Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
“Oh, that’s awesome,” I whispered in awe.
A voice whispered at the back of my head that he was dangerous.
That in the dark he’d admitted to nefarious things.
I guess maybe I didn’t fully believe him. Maybe I’d put him too high on a pedestal, and I couldn’t see what he’d become, but I still couldn’t look at him and see him as anything but kind.
The way I always had.
He’d pulled me out of the mire. Stood behind me when I had to learn how to grow beyond my insecurities and self-doubt. Beyond the sorrow and the fear of being alone.
I’d succeeded for a lot of years until Ethan had whittled me back down. Quietly and callously. Made me feel inferior and insignificant. Gaslighted me into thinking I was only hallucinating when it came to his dirty dealings.
I refused to be that person ever again.
Manipulated and blinded.
And knowing that? Looking at Cash right then?
I didn’t think I’d ever seen so clearly, which didn’t make any sense.
I didn’t know how to reconcile what he told me and what I was feeling.
“Well, you know Colin and Eva are going to be climbing all over everything, Mom, so he’s got to put in some safety measures.” Addy’s sweet voice drew my attention to her as she snapped the stem of a flower and added it to the bouquet she was making.
“It’s very thoughtful of him,” I forced out.
“Not a big deal,” Cash muttered. “Probably should have done it a long time ago.”
Except I doubted he ever had other people here—let alone children—that he needed to worry about.
“Well, either way, I’m really thankful. I almost panicked when I heard the kids out here by themselves.”
“Sheesh, Mom, we’re not even breakin’ any rules.” Colin intoned it like he was offended. “We woke up and were gonna wake you up, and Mr. Cash was coming down the hall from his secret room and he saw us and said we had to be extra quiet because you were tired and needed to get some rest.”
“It’s true, Mom,” Addy said. “And he was barely even grumpy.”
Addy peeked at him. My little caretaker who’d been worried what he would be like. She’d been the most reserved around him, but I could tell that she was warming up.
Realizing under all those hard layers, Cash was a good guy.
Gratitude flooded out of me as I turned back to Cash. “You didn’t need to do that.”
He didn’t look at me when he mumbled, “Wanted to.”
“I admit, I didn’t sleep the best last night,” I hedged, knowing he would know what I was referring to.
Air puffed from his nose, and he was reluctantly admitting, “Yeah, me neither.”
“Big changes on the horizon, I suppose.” I tittered an uncomfortable laugh and shifted on my bare feet.
The bobbing of his head was slow, the man so clearly fighting a war I didn’t fully understand. But I wanted to. I wanted to know him the way I used to. Before everything was shattered.
Shucking the emotion off, I inhaled a cleansing breath. “Well, why don’t you all come in and help me make breakfast? I bet Cash is going to be hungry after all this hard work.”
“I hungry!” Eva shouted. She immediately forgot about the poor butterfly and blazed for the door. Duke barked and trotted along at her side.
“I can help.” Addy edged over to me. “And look, I got you some flowers so we can make the table extra pretty because Mr. Cash doesn’t have one single flower in the house. He really needs a decorator in there.”
Addy shoved them at me.
Laughing a soft sound, I peeked over at Cash whose head was still bowed as he calculated the measurements, though it was barely shaking in rattled bemusement.
“They’re very pretty,” I told her.
“Sorry, Mom, but I got a whole other job that I gotta do,” Colin rambled. “I gotta keep my commitments like my Cub Scouts told me, remember? I already told my Mr. Cash that I was gonna help. Do you think I can even get a patch?”
Cash let out a heaving sigh.
He was in for so much more than he bargained for.
Cash seemed to contemplate something for a moment before he passed the tape measure to Colin. “Can you measure that board right there for me?”
When my son hopped to his feet like he’d been given a mission to save the world, I knew I made the right choice.
Coming here.
Maybe the real problem was that I didn’t want to be anywhere else.
TWENTY-ONE
CASH
“Cub Scouts, huh?” I asked Colin. He knelt right beside me, the kid so close I could barely read the measurements I was taking.
“Yep. I even got a pack, and I got like fifteen whole patches.”
“Fifteen?” I drew it out like I couldn’t believe it, giving him a low whistle. “No way.”
“Yes, way.” Pride rolled off him as he gave me a sharp bob of his head.