Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Lily leaned into Jaret. “Are your family’s lunches normally like this?”
“Actually, they’re being well-behaved. Must be because you’re here,” Jaret told her.
She waited for him to tell her that he was joking.
But he just started eating again.
All right then.
“You don’t have to eat everything on your plate, Lily,” Alec suddenly said. She glanced over at him. Alec Malone was an intimidating man, tall and broad, quite serious-looking, but when he stared at his wife and kids, there was a softness to his face that was unexpected. “But you do have to eat something.”
All right, sure. She should eat.
She started off slowly with small bites, making sure that she was eating politely. But as she stared around her, she saw that everyone ate with gusto. They didn’t pause. They didn’t chew twenty times. They didn’t lay down their cutlery between each mouthful. The laughter was loud, the talking even louder, but she realized that the whole room was filled with fun and love.
She gradually started to relax. When she became full, she leaned toward Clem again. “You do this every Sunday?”
“Yep. It’s the rules. Alec expects everybody to be here.”
“You really did find an amazing life, Clem. I’m so glad for you.”
Clem glanced over at her. “Sounds to me like you could have an amazing life too, with Harvey.”
Lily shook her head, feeling that wave of sadness rush through her. “No, Harvey’s better off without me.”
Clem just sighed and shook her head. Lily knew that she didn’t agree, but that was okay. She didn’t have to.
Lily knew the truth.
40
“I’ve got to do a run into town to get some more feed,” Clem yelled at Lily. “Do you need anything?”
Lily walked toward her sister who was standing at the entrance with Lamb Chop next to her. That lamb seemed to follow Clem everywhere. If Piggy Wiggy had a crush on Jaret, then Lamb Chop was obsessed with Clem.
“You’re going to get the feed yourself? Doesn’t Jaret usually do that?” Lily asked.
“Yeah, but he’s busy, and I just got the call that our order is ready. He’s out checking for any fences that need repairs after the storm.”
They’d had the most amazing storm last night after lunch at the Malone house. The three of them had sat out on the porch under blankets with hot chocolates and watched the lightning.
But this morning, Jaret had headed out early to check on all the animals and the fences.
“Is he going to be happy that you went and got it yourself?” Lily asked.
“Pfft,” Clem said. “I’ll get back before he gets home. It won’t be a problem.”
Yeah, Lily thought it probably would be a problem, and maybe she’d make herself scarce when Clem did get home in case Jaret wanted to wallop her ass.
She really did not want to listen to that.
Lily was starting to worry that she was cramping their style. The house wasn’t big, and even though she was having a great time, something wasn’t right.
There was a hole in her stomach that nothing seemed to fill.
And she knew exactly what would fill the hole. Only, she couldn’t have him.
Was she always going to feel this way? Maybe she needed to get a job. Something more to distract herself with.
Of course, it would be easier to go job hunting if she had her car, but she’d woken up one morning to find that it was gone. Jaret told her that he’d had it towed to the local garage to have it looked over, but she hadn’t heard anything about it, and she had this sneaking suspicion that he’d had it taken away to trap her here.
But she couldn’t exactly ask him that, now could she?
“I wonder if I should come with you and check how the mechanic is getting on with my car,” she said. “If there’s time, I could check around for any jobs.”
“Uh, no, you can’t do that,” Clem said hastily.
“I can’t? Why not?”
“Because I need you here. Someone has to stay here and mind Chuck Roast.”
“What? Why?”
“He’s feeling poorly.”
“Oh no. He is? Is the vet coming out?” she asked in concern. She and Chuck had a bit of a strange relationship. He hated her, and she felt the same about him. But it didn’t mean she wanted him to be sick or for anything to happen to him.
“Yeah. No, but if he gets worse, I’ll ask the vet to come out. I think it’s just an upset stomach at the moment. Maybe he’s a bit constipated. I might have to help him along.”
How on earth did you help a steer along with his constipation?
Actually, maybe she was better off not knowing.
“Right. Well, okay. What do I do then? What if it gets worse?”
“I mean, you could get a bit of olive oil and massage his butt hole.”
Lily gaped at her. “I’m not doing that.”