Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 77793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“Grass isn’t always green. It can also be yellow or brown, or sometimes red or even blue.”
“I suppose if I said the sky is blue, you’d also have an argument for that.”
“Obviously. It’s quite often not blue, especially during the night.”
“Hmm, that’s a good point. But back to the ham thing. Why did you ask me about ham? It’s because you want this, right? I know you don’t want to keep working some soul-sucking job for the rest of your life. Just because you’d be a part of our family doesn’t mean you can’t still be independent and do things for yourself. It doesn’t mean giving up who you are. It doesn’t mean you didn’t make it or that you failed at something. Having someone in your corner doesn’t make you weak. I can’t promise that things will always work out, but sometimes you just have to take that chance. Being hurt in the past can’t ruin your whole life going forward. That would just…that would just suck, and it’s shit. I won’t let you go down like that.”
Her eyes narrow. “So what are you going to do? Tie me up, toss me in your suitcase, and fly me back to San Diego? You know they’d find me at the airport with their machines, right?”
“That’s not a bad idea, except I’d probably skip the airport and just drive.”
“I think Mrs. Johnson would like that. If I told her that you tied me up, threw me in your backseat, and took me away to live a life of intrigue and mystery.”
“And romance?”
“Romance is a dumpster fire waiting to happen.”
“My brothers would say differently.” Yeah, that’s really all I have. Currently, the chances of me being swallowed into my own black hole of kick-my-own-ass are a hundred percent. “They’ve proved differently,” I tack on like it’s so helpful. “I never thought any of us would fall in love or get married or ever have families, but they’ve proved that it can work. They weren’t expecting it when it happened to them.
“Ransom and Ayana, we just went to their wedding, and I think you’ll agree that they’re completely in love. They found out they were expecting a baby after a one-night stand. My other brother, Alden? He and Azalea were betrothed at birth by criminal fathers who were both killed, and they went on to live separate lives until we…um, maybe sorta kidnapped her because we needed her to fake-marry Alden for…uh, okay, the point is that they got fake married, but then they fell in love for real. They had a real wedding years later. My twin, Atlas? He fell in love with a woman over the phone the very first time he heard her voice. He fixed her whole house, which was crumbling down and infested with raccoons, just to take her out on a date. And Lennox? He and Cass met because he thought she was someone else and kidnapped her by mistake, but they bonded over pie, and when he came back a year later, it was basically a crash course of falling in love.
“It was never supposed to end up that way, but it did, and look at all of them now. Love is real. No, it’s not a guarantee that it’s going to work, but nothing ever is. Nothing. Ever. That’s shit, but we can’t say we’re not going to live or even try because that’s shit too. One thing I do know? If you choose our family, we’re not giving up on you. Ever. Not even if we’re not together, and not even if you want to go live somewhere else and hack from there. You’d still be a part of us, even if you’re not a part of us.” By that last us, I mean her and me, and yes, she gets that. “And…and if you like eating ham and it takes some ham to bribe you to join our family, then I’ll go out and buy all the ham there is. I’ll even take cooking classes to prepare it properly.”
Her gaze finally hits the floor. “Actually, I don’t really like ham. I was just wondering about it, that’s all.”
“You can’t tell me that you’re happy here.” Great. Now I basically just insulted her apartment. “I mean, truly happy. If you can tell me that you are, and you really do mean it, then I’ll sign the papers and accept that. But if you’re not, then don’t waste your life here doing what you think you should be doing because someone or something planted that idea in your head. I know what it’s like to get a second chance, to get a better life. I lived a shitty start too, and there’s not a day that goes by that I’m not thankful as all heck now, and it’s not just because Granny makes mean chocolate chip cookies. It’s because she’s given us a rocking life, so much love, a family, opportunities I could never have dreamed of, and superbly good chocolate chip cookies. Nothing can make you happy forever, but some things can be good for a long time. Perhaps that’s the best we’ll ever get. Maybe if they’re good for only a short time, they’re still worth it too, and maybe the rest is just up to us and how we decode and remember it.”