Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Shutting my menu, I nodded. “I’ll take my usual.”
Wendy nodded and wrote it down.
“What’s your usual?” Brystol asked.
“A pastrami on rye with chips,” Wendy answered for me.
Smiling, Brystol handed Wendy the menu. “I’ll have the same thing, but can you add french fries instead of the chips?”
“Sure,” Wendy answered.
“Oh, and can you add a side of macaroni and cheese?”
Wendy wrote it down.
“And do you have any cherry pie?”
Wendy looked at Brystol. “We do. Do you want me to bring that out at the same time as your sandwich, or wait until after?”
“Can you bring it out now?” Brystol asked, reaching for her water to take a drink. “Oh, and I’ll take some milk.”
“Milk?” Wendy and I both asked at the same time.
Brystol nodded. “Yeah, a glass of milk with the pie, please.”
Wendy looked at me, and I simply smiled.
“I’ll get the milk and pie right after I put this in.”
“Thank you!” Brystol said, lacing her hands together and placing them on the table.
“Cherry pie and milk?”
“Yeah, I’ve got a weird craving for cherry pie.”
“Have the cravings kicked in already?”
She laughed nervously. “I don’t think so. I was just in the mood for cherry pie.”
“And milk.”
Her gaze lifted and met mine. “And milk.”
When she smiled, I felt that familiar gut punch and had to look away.
“Um, Gavin, I wanted to apologize for what I said to you about the amount of women you…you, um…”
I looked back at her and finished, “Have fucked?”
She flinched, and I knew it was a dick thing to do.
“For lack of better words.”
I shrugged. “That’s all it ever is. You can’t say you’ve made love to someone if you don’t love them.”
Her head tilted slightly to one side. “You’ve never been in love?”
“No.”
I answered her question way too fast.
“Never?” she asked again, this time in a quiet voice I could barely hear.
Drawing in a breath, I slowly let it out. “Once, but I was young and stupid.”
“Oh.”
“What about you?”
“Me?” she asked.
Nodding, I replied, “Yeah, have you ever been in love?”
Her eyes bounced all over my face before she finally looked away…then her eyes rounded. “Oh no. My aunt Judith is heading our way.” Aunt Judith was Brystol’s mother’s sister and married to Liam’s father, Mitchel Turner.
I groaned and closed my eyes. “Please God, no, no, no.” Brystol kicked me under the table, and my eyes flew open. “Ow! What the fuck was that for?”
Plastering on a fake-ass smile, Brystol said, “Aunt Judith, how’re you doing?”
Judith stopped at the table and looked between us. “Brystol, Gavin. I didn’t realize you two were dating.”
“We’re not,” Brystol and I said in unison.
Judith’s perfectly arched brow rose. “If you say so. Brystol, I understand that Aurora is planning a meal train for Hope and my son, Liam.”
“Yes, I believe she is, after talking to her brother about Hope’s decline.”
My head snapped over to look at Brystol. I wasn’t aware that Hope had declined. I made a mental note to stop by Liam and Hope’s place to check on them.
Judith cleared her throat. “I know Nathan and Liam are close friends, and I’m not sure what Nathan is passing along to his sister, but I’m very capable of handling things.”
“Handling things?” Brystol asked. “Your daughter-in-law has cancer, Aunt Judith. And from where we’re all standing, you haven’t done shit for her.”
My mouth dropped open in shock.
“I beg your pardon?” Judith asked on a gasp.
“Everyone in town sees how you’ve abandoned them. You won’t help Liam, because if you did, that would also be helping Hope, and everyone knows you hate her for no reason. You never take Winnie, your own granddaughter, for even a few hours. Her grandfather or Aurora or Harper take her, to give Liam a break. You don’t want to handle things, Aunt Judith. You want to control things, so I’m sorry, I won’t pass along your little message. If you want to talk to Aurora about the meal train, you know where to find her.”
Judith stood there for a long second with a stunned expression. When she finally snapped out of it, she glared at Brystol. “You certainly have no issues speaking your mind, do you?”
With a shake of her head, Brystol said, “No. And I wish Hope would stand up to you as well, once and for all. You’ve made her life a living hell this last year—and I hope Karma comes back on your ass.”
Judith gaped at me. “Officer Quinn, are you going to sit there and let my own flesh and blood speak to me that way?”
I picked up my water and shrugged. “From where I’m sitting, I don’t see her speaking anything but the truth.”
A look of pure outrage appeared on Judith’s face. “I’ve never been so insulted in my entire life!” Turning to face Brystol, Judith started to say something—but took a step back when Brystol stood, chin tilted up, silently daring Judith to open her mouth.