Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
She sits down between Cat and Haven, leaving me to sit across the table from her. She may try to ignore me, but she’s going to have to look at me while she does it.
She holds the baby through dinner, and you’d think she’s a pro by the way she’s able to eat and coo at the baby at the same time. There’s something stirring inside me, seeing her like this, and it’s taking everything I have to stay on my side of the table.
Dessert is about to be served, and I can tell that Chrissy is getting antsy, meaning she’s about to leave, but before she does, King stands up. “I have a surprise for everyone.”
We all raise our heads to look at him, and he’s smiling ear to ear. He points to a television in the corner of the room, and it’s not the usual décor, so it’s obvious it was brought in for a reason. We all turn to look at the black screen. King is standing next to us, and we hear ringing and then all of a sudden, our brother Ledger’s face appears on the television screen.
We all gasp, and everyone gets up from their seats to move closer. King is holding his phone up at us so Ledger can see us, and he must be airplaying it to the television. Everyone starts talking at once, and Ledger laughs. “Hey everybody! Let me see her.”
We all know who he’s talking about, so Chrissy stands up and moves closer to King’s phone. “Uncle Ledger, this is your niece, Macy.”
He’s smiling ear to ear. “Oh my, she’s beautiful. She definitely takes after her momma.” He searches out Haven in the room. “Hey little Momma, how you doing? My brother taking care of you?”
She nods. “You know he is. How about you, Ledger? You doing okay?”
He nods, and this time his smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m doing good.” He looks around the room. “Wow, it looks like the family has grown since I’ve left. I need to get back more.”
“Next year, right?” Chrissy asks. “You’re getting out next year?”
Ledger went into the military when he turned eighteen, but he’s remained close to all of us. Any time he gets leave, he spends it here in Whiskey Run with us. We’re all ready for him to come home permanently.
“Yep, I should be home in June.” He looks at Chrissy. “Where you going all dressed up, little sister?”
King turns the camera to himself and grimaces. “She has a date.”
“A date? You boys keeping tabs on that?”
Chrissy throws her hands up. “Guys, I’m thirty-three years old. We can stop with the big brother overprotectiveness.”
Ledger leans into the phone. “You may be thirty-three, Chrissy, but to me you’re always going to be the little sister that begged not to be adopted because you wanted to stay with our sorry asses, so now you’re stuck with us. Gabe!” he calls out, searching the room for me. “You on this?”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Yeah, Ledger. You want me to vet the guy, I’m on it.”
Chrissy turns to me and groans as she gives me a look that says, you traitor.
I just smile at her. “Don’t worry, Ledger. I’ll take care of it.”
The conversation goes on with everyone taking a turn to talk to Ledger, and later when he hangs up there is a silence in the room that wasn’t there before.
King stands at the table. “It will be a year, guys. Less than a year if all the paperwork goes through. Then we’ll have the whole family back together.”
Everyone nods in agreement. We were all happy to see him, but also it serves as a reminder of what he’s doing. He’s served our country for the majority of his life, and we want him home with us.
They are about to serve dessert when Chrissy hands the baby to Haven. “I hate to eat and run, but I need to go.”
Haven is smiling ear to ear. “Have fun tonight. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I growl, literally out loud and move to my feet. “Come on, I’ll walk you out.”
Chrissy walks around the room, hugging everyone, and then I follow her to the front door as she slides her feet into her heels. She’s huffing at me. “You really don’t need to walk me out.”
“We need to talk.”
I put my hand at her waist and guide her out the door. We’re silent until we get to her car, and I stand against the door, blocking her from getting in. She huffs and crosses her arms across her chest, pushing her breasts up, exposing more of her cleavage. I drag my eyes off her exposed skin and look into her eyes, hoping she tells me no. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”