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)
“And when would that be? The next millennium?” Blake returned.
Ned’s jaw grew hard. “I did what I thought was right.”
“Well, Dad, it was wrong. Phone her. Tell her I want to meet her. Alex will too. I mean, seriously?”
“I’m pleased this is your response,” Ned said.
“And what did you think it would—?” Blake cut herself off and then she spoke snidely. “Oh, I know. You thought I’d throw a fit. Blake Sharp, up to her old tricks again.”
Dair dug his fingers into her flesh.
“Of course not,” Ned bit.
“So? Why? Over a year, Dad? Why?” she pushed.
“Because I was enjoying our time!” Ned shouted.
Blake stilled.
“I found the woman meant for me not long after I came to the realization I’d been a shit father and I needed to stand up for my girls!” Ned kept shouting. “You’ve bloomed into something extraordinary. Rix makes Alex happy. You girls love spending time together. I love spending time with you. But I also love to be with Marlo. What do I do? Which one of you do I disappoint?”
“Daddy, you being happy and spending time with a woman who you care about would never disappoint me or Alex,” Blake said softly.
“Marlo is a good woman. Sharp. Clever. Talented. Kind. Beautiful. But we’ve finally built something priceless, you girls and me. I didn’t want anything to disturb it,” Ned replied.
“Oh, Daddy!” Blake cried, pulled from Dair’s hold, rushed to her father and threw herself in his arms. After they held on for a while, Dair heard her say, “You must phone her. Tell her you told me. Tell her I’m annoyed with you for keeping her from me. And we’ll do lunch or something when we get home.”
“I’d love that, darling.”
Crisis over, Dair moved to leave them to it, and when he did, he saw his mother and sister had already left.
He joined them at the dining room table.
They both stared at him.
He picked up his cutlery and continued eating.
“Are they all right?” Davi asked.
“As rain,” Dair answered after swallowing potato that had soaked up au jus.
It was going on cold, but it was still fucking fantastic.
“I must say,” his mother started, “it’s quite a feat.”
“What is?” Davi asked.
“How Blake handpicked all the good parts of her to keep, and held tight, and binned all the parts her mother gave her.” Kenna lifted her fork with some beef to her mouth, chewed it, swallowed it and concluded, “She’s quite something.”
She absolutely was.
Blake and Ned returned and took their seats.
“My apologies for the melodrama,” Ned said.
“Och, Ned, you’ve made my month by calling Helena an easy lay,” Kenna said.
Ned’s lips curved up.
“We shouldn’t have followed,” Kenna went on.
“Then you would have missed the good part,” Ned drawled. He drew a line under it when he asked, “Did you save room for Blake’s vanilla cake? Or, after we finish here, shall we adjourn to the living room for digestifs and give our stomachs time to settle?”
“I couldn’t eat another bite,” Davi said even while she popped a piece of roll into her mouth. “But I’m not missing vanilla cake. Or a digestif.”
“We’ll play Ticket to Ride,” Ned said.
“God, Dad, no. You smash everyone at that game every time,” Blake returned. Then to the table, she declared, “It drives Rix up the wall.”
“Ticke to Ride?” Kenna asked.
“It’s a board game,” Ned told her.
Blake Sharp played board games?
Fuck, the woman just got better and better.
“Which is why we should play it,” Ned said to his daughter. “Give you another shot to knock me off my winning streak.”
“If it’s a game, I’m in,” Davi said.
“Me as well,” Kenna put in.
“Aye,” Dair added.
“Then it’s settled,” Ned decided.
“You cooked, love,” Kenna noted to Blake. “Davi, Dair and I’ll do the dishes.”
“You relax, Kenna. Dair and I will clean up,” Ned stated.
“Works for me,” Davi agreed.
“For as long as I can remember, Davina urgently had to use the loo every time there was cleanup to be done,” Dair leaned over to tell Blake.
Blake shot him a sweet smile then looked to her father. “Just stack and soak, Dad. I’ll clean up tomorrow. You know I like to putz around like that in the morning.”
Blake Sharp did dishes.
And she liked doing them?
Oh, aye.
Better and better.
“As you wish, darling,” Ned murmured.
They finished dinner.
Everyone helped clear the table, but the men put the food away, stacked and soaked.
They had digestifs and Ned annihilated them at the game.
And it didn’t seem possible after that dinner, but it was true.
Blake’s vanilla cake was the best thing he’d ever tasted.
Chapter 8
Pistachio Muffins
Dair
* * *
Dair woke to rays of sunshine streaming into a bedroom with walls that were almost entirely windows.
He turned onto his side in a bed that was empty, save him, and commandeered a pillow, holding it to his chest as he looked at the sun streaming through the trees.