Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
“You’re not?”
She shakes her head. “By the time I’m ready, my parents will be old. I see how happy they are now, with the triplets and I don’t know . . .” she shrugs.
“You know, now that you mention it, my parents are old and they’re adopting a baby. Who do you think gets Ollie if something happens to them?”
“Peyton,” Paige says quickly. “She’s the responsible one out of the three of you.”
“Ouch.” I put my hand over my heart while nodding. “You’re right.”
“Where’s Nola?”
Damn, I didn’t think she’d pick up on Nola’s lack of presence. I sigh and run my hand through my hair. “At her parents.”
Paige eyes me and then looks down at the keyboard, pressing more keys. “I don’t like her so I’m glad she’s not here.”
“Really? I thought you guys got along.”
She shrugs. “I guess it’s one of those things where you pretend until they’re not around.”
Interesting. Her admission makes me wonder who else doesn’t like my ex. It’s not like I’m going to take a poll at the end of the night to find out. It’s unsettling though, to think my family faked their way through my relationship with Nola to make me happy.
“Damn . . .”
Paige looks up at me. “Sorry.”
“No, you don’t have to be sorry,” I tell her. “I’m just taken aback.”
She plays a few more notes on the keyboard and then brightens as soon as Mack opens the door. She stands so fast, her knee bumps everything out of her way.
“Hey, Quinn,” Mack says as he tries to hide how excited he is to see Betty Paige.
“Hey, Mack.” We exchanged holiday pleasantries.
“I’m going to go upstairs and hang with Mack. I hope you’ll be okay.” Paige leaves the studio, leaving me in a stupor over her words. She hopes I’ll be okay? I’m the one who asked her to come down so we could talk about her melodrama.
“I was duped by a teen.” I hit the cymbals one last time and head upstairs, where the party has grown exponentially. As soon as I step into the kitchen, I bolt through the door into the other room, needing to avoid any type of kitchen duty. If my mom or Josie asks, sure, I’ll help but I’m not going to be a sitting duck and turn into everyone’s server boy.
In the living room, where I had my first ever Christmas in Beaumont, my entire and extend family has gathered, minus the moms. My aunt Yvie sees me before anyone else and squeals as she comes running toward me, as if she floated on air. I’ve always marveled at how light she walked which is a testament to her years of dancing. After our little love fest, where she told me she was very proud of me, my grandma—looking frail—beckons me for a hug.
“Such a handsome young man.”
“Thank you, Grandma. The cruise life looks good on you.”
Grandma fans herself and blushes. “Let me tell you, if you ever decide to go for an older woman, I’ll have a list for you.”
My insides twist into knots. Something tells me I don’t want to go on any of the cruises these grandparents of ours are going on. In fact, I should have my dad check them out and make sure nothing nefarious is going on. The last thing any of us want to hear is about the freaky stuff going on while they’re at sea.
I make my way around the room, saying hi to Xander, Nick, Talisa, and my grandpa, who like my grandma is getting up there in age. While Grandpa and I are chatting about the tour, Josie yells it’s time to eat. Everyone rushes to the other room, and we line up like kids in the cafeteria on pizza day. Why we ever thought school pizza was the best is beyond me.
Or maybe we just thought it was the one decent meal they fed us.
When it’s my turn to fix my plate, the front door busts open and JD announces his arrival by letting us know the party can start. Jenna, who I’m shocked doesn’t have permanent rolling eyes, whacks him in the back with a bag.
“Be quiet, there are sleeping babies in the house.”
“Uncle JD is here, babies,” he says as he claps his hands and comes into the dining room to greet everyone. The polite thing for me to do is put my empty plate down, but I’m starving, and I know JD well enough to know he’ll take my place in line.
“Where are the babies?” Jenna asks.
“Right here.” Elle’s voice rings out and then my mother squeals. I’m assuming no one expected Elle and Ben to be here today, let alone with the boys. Now with everyone clamoring around Elle, I get to make my plate of food in peace.
“Hey,” Eden says as she gets behind me. “How’s the tour?”