Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 139088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
And it got even bigger.
Knox cleared his throat.
At this point, all the men caught sight of something behind me, and then they twisted to look in the opposite direction.
I turned to the first point that took their attention and saw Roam staring across the courtyard.
Therefore, I, too, twisted to see what he was staring at.
And I saw Alice, a new resident at Oasis Square, coming in the gate laden with what looked like a very heavy laptop bag and what appeared to be an overstuffed (but stylin’) tote, both hanging from her shoulder, the handles of two Trader Joe’s bags were in her other hand.
She was very new to the Oasis, so we didn’t know Alice well.
We knew she was a social worker. We knew she was Moses’s (Shirleen’s husband and the manager of the control room at NI&S) daughter from his first marriage. We thought she was on tap to be an Angel because we knew she’d jumped to the front of the very long waiting list to get a unit at Oasis Square, and that was normally a prelude to a new pop portrait turning up at the Angels’ Lair. We were surprised that hadn’t happened (yet?). And we knew, even though she’d moved from Denver just a few weeks ago, she was super busy because we never saw her, except how she was now. Loaded with stuff and hurrying somewhere.
Last, we knew she was Roam’s stepsister because Roam was Shirleen’s son.
I had deeper intel on this, since Cap was also Shirleen’s son (yeah, this whole thing was a family affair in a variety of ways), and Raye was my bestie. So I knew Cap and Roam didn’t meet Moses and his two daughters until both the boys and the girls were in their late teens. And then both the boys went off to do their thing, and both Moses’s girls went away to college. So it wasn’t like those men grew up with those women.
And looking back at Roam, I was seeing his feelings about Alice were not at all brotherly.
However, he didn’t make a move to help her get up to her apartment carrying her burdens.
That was so un-Nightingale Man I was stunned.
Hmm.
“I’m outta here,” Shaw said into my reverie. “Later.”
We all gave him our laters, but it was only me who looked at Knox with big, what’s-up-with-Roam-and-Alice eyes.
Knox’s lips hitched up and he shook his head.
I didn’t know if that meant “not now” or “not ever.”
We would see.
Those in for the long haul settled in, the rest of us wandered to our respective units.
Knox and I did it after we stopped to give Alexis a hug. I also gave Jacob a hug, but Knox and Jacob slapped each other’s biceps so hard, I figured they’d bruise.
After that, me with my guy who had my dog cradled in his arms while I had our scrapbook (somehow (magically?) Tod had pared our scrapbook down in the interim so Knox and I could peruse it without extraneous stuff getting in the way) headed up the stairs to my place.
When we were locked in, Knox put Jacques down and he trotted directly to the bedroom (with a quick stop to sniff his empty dog bowl and grab a half-hearted slurp of water). His trajectory was Knox’s or my pillow.
He’d be displaced. He always was.
But he never gave up.
I dropped the scrapbook on the kitchen bar and turned to my man.
“Does Lan have a thing for Joey…or is it Gemma?”
“No comment,” he replied.
Oh no he didn’t.
“Knox.”
“It’s not Gem, and that’s all I’m gonna say about it.”
Seriously?
“Ugh!” I cried. “What is it with these guys? Why don’t they call the fucking ball?”
“Babe, just let it happen however it’s gonna happen.”
I had no choice.
But I didn’t have to like it.
I wasn’t a pouter, but I was feeling like pouting.
“Alice and Roam?” I tried.
“You gotta know what that’s about.”
Yeah.
I did.
If Roam went there, and it didn’t work, that could be cataclysmic for their family, so I could totally see the hesitation and even the decision never to take it there, no matter how much he was into her.
Knox called my attention back to him when he asked, “You freaked about your wedding book?”
“Our wedding book,” I corrected.
He grinned at me.
“I’m not if you’re not,” I answered.
“I’m not.”
“I could tell.”
He came to me and rested his forearms on my shoulders. “So, when that comes, warning. I want in.”
“In?”
“On planning.”
He hadn’t made a secret of that, but it was nice to have confirmed.
I tipped my head to the side. “Do you have a dream wedding?”
“No. But I found my dream girl, so I’m gonna be in on planning because we’re both gonna have our dream wedding.”
Best answer evah.
“I’m losing track. Is it my turn to go down on you or is it your turn to go down on me?” I asked.