Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Frankie Townsend: late to what
Zach Sun: Where’s Oliver? That was his cue to dump a mediocre anal joke into the chat. Pun intended.
Romeo Costa: MIA with the missus. We might have to bring food in case he’s forgotten dinner parties require feeding the guests.
Farrow Ballantine-Sun: @Frankie Townsend, a welcome (back) to the neighborhood dinner at the von Bismarck’s.
Frankie Townsend: since when. why does no one ever tell me anything
Frankie Townsend: hello
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Briar
“There’s something off about that baby.” Oliver scowled at his phone, seconds after confirming our friends would be here any minute now for my Congrats-on-Surviving dinner. “They’re probably bringing Luca tonight.”
“He’s practically your nephew.” I kicked my legs up on the coffee table, unused to living in a home so big the furniture didn’t touch the walls – or was I? “Anything weird about him, he absorbed through you via osmosis.”
“How do you know it’s not Dallas and Romeo’s fault?”
“Because I’m engaged to you. I don’t need to remember them to know it’s one hundred percent you.”
“You might eat those words once you actually meet them.” He stopped, ushering one of the caterers away from the south wing. “Especially Dallas.”
The second Oliver left me alone, I planned on investigating just how big his hoarding problem was. Any day now. The only problem? He hadn’t left my side since the hospital discharged me. Didn’t he have a job? Hobbies? Friends?
I shivered as a gust of wind licked my arms. “What’s wrong with Dallas?”
Ollie frowned, kicking the patio doors closed. “For starters, when she found out she was pregnant, she bought the entire neighborhood matching sets of sweans.” He tucked me in beneath a thick woven quilt. “Literally went door-to-door with them like a bible salesman.”
I scrunched my nose, wiggling in my new cocoon to get comfortable. “What are sweans?”
“Half sweats, half jeans, and one hundred percent crime against humanity.”
“Maybe she was preparing to wear them throughout her pregnancy and didn’t want to be the only one.”
“Huh. That’s exactly what she said.”
I perked up, breaking free from my cocoon. “Did I just remember something?”
“Maybe,” he dismissed, sliding the blanket back over my shoulders. “You’re still always cold, huh, Cuddlebug.”
“Not exactly fresh news. You act like you haven’t been dealing with me for decades.” I leaned forward, bumping my nose against his. “What’s up with baby Luca anyway?”
He swung back from me fast, drawing a frown out of me. “I often catch him staring into my soul. It feels like he fought two world wars, croaked in the last, and Benjamin Buttoned his way back into the universe, just to judge me.” Ollie decanted water from the carafe into a diamond-studded glass, chugging half. “He even has a wrinkle.”
“Babies are surprisingly wrinkly. Speaking of, when are you putting one in me?”
He spit water all over my quilt. I frowned at the reaction. Did he not want babies? Back then, he’d always told me I’d start a family of my own, and he’d be there every step of the way.
I jerked back against the couch cushion. Tiny pieces clicked together. Maybe that was what we’d fought about that night. I could see a major blow-out fight about kids. I wanted them. Desperately. We both knew this.
Right when I opened my mouth to ask, a horde of people burst through the front door in varying degrees of chaos. Five absurdly attractive humans waltzed into the home like they owned it – so beautiful, I found it difficult to keep my jaw shut tight. No baby Luca tonight, I noticed.
“I think I broke your lock,” the pink-haired goddess announced.
She wore a barely there slip that might’ve been actual lingerie and the unimpressed pout of a tired heiress. One I’d unfortunately grown familiar with at boarding school. Before I could stop it, I tensed, lowering my blanket, unsure if I’d stepped back into the ice-cold halls of Surval Montreux.
“BOSS!” She raced to me and threw her arms around my shoulders before I could react, toppling on top of me in the process. “I’ve missed you. Do you like my new hair? I dyed it. It’s better, right?”
This had to be one of the Townsend sisters. Oliver had warned me about their energy levels.
“I don’t remember your old hair.” I looked to Ollie, who tugged her off me, depositing her back onto her five-inch heels. “I’m your boss?”
“Were my boss.” She pouted. “I got fired.”
“You were never actually hired, Franklin.” Ollie directed her away from me and back into the foyer before he turned to me. “She invited herself onto your set after she heard you needed an assistant. Then promptly started a fire.”
“Oh.”
Okay. As far as my memory served me, I’d always lived as a loner. I couldn’t believe these were my friends. They were so … out there.
Oliver nodded. “The audacity is low-key inspirational.”
“Speaking of inspirational, I’ve decided to become an influencer.” Frankie linked her elbow around someone who vaguely resembled her. Dallas, I surmised. “I promise it’s a real job, sis. Stop icing me out as punishment.”