Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
I glare at him, though I don’t know why I bother, because it doesn’t faze him in the least.
7
Blair
* * *
Why did I leave a basket of laundry outside the laundry room? My pale-pink undies are right there on top as Magnus and I walk past.
I slip out of my heels, sighing happily, and use my foot to ease the basket into the laundry room.
“He’s here!” Coop cries from the living room.
Kid footsteps pound on the wood floors as both boys run into the kitchen.
“Whoa!” Coop takes in Magnus’s tux, looks at me, and then looks back at him. “Are you my mom’s boyfriend?”
Let the humiliation begin. I cringe and jump in to answer before Magnus has to.
“No, we went to an event for the team, remember? Aunt Jules and Noel invited us. There were lots of other players there.”
“You could be her boyfriend if you want,” Coop says. “She doesn’t have one and no one ever takes her out on a date.”
“TMI, Coop,” Chloe says, coming into the kitchen.
I start to get cash from my purse, but she says, “No, my dad already paid me.”
“What? Why?”
“That’s just my dad. He paid for the snacks I brought over, too.” She bends down to hug Coop, and then Eli. “Be good, guys. I had fun tonight.”
“Thanks for quizzing me on spelling words,” Eli says.
“No problem. You’re a better speller than my brother, and he’s in college.”
She stands and says to me, “Can you text me about when his spelling bee is? I want to go if I can.”
“Of course.”
How did I get so lucky? Noel’s children have embraced Jules, me, and my boys so warmly that it already feels like we’re family.
I walk Chloe to the front door, watching until she’s in her car driving away. By the time I turn around, Coop, Eli, and Magnus are all upstairs.
My feet hurt from the heels and it’s been a long day, so I go to my bedroom to change. My groan of satisfaction when I take off the shapewear I’m stuffed into like a roll of sausage is borderline sexual.
I trade my underwire bra for a simple cotton one I can pull on over my head, then put on baggy dark-gray sweats and an old Radiohead T-shirt. If I had cute loungewear, I’d wear it, but I don’t. I take my comfort seriously, and I don’t like lacy little camis and shorts.
After washing my face and taking the many pins out of my hair and letting it down, I go into Coop’s room.
Oh my ovaries.
Magnus is sitting cross-legged on Coop’s bedroom floor, his shoes off. He has laid his jacket on the bed and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt, his bow tie undone and hanging loose.
“This is a Feeyari,” Coop says.
I can tell by his grin that Magnus knows it’s a Ferrari. He glances over at me, the quick look turning into a lingering one.
“I’ve turned back into a pumpkin,” I say.
“You still look great.”
Eli is sitting nearby, arranging cars in a line. Coop is the more outgoing of the two, but Eli always likes to be included. I go sit down beside him.
“Did you have a good time with Chloe?” I ask him.
He pushes his glasses up on his nose. “It was fun.”
I can tell from his drooping eyelids that he’s tired. Eli has always been a sleeper, like me. When he was four, he started asking me to close his door at bedtime so he could sleep better.
Coop is the opposite. Getting him down when he was younger was like trying to put a lit firework to bed. He was always popping back up, coming into my bedroom or the living room.
Because he forgot to tell me a kid got in trouble for talking during class that day. Because he was thirsty. Because he missed me. Because he wanted to know if frogs poop. He had endless reasons for not going to sleep, and there were times I slept on the floor beside his bed because I was too tired to keep putting him back to bed.
Eli climbs into my lap and rests his cheek on my chest. He doesn’t want to go to bed before his little brother in front of Magnus. I kiss the top of his head.
“After Coop shows Magnus his room, I’ll read you guys a chapter of our book,” I say.
“But he just got here!”
“My dude, it’s almost eleven thirty p.m.,” I say. “Only one of us has the energy level of a squirrel, and it’s not me.”
“We can have a sleepover,” he says. “Then we can play cars in the morning. We can make a tent and sleep there.”
“Coop. I don’t think Magnus wants to sleep on the floor in his tuxedo.”
“Come on.” Coop gives Magnus a pleading look. “I promise it’ll be fun. My mom will make cinnamon roll pancakes in the morning.”