Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Okay, she was tired of the car seat. Understood.
I opened the door as another impatient knock sounded.
Two women stood on the other side and one had a baby in her arms.
“So sorry. Her mum just dumped her on me with no supplies and she won’t go back in her car seat and I’m trying to get all the stuff together one-handed,” I blurted in an exasperated rush of words.
“Oh dear.” The childless woman, who looked to be around my mother’s age, stepped forward. “Let me help.” Before I could say anything, she’d gathered up the supplies I’d just bought and tucked them all into the car seat. “Can you manage like that? Or do you need some help?”
I gave her a grateful smile as I took the proffered car seat. “No, that’s great, thank you.”
“Good luck,” the younger woman said as I walked away.
First, I had to put the car seat in the car. Millie was sleeping in my arms as I strode back into the supermarket and zeroed in on the baby aisle. There seemed to be a million different kinds of formula and baby food. Harley was fifteen months and ate vegetables and all kinds of things now, but when had that started? I couldn’t think. Taking my phone out, I searched online, typing awkwardly with one hand.
According to Google, Millie was still on formula but she’d eat food too.
I should just get her formula and then drop her off at social services.
That was the right thing to do.
Looking down at her face, seeing the sweep of her dark lashes and her tiny wee lips pursing like a goldfish, a pang of panic shocked the fuck out of me.
If this wee girl was mine, I couldn’t abandon her.
Not like I’d been abandoned.
No … she was staying with me until I had the DNA results.
Decision made, I grabbed some formula and headed to the checkout.
Eighteen
EILIDH
Isat back from the laptop with a crack of my neck.
Staring at the screen, I felt a smile curl my lips. I was proud of the scene I’d just written. Of course, if my show ever got picked up, the script would more than likely go through some changes, but I was happy with how it was coming along. I’d decided to revise what I’d already written and then work on another episode.
My eyes moved from the screen to the shelf above the desk. Previously there had been a vase of silk flowers and a framed print on the shelf. Now it was littered with photographs in simple frames. Me with my family. My eyes lingered on the photo of Lewis, Fyfe, Callie, and me. It was just before Callie and Lewis broke up when we were kids. Fyfe was a gangly teenager but still so freaking cute.
It had been four weeks since our falling-out.
Fyfe had apologized to Lewis two days ago. They’d had a long chat. My brother seemed to think Fyfe did have genuine feelings for me but was too fucked up by his own abandonment issues to explore them. If that was true, it didn’t make me feel any better. I wanted someone to love me enough to want to fight to be with me.
Lewis had also told Fyfe he was to stay away from me. While I’d angrily told him that was overstepping, Lewis disagreed.
“You deserve to be able to move on without him messing with your head. And I love him, but I’m not sure I trust him not to mess with your head when he can’t even recognize his own bloody feelings.”
Since there was truth in that, I let his overstepping go.
Now, however, rumor had it that Fyfe had gone off grid these last two days. Hadn’t shown up to meetings. Hadn’t shown his face in town. According to Flora, owner of Flora’s café, one of his neighbors said there were a strangely large number of deliveries being made to the house, but they hadn’t seen him leave.
I was worried. So was my brother. Lewis had called him, but Fyfe said he was fine, just buried with work. I wasn’t sure Lewis believed him.
Snapped from my musings by the sound of my phone buzzing, I turned it over and saw Cameron’s name on the screen. Smiling, I tapped on the text notification.
Do you like Brie?
I shook my head as I replied.
Not really. I prefer le Roulé.
Tomorrow Cameron was taking me on a picnic. After our dinner at the Gloaming, he discovered what it was like to live in a small town. The next day, one patient after another had commented on the date and that was when he discovered I was a wee bit famous.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he’d asked quietly on the phone that night, sounding uncertain.
“I liked that you didn’t know who I was. But I was intending on telling you. I promise.”