Total pages in book: 188
Estimated words: 179812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 899(@200wpm)___ 719(@250wpm)___ 599(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 179812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 899(@200wpm)___ 719(@250wpm)___ 599(@300wpm)
When we hang up, I cry for hours. But then it occurs to me. If he can’t come to me, then I’ll go to him. Because I miss him too.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Of course, there are complications in the plan.
The first being I’m traveling with his family, my family. Because it’s not as if I can go see him all by myself. Who will take care of Snow? Even if I left Snow alone with any of the Thorne siblings, what do I tell them about where I’m going? I never take trips. I don’t have any out-of-town friends. I basically had no life before the Thornes swooped in and changed it. So I dress it up as a girls’ weekend, and since all the girls—Callie, Tempest, Wyn—miss their family too, they agree.
Meaning, we need a plan to navigate this family trip. We need to be careful and not raise any suspicion.
When he comes to pick me—us—up at the airport, he has Ledger and Conrad with him. And I’ve got Snow, Tempest and the twins; Callie, Reed—because Reed wouldn’t let her go alone with the babies—and Halo and Flora, and Wyn. It’s a big family reunion where everyone gets to hug everyone. Girls get to jump in their men’s arms. Babies get passed around and loved on. And of course, Snow hugs the guys, starting with Shepard. Because he’s her favorite.
I hug people too. Namely, Ledger and Conrad. The former is comfortable. I’ve always known him through Tempest and over the last few weeks, we’ve gotten closer. He’s not my best buddy or anything but I’m at ease around him. The latter is half comfortable and half awkward. Mostly because Conrad is such an authority figure and the head of the family. And I’m still a little intimidated by him. I don’t think that’s ever going away; not like it’s gone away for Snow.
But the one person I do want to hug, or more like jump in the arms of because he’s the reason this trip was planned in the first place, I don’t. I don’t even go close to him, or more like too close lest it look like something is going on between us. Especially when there are two people here who know what I feel for him: Tempest and Snow. They both give me a side-eye that I ignore and just say hi to him, throwing a smile. Small and polite, nothing that suggests I want to run my fingers through his messy hair that’s way past needing a haircut, even for him. Or rub my nose in his black t-shirt, because his t-shirts are so soft as he picks me up in his arms like I weigh nothing and takes me away.
And his response to my polite greeting is to clench his jaw, grab my and Snow’s bags and stride away. Which reminds me how he used to be back in the days when we’d first moved into his house. Always tense and angry. While it still hurt back then that I had to stay away from him and do the right thing, it somehow hurts more now because I’ve abandoned all pretense of being the good girl and embraced this thing between us. Plus now I know what it feels like to be with him, so yeah, much harder.
Next comes the family dinner at a restaurant.
I pick a seat far away from him and sit beside Snow. I try not to look at him too much, but of course, it’s hard. So I catch glimpses of him here and there. While everyone else is talking and laughing—couples cozying up with each other; kids having their own blast, which is basically just crying and banging on things closest to them and playing with their food—he’s the only one who’s silent and frowning. Just like at the party all those weeks ago when he was due to leave.
“Did someone piss in your Cheerios?” Ledger asks him from across the table where he’s sitting.
Yikes. First because it’s loud enough for the whole table to hear, even though he isn’t so very far away from Shepard. In fact, Ledger is right across from him. And second, I knew everyone would’ve noticed his unusual behavior, but I was hoping people wouldn’t call him out on it. Especially with a smirk and a provocative lilt to their voice.
His chest and his shoulders, his entire posture was already tight, but at Ledger’s question, they grow even tighter. His jaw pulses and he looks up. “You talking to me?”
His response makes the table quiet down a bit. Not the kids, but the adults who were still busy in their own conversations, despite Ledger’s comment. It makes Ledger smirk harder though as he replies, “You’re the only one who looks like someone pissed in their Cheerios, so yeah.”