Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Lifting Winnie, I rolled her off Aurora and covered her up. The kitten got up, stretched and curled up next to Winnie.
“You both fell asleep.”
Slipping carefully out of bed, Aurora stretched and then placed the book she had been reading to Winnie back on the shelf.
She walked over, kissed Winnie on the forehead, swept up the kitten, and quickly turned to head out the door. I followed her and closed Winnie’s door halfway.
Aurora was already nearly down the steps. Once she was at the bottom, she set the kitten down. “I should go now.”
Reaching for her hand, I whispered her name. “Aurora, please wait.”
She smiled. “Okay. Thank you for dinner. The meatloaf was amazing, and I think the kitten really likes her setup.”
Sighing, I drew her to me, cupped her face in my hands and said, “For the love of everything good, stop talking.”
Her eyes went wide, and I couldn’t resist it any longer. I leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. When she let out a little moan, I ran my tongue along her lower lip, causing her to gasp. Our tongues moved lightly together until I deepened the kiss. The feel of Aurora’s hands sliding up my chest nearly had me coming undone. The countless times I had dreamed of kissing her were nothing like the real thing. She tasted like honey and licorice, which was crazy because she hadn’t eaten either of them. But that’s what she tasted like. Just like she smelled like licorice all the time. It was fucking intoxicating.
She slowly broke away from the kiss, and I leaned my forehead against hers.
“I’ve waited so long to kiss you.”
Drawing back to look at me, I saw the confusion in her eyes.
I smiled. “We need to talk.”
Her mouth opened to say something, and I placed my finger on her lips. “What I meant to say is I need to talk to you, and I need you to listen.”
She nodded. Taking her hand in mine, I led her over to the sofa. We both sat, and I drew in a deep breath.
“I don’t know how to start, so I’m going to start at the beginning.”
“Okay.”
“Shortly before Hope found out she had cancer, I asked her for a divorce.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she stared at me. Slowly shaking her head, she asked, “What do you mean you asked for a divorce?”
“Let me back up some. Before Hope found out she was pregnant, we had separated briefly in New York. It was pretty apparent after we married that we both wanted two totally different things in life. Hope wanted to travel the world, and I wanted…well, I wanted The Muddled Moose someday. So, we decided to end things. During our separation, she showed up one day and told me she was pregnant. We decided, for the sake of the baby, we would give it another try. Hope’s whole way of thinking had been turned around after she found out she was pregnant. She was hell-bent on raising Winnie in Moose Village. I had already started the process of looking into making The Muddled Moose a reality, so I made it happen. It had always been a dream to open up a rooftop bar over the historical Moose Village Hotel. My father is a contractor, so with his help, we got things going. Once we moved here, I don’t know what I thought would happen. I guess I was hoping Hope would be happy, especially since she was the one who insisted that Winnie should be raised in a smaller town and not New York City.”
“She wasn’t? She seemed to be happy when I first met her. Although she did seem tired a lot.”
“Hope was far from happy, and I’m sure part of it was that she wasn’t feeling well from the cancer before she even knew she had it. Anyway, we had drifted so far apart and my mother treated Hope like shit, and Hope was growing tired of it. We argued a lot, and it became increasingly clear that things wouldn’t work out between us. Then something happened that ended our marriage. At least it did for me. I asked her for a divorce. She agreed, and we decided we’d share custody of Winnie. Hope was even making plans to go to Italy for a few weeks to see a lake she had always dreamed of. It wasn’t long after that we found out about the cancer.”
“Oh my God,” Aurora whispered.
I nodded. “I couldn’t leave her, at least not until she fought it and got healthy again. I know everyone thought we had a perfect marriage and that I was madly I love with Hope, but I wasn’t, Aurora. Hope had been lying to me, and I had been so angry with her that I wanted her to leave and go to Italy. Part of me wanted her to stay there and never come back. I haven’t told anyone that or even admitted it to myself, but that’s what I wanted. Her to leave and never come back.”