Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 72740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Your sleep deprived wife,
Reese
***
My perfect wife,
I’m sorry I didn’t eat (your shitty) dinner last night. Sandwiches didn’t sound good (And for some reason, I don’t think this took you very long to make). However, I have them in my hand, as I write this, to take with me to work. Please forgive my children for making you work so hard. Maybe next time you should go to the store and buy the cookies instead of baking them (They’re kind of ugly, and they’re a little burnt on the bottom). I love you, I’ll meet you at Mario’s for the police banquet tonight. Don’t forget to pick up my suit.
Love, your husband (who will be eating his sandwich even though the bread is soggy.)
***
Husband (the man who went to sleep instead of having sex with me last night),
I’m sorry I snapped at you this morning. I’m pretty sure you broke my heart when you came in and didn’t even give me a hug when you flopped into bed.
I know you don’t realize it, but you don’t have to use my boobs as a pillow. They’re a part of me, and there are times that I like to sleep on my stomach. Please try your hardest to use your own pillow from now on, okay?
Your sleepy wife (The one you didn’t have sex with last night)
***
I laughed a watery laugh and laid my head on Luke’s shoulder.
“You kept them,” I sniffled.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest.
I wiped my hand over the laminated pages as if they were spun glass. As if the tiniest of touches would break them to pieces.
Those notes, the ones that were written from the heart, meant the world to me. And it meant even more to know that he’d saved them all.
“It took some doing. I had to find the right person that I trusted with our lovely notes before I could hand them over. They’re precious to me,” Luke rumbled.
My eyes closed and I breathed in Luke’s scent.
He’d been mowing the yard, as he did ever Sunday if he had the day off, for the last ten years we’d been together.
“Mom, dad!” Katy yelled from behind our closed door.
“Yeah?” Luke called, getting up to open the door.
Katy barreled in, her eyes filled with tears.
Katy had grown into a very beautiful woman over the last ten years.
Now, at eighteen and a half, she was in college nearly four hours away.
Something Luke hated.
However, it was what Katy wanted, and that was enough to convince him to let her do it.
I looked at my watch in surprise.
Twelve in the afternoon.
“Katy…what are you doing here?” I asked as she barreled into the room and fell into my arms.
I wrapped my arms around her shaking shoulders, and looked at Luke in helplessness.
He looked torn.
He was a sucker for tears on most women; on any of his kids, he was a goner.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, brushing her hair out of her face.
“I came home early to visit Luca, and he was with another g-g-girl,” she hiccupped.
Oh, dear.
Luke’s mouth tightened, and his eyes went hard before he stomped out of the room.
Luca was the son of our friends, Gabriel and Ember.
Our kids had met when they were young and had grown up together.
Slowly, over time, that had turned from friends to more.
That more had grown into a young love.
Luca had chosen to go into the army when he graduated early, which had been a major decision factor on why Katy had chosen to go to college so far away. She’d chosen to pursue her degree while she waited for him.
Katy was a smart girl, but every girl goes a little stupid around the love of her life, which even I did on occasion when I was in Luke’s presence.
A soft knock on our door had me looking up in time to see Rowen walking in.
At sixteen, she was a force to be reckoned with.
She was beautiful, and had developed into a ravishing young beauty just like her sister, much to Luke’s consternation.
“Mom?” Rowen called, looking at her sister with a sad glance.
“Yeah, honey?” I asked.
“Um, dad wants you,” Rowen whispered.
I nodded and gave Katy a kiss on the forehead. “It’ll be all right, Kit Kat. You’ll see. Rowen, honey,” I said, getting up. “Come sit with Katy.”
She did so, always my good little girl, and the two girls hugged.
I walked out of the room, unsure what to think.
Luca wasn’t the type to cheat.
In fact, he was so much not the type, that it literally had taken my breath away.
When I came out to find Luke in Luca’s face, I sighed.
Our son, Derek, was standing with his arms crossed, watching the altercation.
Derek looked like Luke’s younger clone.
They had the same mannerisms, the same looks. The same hair color and eyes. At times I felt that he was produced by Luke’s DNA alone. Although I knew it was impossible, it was crazy to me how much he acted like his father.
Like now, for instance.
Derek’s muscles were filled with tension, and he was looking at Luca like he was ready to take his head off.
“Mr. Roberts, I swear to God, I wasn’t doing anything with that woman. I just met her today. I was coming home and she was walking down the road. I only gave her a ride because she looked like she was about to pass out,” Luca explained.
Luca rode a motorcycle like his father.
And that meant that Luca had to have that girl plastered up against him to give her a ride, which I’m sure was when Katy had seen him.
“Luke” I sighed. “It’s time to let Katy fight her own battles. Let him in.”
Luke gave one long look at Luca before he moved to the side.
Not enough for Luca to get in without brushing shoulders with Luke, though.
Luca didn’t flinch as he passed first Luke and then Derek.
He smiled once he got to me. “Where is she?”
“She’s in our room, honey. I’m glad you’re home. You look good,” I patted his shoulder.