Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 120838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
As he walked down that hall, according to Google directions, they’d needed to leave two minutes ago.
And he was keen to get there, for more reasons than just the promise of steak.
His head had been a fucking mess all day. Shitty thoughts of his father, mother and Helena mingling with much better thoughts of Blake. Her hair. Her clothes. Her shite all over his bathroom. Even the way her nails were done, in short almond shapes with a sheer pink over white tips. They were feminine, but not garish. Classy. Stylish.
Blake.
And she could dig in and hold on with those nails.
On this thought and a quirk of his lips, he knocked on his mother’s door.
“Come in!” she called.
He came in and immediately flipped back the latch that kept it open. He understood why she did that knowing he was on his way, but if he was otherwise engaged, like away or in the shower, he didn’t like it.
His mum was rushing around.
Davina was sitting in an armchair and her attention came right to him.
“I’m almost ready,” his mum said as she disappeared into the bathroom.
He lifted his brows to his sister.
She shook her head.
Fuck.
He went to the open door of the bathroom to see his mother bent over the basin, looking in the mirror and putting on lipstick.
“Good day?” he asked.
She popped her lips together twice then turned to him. “This is a lovely town.” He got out of her way as she bustled out of the bathroom. “Many fine restaurants. Bonny shops, lovely jewelry, fantastic art. And Chloe’s store is fabulous. I waited for Davi to join me, and we had fun there.”
She said all of this and didn’t look at him once.
She was shoving her lipstick in her purse when he called, “Mum.”
She clicked her purse shut. “There. Done. We can go.”
“Mum,” he repeated.
She finally looked to him.
Jesus.
He went to her and pulled her in his arms.
She began to push away but he only held her closer.
She relaxed into him, circled him with her arms and shoved her face in his shoulder.
“Ye dinnae have to go,” he said into the side of her hair.
She tipped her head back and caught his gaze. “I’m fine.”
“We can get room service here and spend time together. We dinnae get to do that much,” he offered. When she was about to reply, he tacked on, “Blake will understand. Ye ken she will. So will Ned.”
Her chin grew stubborn, she pulled firmly out of his hold, and she declared, “I’ll not lose another moment of my life pining over my own husband.”
Dair glanced at Davina.
She shrugged.
His mother drew him back when she spoke.
“I appreciate ye both looking after me, and I will not lie and say my heart isn’t broken. It is. But it has been for years. I’ve wasted enough time and emotion on your father. If I can, I’ll waste no more.”
Dair sighed.
“Your choice, Mum,” he said.
“So we should go,” his mother replied.
He nodded.
His sister got up, grabbed her bag, and they left.
They were in the car and on their way when his mum brought it up.
“What’s going on between ye and Blake?”
“Not certain yet,” he lied.
Davina made a pfft sound in the backseat.
Dair smiled.
“I hope ye ken what you’re getting into, son,” his mother said.
“And what’s that, in your estimation?” he asked curiously.
“She’s a beautiful girl, always was. Then again, so is her mother.”
Bloody hell.
“But Helena did a number on her two daughters,” she continued. “Alex escaped as fast as she could. Even when she was young, Alex was only there physically and only that when she had to be. Blake bore the brunt of it. Perhaps because she was firstborn, and more was expected of her. She got crushed under it and had to act out to assert herself in some manner.”
“She’s not the woman she used to be, Mum,” Davi piped up from the back seat.
“No, I ken. That’s clear enough.” He felt her eyes on him when she said, “But damage was done.”
“Like what Dad did to us?” Davi asked angrily.
He shot his sister a look in the rearview mirror telling her to shut her gob.
Davi returned a mutinous expression and carried on, “Boys and their dads are a thing. Dinnae think ye missed how ragin Dair got with him.”
Dair knew his mother was addressing the side window when she said, “It pains me to know ye three all saw them, and how ye did.”
Enough of this shite.
“I suggest none of us take on Dad’s fuckups,” he stated. “It isn’t on any of us. Dinnae worry, I dinnae think I’ll turn into him because I spent most of my life not respecting the man and understanding I didnae want to be like him.”
His mother made a noise, and the sound of it wounded him, but this had to be said.