Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“Are you?” I ask not thinking that she is, and she sits back.
“No, and…” She shakes her head, “My dad is like totally obsessed with you, so that wouldn’t even work.”
“I wasn’t worried about that,” I tell her honestly. “But your parents are friends, and if I were your mom, I’d want a friend to be the one to tell me what’s going on.”
“I guess you’re right,” she says as there is a knock on the door. I start to get up to answer it, but it’s pushed open slightly and Logan pokes his head inside. When he sees that Billie is crying, he frowns and looks at me.
“What happened?”
“We need to talk,” I tell him, getting to my feet.
“What happened?” he repeats, looking at Billie.
“She’s fine.” I open the closet, grab a wash rag, and run it under cold water. Once it’s drenched, I pass it to her. “Hold this against your face for a few minutes to take away the redness, then go back out to Cat. I’m sure she’s worried about you.”
“Okay,” she whispers, avoiding looking at her dad.
“Come on.” I push Logan out of the bathroom then grab his bicep and lead him through the living room. When we get outside, I walk him towards the barn where I know it’s quiet and we can talk without being interrupted.
“All right tell me what’s going on,” he says, looking down at me and I let out a breath as I try to come up with a way to explain things. “Nalia,” he bites out, and I glare at him.
“Relax.”
“Relax? I just found you and my daughter locked away in the bathroom, and she was bawling.” His jaw goes hard. “Is she pregnant?”
“Oh my god,” I gasp. “No.”
“Then what the fuck happened?” He crosses his arms over his chest as he stares down at me. If I didn’t know him like I do, I would be seriously intimidated.
“Billie found Aaron on a dating app.”
“What?” His brows dart together.
“She found Aaron on a dating app when he moved in with Kristy, then he disappeared off of it, but while she and Cat were outside right now, her friend messaged her the link to his profile, and he’s back on the app.”
“What the fuck?”
“She’s obviously worried about her mom but doesn’t know how to tell her what Aaron is doing.”
“Jesus.” He steps back from me and takes off his ballcap to scrub his fingers through his hair. “Does Coop know about this?”
“I don’t know.” I rub my lips together. “She never said anything about him knowing.”
“So, this is what changed,” he mutters like he’s talking to himself, then he meets my gaze. I probably look confused because I am. “I’ve been trying to figure out why the kids seemed cool with Aaron before he moved in, and what could have changed.”
“Billie finding out that Aaron was on a dating site would definitely change her opinion of him, and even if she didn’t say anything about it to Cooper, him feeling his sister’s vibe about him might do that.”
“Shit.”
“You have to tell Kristy about this,” I whisper, taking a step into his space, and resting my hands against his chest. “It sucks that this is going to fall on your shoulders, but there is no way Billie can tell her mom that her boyfriend is cheating or looking to cheat if he hasn’t already.”
“You’re right.” His chest expands on a deep breath under my palms while his eyes fall close. “Fuck.”
“I’m sorry.”
“This is going to break her.”
“It won't, men like him don’t break women like her. Will this information hurt? Yeah, but she’ll get up, brush herself off, and move on. And in a few months or a couple of years, she’ll look back and laugh about how she thought he was the one, and how wrong she was.”
“Namalama.” Zuri’s soft voice grabs our attention, and we both turn to see her coming into the barn with Cooper.
“Hey, what are you guys doing out here?” I ask walking to where they’re standing in the doorway.
“We didn’t know where you guys went.” She looks between Logan and me. “Is everything okay?”
“Oh yeah.” I glance around looking for a reason to say that we’re in here. With only a few bales of hay, some old paint cans and the four wheelers Logan and Cooper saw earlier when my dad showed them around, there isn’t one. “I was just showing Logan where I use to hide when I was a kid.” I point up to the rafters.
“I thought Grandma and Grandpa didn’t build this barn until a few years ago.”
God, it sucks that she never forgets anything.
“Yes, well the barn that was here before this the one was built was basically the same and I use to hide in it.”
“Oh.” She gives me a doubt-filled look.