Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
The old doc looked over at me, raising his brows as if saying, ‘Do you see what I have to work with?’
“Marissa!” Dr. Castleberry barked. “This is a sterile OR. Please, for the love of God, get the dog out of here!”
I smiled.
Marissa apologized profusely and left, struggling to get the dog out before she got yelled at again.
The moment the door stopped swinging, the doctor finished what he was saying.
“They’re all left over from the old vet. I couldn't find it in me to fire them."” He paused. “But that one? That one needs a goddamn stern talking to.”
I bit my lip.
She was sweet, but she was rather clueless about anything that didn’t have to do with a phone.
“I’ll expect you to be here, every single day, from eight to two if you’re not in school,” he ordered.
I smiled.
“I’ll do that.”
And I would.
I couldn’t freakin’ wait.
I had a new husband. A plan in life. I was finally freakin’ happy.
How much better could it get?
***
Baylor showed me how much better when he made sweet, slow love to me later that night.
This wasn’t the first time we’d had sex since I’d nearly broken his wiener. But it was the first time I wasn’t actively asking him if he was okay.
Why, you ask?
Because I was delirious.
He had me in such a tizzy by the time we made it to his—our—bedroom that I wasn’t caring about anything but getting him inside of me.
And when he came, pulling me right along with him, I made a promise to myself.
I’d never, not ever, take this for granted.
Chapter 23
Just once I’d like a liar’s pants to actually catch on fire.
-Lark to Baylor
Lark
“Hello?”
“Lark?”
The frantic voice had me sitting straight up in the chair I was lounging in. I was at Baylor’s house, Pongo at my feet half leaning, half sitting, against my legs. I was in the last three chapters of my book, and at one of the best parts—the makeup sex that led to the ‘we’re going to be together forever’ part.
Hannah’s frantic voice, though, had me forgetting all about the cheating whore who was trying to get back with her man and focusing solely on the woman on the phone.
“What’s wrong, Hannah?”
“The baby is running a fever of a hundred and five. I can’t get it to go down, and I’ve tried everything. I’ve given him a cool bath, Tylenol and Motrin. At this point, I need to take him to the hospital. But I can’t take the girls with me. They’re asleep, and both of them have been throwing up since noon. I just know we’re going to be there all night. Can you come over and watch them?”
There was no hesitation whatsoever as I agreed. I stood up and started toward my shoes. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”
“Okay, good.” She sounded so relieved that I felt bad for giving her the indication that I’d ever say no.
She hadn’t thought I’d do it.
Was I that big of a homebody that she really thought I’d tell her no when her baby was sick?
Geez. I really needed to get out more.
“Be there in a few.”
Then I hung up and gestured toward the door. “Want to come with me?”
The dog got up and started toward the door with me, knowing we were heading out before even I did.
Holding it open, he walked to Baylor’s personal truck and waited.
I rolled my eyes.
I never got the choice to take my own car when I took Pongo with me. He didn’t like my car and would refuse to get in it at all. I’d tried.
Multiple times, in fact.
The last time I’d tried to force him in with me, he’d exited out the passenger side door…and it hadn’t been open.
The dog was Smart with a capital S.
Looking longingly at the car I’d just gotten back, the one that was not yet in my new name, I walked to Baylor’s truck and opened the door.
Pongo didn’t hesitate. He jumped in, settled in the seat, and waited.
I rolled my eyes and got in, starting the truck shortly after digging my keys out of the bottom of my purse.
The drive to Hannah’s took less than two minutes, but by the time I got there my entire body felt like it was a livewire.
When I arrived, Hannah was already in her car.
I waved at her and she started backing out before I’d even gotten out of the truck.
My eyes looked around the empty streets, stopping on the sight of my old place.
I hadn’t been there since I’d moved out four days ago, and thanks to Rafe, it was ‘sold’ even though it hadn’t actually been mine.
I’d flat out refused any money, and he’d laughed at me before telling me I wasn’t getting any anyway seeing as it wasn’t mine to begin with.
But as I looked at it now, with the white flowers that Harold had forced me to plant, I realized that the house had never really been mine.