Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 74214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
“Well, I, uh, have been staying with—” Hazel started, voice tight.
“She’s not living with me,” I said, hating the way her face fell instantly. “She can’t be until she moves her shit over.”
“About that… is it okay that I brought the shrimp? I know their ecosystem is supposed to support itself, but I’m paranoid about it.”
“How about we rent a truck and move everything over?”
“A truck?” she asked, shaking her head. “I don’t have that much.”
“You have furniture.”
“None of which fits with the rustic decor at your place.”
“So, it’ll be eclectic.”
“No, really. I don’t want to bring it. Most of it were finds from garage sales and secondhand stores because it was all I could afford. I really just want my clothes, bedding, and some of the cooking stuff I have.”
“If you’re sure.”
“Oh, maybe we should take the bed. The guest rooms really need some furniture.”
“Sounds good.” Even if I planned to have cribs and toddler beds in those rooms sooner rather than later.
All the times my brothers and cousins threw around that trite ‘when you know, you know’ phrase, I’d always kind of rolled my eyes at them.
It turns out, they were right.
Because I knew.
Hazel was it.
Rings and dresses and little versions of the both of us.
“Alright. All this heart and flowers shit is making me sick. I’m gonna go get some lunch,” Dom said, sliding out from behind the table and walking away.
Hazel turned, watching him leave, a wicked smile tugging at her lips.
“What kind of punishment have you cooked up?”
Hazel turned back, eyes dancing.
“I’m going to tell your mother that Domenico told me he is ready to settle down and fall in love.”
“Oh, that’s fucking evil,” I said, smiling.
“I know,” she agreed. “It’s going to be so much fun.”
Hazel - 3 months
“Isn’t it a little early for all this?” Dante asked, taking a break from his basement workout to come over to where I had six hard plastic pop-up tables set up underneath long grow lights.
I was busy poking holes in hundreds of little dirt pods with a nifty device meant just for the task that Giulia had given me the last time I’d been at her house for dinner.
“You’d think,” I said. “But a lot of these plants take forever to get going, so if you don’t start early, you’re not going to get anything worth selling in the spring.”
The year before, the garden center had ordered in a lot of the flowers and vegetable starts.
This year, I was giving a pilot program where we grew some of our own a try. But because I wasn’t sure about it yet, I didn’t want to force employees to do the work.
“What ones are you working on now?”
“Bell peppers. All the fun colors too. I think these might need heat mats, though. It’s chillier down here than they usually like.”
“You do realize the garden center doesn’t need to save money, right?” he asked, picking up one of the seed packs for purple peppers.
“I know,” I agreed. “The prices just felt insane when I went to order. Though, with how much extra work this is, it might be worth it.”
“Are these peppers too?” he asked, gesturing behind me.
“No. Those are flowers to try to impress your mom with our gorgeous, overflowing, colorful flowerbeds this summer.”
“Have I mentioned how much I love how you love my family?” he asked, making my heart go melty.
He did mention it. Constantly. And it never failed to give me the gooey feeling.
What’s even more important, they were starting to feel like my family too.
Was it still a little new for that? Yes. But also, we were heading there. At least, it seemed that way.
“Ew, you’re all sweaty,” I grumbled as his arms went around me and his back pressed to mine.
“We can fix that by getting you sweaty too…”
And, well, I was never going to turn down that offer.
“You can have me for half an hour,” I told him as his hand slid down my belly.
“Why do we have a time limit?” he asked as his hand pressed between my thighs, making me immediately start to second-guess giving him one.
“Because you got home late,” I reminded him. I didn’t bother to ask where he was. Family business was Family business. Which, in a way, meant it was none of my business. In a good way. In a way that meant he was protecting me from it, both in a literal way but also in a legal way. If I didn’t know, I couldn’t be compelled to tell the police.
So when there were meetings with the other men, or when Dante got a call in the middle of dinner and had to leave, or when he was woken up in the middle of the night, I knew not to question him and to trust that he and his Family were doing everything in their power to keep their loved ones safe and provided for.