Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 112884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“Wait a second.” I hold up my hand. “Who says we are going to be living there? You hate it there.”
“I don’t hate it there. I hated being there because it felt like it was my prison, but you have your house there and Kylie says you love it there.” She shrugs. “So I want to go back there, with you.”
“We don’t have to do that.” I put my hand on her knee. “We can do that anywhere. As long as you’re there, I don’t care where we live.”
“Good,” she says. “I feel the same. I spoke with Cheryl, who is going to help run the shelter for me when I’m not there, and then I’m hoping to take a more active role once big man over here hangs up his skates.”
“Shouldn’t you keep some of that money for you, just in case?” Zoe asks and she shakes her head.
“I have everything I need. I’m going to keep this house and rent it out,” she tells them. “Plus, I get alimony, which I plan to use to start building my real estate portfolio.” Which again shocks me since she never spoke to me about it. She gets up. “Now, I have to continue packing since the movers will be here tomorrow morning, and we have a dinner thing tonight with Kirby and a couple of his teammates.”
“Well, what can we do to help?” Zoe asks, getting up, and the four of us work side by side to pack up her house. It doesn’t take long since she is only bringing her clothes and a few special mementos.
When we walk out of her house, she hugs her parents and we make plans to get dinner tomorrow after my game. I pull into the garage and look over at her smiling. “Welcome home, officially.” I kiss her lips and then slip my hand in hers and pull her into the house. The lights are off, and then when she walks into the living room, I hear the roar of “Surprise!” fill the house.
She takes a step back, not sure what is going on, and I step in behind her. “Surprise, baby,” I whisper in her ear and look around to see that Sofia did not fuck around.
“What is this?” She has her hands over her mouth as she looks around.
“It’s your divorce party.” Kylie rushes up to her first. “The brute over here”—she points to me—“had me write the words ‘not’ on the ‘single and ready to mingle’ napkins.” She moves out of the way as her aunt Zara and uncle Evan come up to her to give her a hug. Matthew and Max are next, with their wives, Karrie and Allison.
Then she sees her sister, Zara, and she bends her knees and looks like she’s going to sit on the floor. “You didn’t think I’d miss this party, did you?” She picks her up from the floor. “Come on, let’s get you changed.”
“I need a hug,” she hears from the side, and when she turns her head, she sees Matty there, and that is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. She literally sobs in his arms as he whispers something in her ear and she nods her head. “I’m here until eleven and then I have to get on a flight to head back home.”
“You came,” she croaks out when she lets him go, “all this way for me.”
“Lexi.” He looks at her. “I would scale Everest for you.” Then he looks at me. “After him, that is.”
“Let’s get her changed,” Zara urges, pulling her toward our bedroom. I watch her go and then turn to look at everyone. Zara comes out a couple minutes later. “You can go and get changed also,” she tells me. “I think she’s still in shock.”
I walk to the bedroom and open the door and stick my head in. She’s sitting on the bench in front of our bed. “You okay?” I ask her, walking into the room and she looks up at me with tears running down her face. “Baby.” I squat down in front of her.
“You planned that party?” she asks me and I look at her. “Like, you called Sofia.”
“Well, I couldn’t exactly plan a party like this without help.” I smile at her and put my hand on her cheek.
“But you called her—”
“Your mother gave me her number,” I cut in.
“You called my mother?” she asks, sobbing.
“Baby,” I say. “Lexi.” I kiss the top of her head as she cries.
“Do you know how big that was?” she asks me, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand.
“No.” I laugh. “I just figured it would be a nice thing to do.”
“No, Kirby.” She finally stops and smiles through her tears. “For ten years I can count on one hand how many times he spoke to my family.” I look down at the floor. “For ten years I’ve had birthdays that he would sometimes forget, and then other times make a big deal about it just in front of people. But never…” She shakes her head. “Never did he reach out to my family to invite them to one.” Her bottom lip quivers. “So you have given me in one day what he never gave me.” She leans forward and kisses my lips. “You accept them, craziness and all, and never, ever back down.”