Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Seeing Liberty happy like that gave me a funny feeling in my chest. She didn’t laugh like that around me.
Nina spotted me first. “Prez,” she said, stopping whatever she had been doing.
Liberty’s gaze swung to mine, and her amusement vanished. “I didn’t realize the time. I’m sorry,” she immediately said and began to untie the apron she was wearing.
“I’m ten minutes early,” I explained, then looked back at Nina. “Was hoping you had something to eat.”
She nodded, laying the rolling pin down.
“I can fix it. You keep doing that, and then the filling is ready to go on the stove. Just cut it in round circles, like I showed you. Scoop it in the middle, fold it over, and seal it with the fork tongs. Tablespoon of butter per pie. Two to three minutes on each side. Be sure to use the iron skillet though. Mama D said that made all the difference,” Liberty told her, then walked over to the fridge.
I watched her, not sure what to make of the fact that I’d walked in on Liberty teaching Nina how to make something.
“She’s showing me how to make fried apple pies the way her grandmother used to. I’ve made them in the past, but they were from some recipe online,” Nina told me, smiling, then glancing over at Liberty.
I looked at Dolly. “Micah here?” I asked, knowing he had to be if Dolly was.
He didn’t trust any male around her. She was a sweet thing. Quiet and tiny. Her amber eyes softened slightly at the mention of his name.
She nodded, her cheeks a touch pink. “He went upstairs to take my things. He’s here for church, but we’re staying a couple of nights.”
Micah had once lived here until he got pussy-whipped by Dolly. He put a ring on it so damn fast after she got out of the hospital due to an accident caused by his ex-girlfriend. At first, I’d worried it was because he felt guilty over what had happened to her, but I hadn’t been here much to see the entire thing play out. The man-whore had been reformed by his sister’s best friend.
“This is the plate you put back for Liam, correct?” Liberty asked Nina, pulling a plate out that was covered in aluminum foil.
“That’s it,” Nina replied as she went back to cutting out a circle of dough.
“You knew I’d come hungry,” I said as I pulled out a stool and sat down across from Nina.
She glanced up at me. “I’ve been cooking for you long enough to know you,” she said, and then she nodded toward Liberty, who was heating up my plate. “That one though makes me feel a tad bit inferior. I’ve yet to find something she can’t do.”
Liberty looked over her shoulder at Nina. “Don’t start that. I can’t make your biscuits or your fried chicken the way you do.”
Nina chuckled. “Thanks for that, but if you tried, I have no doubt you’d excel at it.”
“I want you to come help me in my flower beds at home,” Dolly told Liberty. “Now that the house is finished, I feel as if the outside looks bare.”
I had known Nina and Goldie would befriend Liberty and make her feel comfortable. Dolly would be a good influence on her. I hadn’t expected to walk into my club and see Liberty fitting in so well. She hadn’t been easy for Selena to live with, growing up, and the way she’d stormed out of her house, I’d been prepared to find out she had shown that side of herself here by now. She was sleeping in my suite. I knew everyone was letting her have her way because of me. I’d thought she’d be a little more demanding, not so … helpful.
Liberty placed the plate in front of me. “I reckon you can get your own drink,” she said, then walked over to the stove and began to stir something in a pot.
Nina’s eyebrows shot up as she looked at Liberty’s back, then at me. There was amusement dancing in her expression, but she didn’t dare smile. Standing up, I walked over to the fridge and got a bottle of water, then went back to my plate of food.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” Micah drawled as he entered the kitchen. His hand patted my back hard. “How’s big daddy?”
The laughter in his eyes when I looked at him wasn’t surprising. He was a smart-ass, and the fact that I’d knocked up a one-night stand must have been an endless source of entertainment for him.
“Micah!” Dolly scolded him.
He turned his attention to her, and his smirk switched to that ridiculous lady killer smile of his. “What, Tink? I was just having some fun, baby.”
She shook her head, trying to act as if she wasn’t melting under his gaze. The two of them were a touch nauseating.