m talking about Harvey.”
Keane held on as an eighteen-wheeler blew by them, making the car shake and the Chihuahua go crazy. She leapt onto his lap, tiny paws on the window as she barked like mad.
No one seemed to notice.
“But you were married to him for twenty years,” Olivia remarked. “You didn’t divorce him. He died.”
Gwen nodded and raised her voice slightly because the dog was still letting its rage be known. “Yes. Best husband I ever had, and I had a few. Four, now that I think about it. But Harvey was the best. Oh, he thought I didn’t know, but I caught him with the pastor several times. He also had a wife. Nice lady. I think we would have been good friends if she hadn’t run off with the pool boy. I’m sorry. Pool man. I’ve been told it’s sexist to call him a boy, but he was twenty-two. That’s a boy to me.”
“I’m getting confused,” Keane admitted. “And is there anything I can do to help your dog calm down?”
“Don’t you worry about Muffin. She’s very protective,” Gwen said, grinning in the mirror. “I think she likes you. And don’t worry about the family stuff. It can be confusing.”
“That happens a lot around here,” Olivia agreed. “All the family trees are weird and slightly contorted in this town. Everyone knows everyone else’s business, even when you think you’re doing a great job of covering it up. I’m still shocked about Harvey. I can’t believe you stayed married.”
Someone needed to protect him from his protector, who was jumping up and down and getting way too close to a place he didn’t want a dog’s claws in.
“Well, he was meticulous with the house chores. He loved to cook, and he always looked nice. He used to watch my soaps with me, and we could laugh forever. And he didn’t bother me about sex. It was my best marriage. I miss him. I thought you were making an excellent choice,” Gwen admitted. “So, no, I didn’t mention it, but I did mention to your momma that I thought the city boy wasn’t a good match.”
“Ah, so that’s how she found out,” Olivia said with a sigh.
Gwen turned Olivia’s way. “I don’t know why you try to keep these things from your parents. They’re the kindest people in the world.”
And she drifted into the other lane. So they swerved again to avoid hitting a truck with a horse trailer behind it.
“Well, they are also insanely protective.” If Olivia was feeling worried about the state of their travel, she didn’t show it. “The truth is the only time I remember my parents fighting over anything real was about me and the men I dated. It was worse after I found out my high school boyfriend was dating me because of my family’s money. I cried to my mom, who told my dads, and that’s how Jason Hart’s beloved Mustang got cubed. No one knows how that happened.”
“Cubed?” Garrett asked.
Olivia nodded. “My dad likes to cube vehicles that offend him. It’s a family tradition. My mom has a cube, and so does Papa. He uses his as a footrest.”
He was genuinely happy he hadn’t brought his beat-up truck now. It seemed like Muffin was finally chilling out. Or maybe dying. The Chihuahua flopped down on his lap, her belly up to the world. “He had your ex-boyfriend’s muscle car crushed into a cube? And he didn’t get sued?”
“Oh, he paid Jason’s family for the car,” Olivia admitted. “They were so happy about having the cash they signed all the documents my uncle put in front of them. It’s one of the only times I’ve seen Uncle Lucas really go at my dad. They joke around a lot, but Lucas read him the riot act that day, and Momma cried and Papa told Dad he went too far. It was a lot of drama. Josh and Grim were complete assholes who ate popcorn and watched the whole thing. So no, I don’t bring up my love life a lot. I hate it when they fight.”
“That’s why you were okay pretending to be Bobby’s girlfriend?” Garrett asked.
“I think we call that his beard,” Gwen cut in.
Olivia huffed. “That is a little on the offensive side, and I did it because I love him and his parents were being difficult. They kept trying to set him up with young women.”
“It helped you to have a long-distance boyfriend, too.” Keane could see the advantages for Olivia. “It kept your parents off your back.”
“Well, apparently Mom knew most of the time. But as to the problem of Scott.” She was silent for a moment. “I should have told him to fuck off.”