Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 57897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
I should probably tell her.
Being engaged meant that all our secrets were out on the table. Well, all except one, maybe. It wasn’t exactly a secret; it was just something she didn’t know about yet. I had every intention of telling her right from the beginning of our engagement but hadn’t gotten to it because I wanted to pay for some of the key parts of our wedding first and then surprise her with how little left had to be done.
But now I was regretting not telling her from the beginning as I walked back into the house and saw her asleep on the couch, a notepad on the coffee table in front of her with a ton of math written out long on it. She had been budgeting and zonked out, and I could see the red marker on the table and the big red writing on the bottom. She couldn’t figure out how to break even.
I should tell her.
I had to tell her.
Staying quiet to let her sleep, I went into the kitchen and made us some dinner. It was simple but one of the dishes I was good at, though it was kind of hard to screw up pasta. But the onions, garlic, peppers, and carrots cooking down smelled fantastic, and when I got around to adding Italian sausage, it was beginning to smell like a good meal.
I plated everything and made a pot of coffee. The smell of the fresh brewed coffee was enough to rouse her, and she made a happy little moaning sound from the couch. I peeked in and smiled when I saw her, her chin on the back cushion as she stared over it at me with a sleepy grin. Her hair was mostly up in a bun, but strands of it were falling down, framing her face and making her look absolutely adorable.
“Hey, you,” I said. “I made us dinner.”
“Hi,” she said, sounding childlike in her drowsiness. “I fell asleep.”
“I saw. You’ve been working too hard. You need to get naps in once in a while before your body just makes you do it.”
“Too much to do,” she said. “I have to figure this stuff out, or else the farm doesn’t stand a chance.”
“I want to talk to you about that,” I said. “But before that, I think you need some coffee and a big old bowl of sausage spaghetti.”
“Mm. It smells good.”
“The coffee or the spaghetti?” I asked.
“All of it. Everything. Gimme.”
I laughed and brought her the mug first, kissing the top of her head as she turned and sat cross-legged on the couch. When I came back with the bowl of pasta, she was cradling the mug up to her face with a mouth smile and her eyes closed. She took a big sip as I sat the bowl on the coffee table in front of her.
“Good?” I asked.
She nodded happily, and her eyes fluttered open as she looked over at me.
“What kind of coffee is this?”
“I got you some caramel beans,” I said. “There’s a new coffee shop down by Dina’s, and they have a bunch of flavored beans. I thought those smelled like you.”
“You know me well,” she said, taking another happy sip before sitting the coffee down and picking up the bowl. “This smells amazing. Thank you for cooking dinner. I was just out of it.”
“I don’t mind,” I said. “I like cooking but I only have a couple things I’m any good at.”
“Well, you are really good at this,” she said as she stuffed a forkful in. “Remind me the next time I want pasta that I don’t need to go to Sergio’s.”
I smiled. I liked making her happy. Pride filled my chest anytime I could take care of her, and I loved the idea that I was looking at a lifetime of it.
We ate in a happy quiet for a bit before Beth Ann got about half the bowl in and turned to me, looking brighter and more awake.
“So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?” she asked.
“I saw you were doing budget stuff,” I said.
“Oh, yeah.” Darkness crossed her face as she looked down at the now closed notepad. Her mouth turned down as she seemed to remember what she was doing before she fell asleep.
“I think I might have something that will help,” I said.
“What’s that?” she asked.
I cleared my throat and sat forward on the couch, putting my bowl down on the coffee table.
“Well you know about my accident, but I didn’t really give you the whole story.”
“The whole story?” She put her own bowl down as she leaned forward, concerned.
“Well, the accident was found to be the fault of the company,” I said. “It took a while, but eventually, the company decided to settle out of court with me. They covered the medical fees, and in order to avoid getting sued, they gave me a big lump sum payout.”