Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 53238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 266(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 266(@200wpm)___ 213(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
I don’t know. Right now, none of the options seem great.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Carter
“Uncle Carter.”
I try to brush away the tickle of something near my earlobe. There’s a giggle.
“Uncle Carter, it’s Christmas.”
I open my eyes and see the outline of Hallie sitting next to me in bed. When I sit up, I see Darling lying in the center of the bed, snoring.
“Suki said to let you sleep until the sun comes up. I didn’t wake you up, did I?”
“What time is it?”
Suki’s side of the bed is empty. I pick up my phone from the nightstand and check the screen. It’s 4:11 a.m.
Fuck me, it’s early. But Hallie is low-key bouncing with excitement. There’s no way she’s going back to bed.
“Okay, are we opening presents now?” I ask.
“Yes! I’ll go get Charlotte and Olivia.”
She races from the room and I go to the bathroom. I’m a little more awake after splashing water on my face and brushing my teeth.
I leave Darling to sleep and head downstairs, the lights from the tree creating a soft glow in the family room. Suki is kneeling in front of the tree, doing something with a gift.
The three stockings hanging from the mantle are all filled and there are gifts stacked on gifts beneath and around the tree. I stop and take it all in, a pang of guilt hitting me in the gut.
I should have helped with all of this. I watched SportsCenter in the bedroom until I fell asleep.
“Merry Christmas.” Suki looks up at me and smiles, then stands up.
She’s not even mad. I didn’t help her with any of this and she’s not even mad about it.
“Merry Christmas. It looks incredible in here.”
“Thanks. Did Hallie wake you up?”
“Officially, no.”
She laughs softly. “She’s really excited.”
Footsteps pound on the stairs and I turn to see all three girls racing down. I switch on a light and walk over to sit down on the couch.
“It’s clothes!” Olivia says as she shakes a box.
All three girls are dressed in Grinch pajamas that Suki picked out, and she’s wearing matching ones. Charlotte’s hair is freshly pink after a trip to Suki’s hairstylist the other day. Olivia is getting tall and looking more like her mom.
I wish Rachel could see her daughters and know they’re doing okay. Better than okay. They’re good. They’ll never stop missing her, but they smile more and cry a lot less than they did when they first moved in.
That’s because of Suki. She’s glowing with happiness as she watches them. She’s beautiful and sharp and funny, but the way she nurtures all of us is every bit as attractive to me as the other things, if not more.
She laughs at something Charlotte says and I smile just looking at her. I didn’t plan on developing feelings for her, but I have. When I’m on the road and I lie down in a hotel bed, I wish she was there. I fantasize about her, even when she is beside me in bed.
I thought I was just sex-deprived at first, but the truth is, I don’t want any other woman. Suki wears my jersey to games and has my ring on her finger. She’s my wife. That’s supposed to terrify me, but it doesn’t.
Is it so wrong to want to bang your own wife into next week and not want anyone else? Feels pretty damn good to me, but I don’t know if she’d agree.
“The first gift is for Suki, and then you can go crazy and open your stuff, girls.”
I walk over to the big wood cabinet thing the interior designer said would “anchor the entire room”, whatever that means. I stashed a little box in here yesterday and I take it out.
“Carter,” Suki says the moment she sees the little blue box with a white ribbon. “That’s from Tiffany.”
Her tone is warning me like I don’t know where I bought the gift. I wink and pass it to her.
“Just open it, Suki.”
“Who’s Tiffany?” Hallie asks.
“It’s a store,” I say.
“A very expensive store,” Suki says softly.
She slides the ribbon from the box, my blood pressure kicking up a notch. I hope this is a good idea. My gut tells me it is. My sister always told me I’m good at picking out thoughtful gifts.
“Oh, Carter.” Suki looks from the contents of the box to me, her eyes flooded with emotion.
“What is it?” Olivia asks, beaming with excitement.
“It’s the most beautiful necklace I’ve ever seen. It’s a small vine of leaves covered with diamonds.”
“A plant Darling can’t eat,” I explain.
Suki passes the box to Charlotte and the girls all crowd around it. She gets up from her seat on the floor and comes over to me, putting her arms around my neck in a hug.
“Thank you,” she says softly. “I love it so much.”
I hold her close, wishing for more than a hug. I’ve never been great at communicating about feelings. That’s an understatement--I’m shit at it. Actions, though, I’m pretty good at.