Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“I want to thank everyone in Montgavin for coming out and volunteering their time for us to be here today. We couldn’t have done it without any of them.” She smiles. “But most importantly, thank you to my daughter who put aside her life to come back and take care of me and the bakery when I got sick.” She blinks away the tears. “I couldn’t and wouldn’t want to do this without her.” I stop taping her as the door opens, and I look up to see Saige and Brock come into the bakery.
“Ms. Maddie!” Saige shrieks, running over to her, wearing the sundress she picked out last night at dinner to wear today. Her hair is parted in the middle with two tiny braids on each side, tied in the back. “This is so pretty,” she says, looking around. My eyes go to Brock, who holds flowers in one hand. He is wearing his gray slacks with a white button-down shirt that is not tucked in, the collar open, and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
“Hi.” I smile big when I see him.
“Hi, baby.” He smiles back as he walks up to me, wrapping his free arm around me and pulling me to him. I think he’s going to kiss my cheek, but he bends his head and his lips softly find mine. I open my eyes big, looking over at Saige to see if she saw. We had dinner last night and there was no talk about who I was, at least not when I was there. I’ve been going since 3:00 a.m. today, so I haven’t had a chance to ask him about it. “You look beautiful.”
“Hi, Everleigh,” Saige greets. “We brought you flowers.” She grabs the flowers from Brock’s hand, holding them up for me to see the pink peonies. “They are the same color as the walls, so they match.”
“These are beautiful,” I compliment, grabbing them from her. “Thank you so much.”
“Dad says you’re sleeping over tonight.” My eyes shoot straight to Brock.
“Why don’t I go and put those in water?” my mother suggests, taking the flowers from me. “Saige, why don’t you come and see the new flavor of donuts that Everleigh made this morning.” She looks at her. “She told me you gave her the idea to put jelly inside and peanut butter frosting on top.” She puts her hand in Saige’s, pulling her to the back.
“You did not tell her that I’m sleeping at your house.” I don’t even think I wait for them to be in the kitchen before I start on him.
“Baby,” he soothes, putting his hands on my hips, “you’ll be moving in soon, and she has to be used to you being there.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I shake my head.
“Not now, but in the next month, you’ll be living with us.”
“Brock,” I hiss his name, “you didn’t tell her that, did you?”
“Of course not.” He rolls his eyes. “I said you were working all day and that you’d be tired tonight, so you are going to sleep over so we can make sure you relax.”
“She bought that?”
“Probably not with the smirk she gave me, and then she said ‘ohh you like her,’” he mimics how Saige must have teased him, making me laugh.
“And then I said, ‘no, I love her.’” I gasp. “That’s exactly what she did also. But then she said you were pretty.” He shrugs. “So I guess she approved.”
“I cannot believe you,” I say, but then the door opens, and Autumn comes in, her mouth hanging open when she sees it for the first time finished.
“Holy shit,” she swears, and Charlie snickers. “This is incredible.” Her eyes roam around the room, taking everything in.
“Wow.” He shakes his head and looks at Autumn. “You yelled at me this morning because I said you had a fine ass in front of Landon, but you are allowed to say shit?”
“Charlie Barnes, you are getting on my last nerve,” she hisses. “Like the last one.”
He grabs her around her neck and pulls her to him. “I love you,” he declares, and she melts in his arms, “don’t forget that.”
“How could I?” She wraps her arms around his waist and then looks at their son.
“Welcome,” I tell them and then look over to see Harmony and Brady walking in with Wyatt. “Hi.” I hold up my hand to welcome them.
I look back down when a hand slides into mine, and my eyes fixate on Brock’s fingers laced with mine. My eyes go back up to his as people come in. “I love you,” he whispers, and I don’t have a chance to answer him when more and more people come in.
I work the room with Mom, thanking everyone for all their help. Every time I look up, I find him looking at me; when I don’t, it’s because he’s right beside me. He doesn’t move far from me the whole day. The bakery is filled to the brim. The display cases have been refilled more times than I can count, with people leaving with boxes and boxes of donuts.