Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
“Everything went fine,” I told him.
I would break my own legs before I complained about how needy the ranch’s residents were and how around midnight, when Margaret had called for the millionth time, I’d considered running his phone over.
He raised an eyebrow like he could tell there was something I wasn’t telling him. There was a lot I hadn’t told him, but I shrugged and gave him the only piece of honesty I was willing to share with him in front of the kids. “I made some friends, maybe some enemies, and I might’ve considered calling a priest to come and exorcise M-a-r-g-a-r-e-t, but you have nothing to worry about, Fluff. I handled it.” I clutched my whiteboard. “All that matters is that you had a good break.”
And I would do it again if I got another kiss for it.
Not that I would tell him that.
Chapter
Eighteen
It wasn’t very nice, but I was this freaking close to groaning the next morning when I walked into the kitchen, because sitting at one of the islands were Franklin, the elder woman with the silver-blue hair, and the cyclops elder whose name I still didn’t know.
“Morning,” I greeted them, trying not to sound reluctant while I went over all the reasons they might be here this morning. I didn’t think I’d pissed anyone off too bad answering Henri’s phone. I hadn’t taught the kids any bad words either.
Was it something about the dreams? Or the gnomes? Other than Henri, no one else had brought them up with me after that first visit.
“Good morning,” the cyclops began to greet me before the woman, named Ema, cut the BS before I’d even made it halfway into the kitchen.
“We were hoping to discuss—” she started to say.
“An incident was brought to our attention regarding some unauthorized visitors,” the cyclops announced, cutting her off with a side look.
“What—” Oh. I tapped into my inner Henri and kept my face blank to finish my question. “Visitors?” It wasn’t that I was playing dumb, I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.
“That’s what we’d like for you to tell us. Another resident informed us that they came across a peculiar scent, as well as yours,” Cyclops answered.
It was only at that point that I noticed the dirty glare Franklin was aiming at the cyclops and Ema. He was annoyed. For the twentieth time, minimum, I wondered what was going on with him. Last night during dinner, he’d been extra quiet, his body language had come across as tense, and he’d left the kitchen the second he’d finished eating.
Even Henri had mentioned how off he’d been acting, but he’d assumed that Franklin had been mad at him for leaving overnight without a warning.
“A resident told you they smelled me and someone else?” I asked, mostly just to see what they knew.
“Yes,” the cyclops answered. “In the forest, close to our residences. That’s an expressly forbidden—”
I glanced at Duncan lingering by my feet, my boy tall and gangly, and I couldn’t help but smile down at him and his smiling face.
LOVE, I tried to tell him.
One of his ears twitched.
Dragging my attention back to the elders, I wondered where Henri was. After he’d gotten home the day before—and kissed me, which I was still overthinking and yet trying not to think about—he’d surprised the crap out of me by sticking close by for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
It had been so nice.
We’d spent another hour outside with the kids, where he’d helped me judge their gymnastics by drawing his own score right next to mine. Then he’d followed us to the nursery and spent the next couple of hours in there, which all the kids had been over the freaking moon for. A few of the youngest puppies had even cried while they’d climbed into his lap and tried to claw their way up to his face. It had been so dang cute, I’d taken pictures.
We’d had dinner together later on, then a call had come through that had drawn him away, but we’d met up outside with Agnes and Duncan to play tag and have popsicles before bed.
And the whole time he’d acted like he hadn’t kissed me on the mouth. He’d acted like normal, likeable Henri. A Henri who treated me like I was every other person in the world.
It was a travesty—one I wanted to analyze under a microscope but wouldn’t. Because if he was going to act like it hadn’t happened, then so would I. I could pretend he wasn’t giving me mixed signals.
I could pretend him putting his lips on mine was no big deal.
The point was, I didn’t think there had been time at any point between the bogeymen and now for him to tell anyone about the incident. Now someone had ratted only me out? It kind of seemed like some BS to me.