Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Even if I was a teeny bit jealous that he’d met the love of his life before I could even say I had a steady boyfriend.
“Bruce! Where are the pineapples?” I heard my mom’s voice bellowing from the kitchen.
“You wanted pineapples?” my dad replied. I could already tell he was joking, trying to see how my mom would react.
“We need at least three! You can’t have piña coladas without pineapples! Rush is coming over for the first time in years and we can’t serve a bartender bad cocktails!”
“I guess he’ll just have to drink tap water,” Dad replied. I could hear him trying not to laugh.
“Hell no!” Mom said.
“Ahh, and the Wood family dinner has already begun,” I said, keeping my voice low as I grinned at Tristan.
Jack came in, giving me a hug hello before putting his arm around Tristan. “They’re crazy, but I love them,” he said to Tris.
I’d brought a grocery bag full of pineapples, and I showed the two of them before we made our way into the kitchen.
“Shawn, honey, welcome,” Mom said as I walked in, her eyebrows raised high. “If you don’t have pineapples with you I’m about to turn your ass around and send you right back to the store.”
I picked up the grocery bag and plopped it down on the kitchen counter. “Dad texted me before I came over. It just said SOS: Pineapples. At least three.”
“Thank the Lord on high,” Mom said, smiling wide and grabbing them. “It’s so good to see you, hon. You look fantastic. Are you working out?”
“No more than I usually do on the job,” I said.
“Doesn’t he look like he’s glowing?” Mom asked Tristan, then looked back to me, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Are you seeing someone?”
“You don’t have to whisper. Everyone knows I’m painfully single,” I said.
Mom clicked her tongue, shaking her head as she moved to start chopping up the pineapples. “I have three incredible, handsome sons and one brilliant daughter—and still only one grandkid. Maddy is amazing. She needs cousins.”
“Mom, come on,” I protested.
“I know, I know, none of my business. You guys are all I need, grandbabies or not.”
“I’ve told you a million times that I want kids. I promise,” I said. “Even if it means adopting alone one day.”
Mom reached over, squeezing my shoulder. “You’ll find your guy one day.”
I wanted to roll my eyes so hard it would hurt, but I’d have been more annoyed by her pestering if I didn’t know how deeply she meant it. Mom cared. She and Dad were amazing parents, and supportive of everything my siblings and I ever wanted in life.
After talking with Rush about how cold his dad had been to him, I felt like I had parents from paradise.
“And the Wood Family Pineapple Crisis is averted,” Dad said, appearing in the kitchen again and heading over to give me a hug. “Where’s your brother and Rush?”
“They texted that they’ll be here very shortly,” I said. “I like your shirt, dad.”
“On sale at Benny’s shop for twenty-four bucks,” Dad said, gazing down at his shirt, which was a Hawaiian shirt printed with plenty of illustrations of topless women. “Can you believe that? I thought your mother would hate it.”
“I love it,” Mom said as she cut up the fruit. “The more tits the merrier, I say.”
Jack started cracking up, and just then I heard the sound of the front door opening again. Nathan and his daughter came into the kitchen followed by Rush, who somehow looked even better than the last time I’d seen him.
It was unfair how Rush seemed capable of that. I’d known him for a long time, but it was as if kissing him, holding him, and having him inside me had broken my brain. Now every time I laid eyes on him I felt like my whole body stood at attention, drawn to him like a damn magnet.
“Maddy,” Mom called out, rushing to give her only granddaughter a hug. “Are you taller? You must be taller. I know I saw you about a month ago, but still.”
“Good to see you,” she said. Her hair was dyed with bright pink tips. “And no. I think I’m destined to be five foot five forever.”
“And there he is,” Mom said, dropping what she was working on and stretching her arms out immediately. “Oh, goodness, Rush, you look so good. Come here.”
“Jolene,” Rush said, leaning in to return her hug. “It really has been too long. And you’re looking damn good yourself.”
Rush said hello to everyone, including my sister Lindsay who had come back in from the backyard. Maddy and Lindsay quickly got into a conversation about dog training, and Dad fired up some classic rock tunes on his speaker system that spanned the whole house.
As I watched Rush catch up with my whole family, our secret loomed at every corner of my mind. To everyone else, Rush and I barely knew each other. We’d never been friends back then, and yet now I’d slept in the same bed as him just a few nights ago.