Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 66(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 66(@300wpm)
“Do you think I’m crazy?” he asked.
Laughing, I shook my head. “If you’re crazy, then so am I.”
Leaning his forehead against mine, he whispered, “Then let’s be crazy together.”
Chapter Eight
One year later
I WALKED OUT ONTO THE porch and handed Amelia a bottle of water. She looked up and smiled as she took it from me.
Sitting down next to her, I put my hand on her swollen stomach and laughed when the sound of the fireworks going off above us caused our daughter to jump in Amelia’s stomach.
“Do you think she likes them, or doesn’t like them?” I asked.
Amelia placed her hand over mine, and when our little one gave a swift kick, she laughed and said, “I think she likes them.”
Leaning over, I kissed her softly as she slid her fingers into my hair to pull me closer, deepening the kiss.
“Please, can the two of you stop for just one night!”
Laughing, Amelia and I drew apart to see Lori standing there, her lip snarled up in mock disgust. Standing next to her was her fiancé, Matt, who happened to be my best friend from college. When I told Matt I was opening a bar in Austin, he offered himself up as a partner. The moment he and Lori met, sparks flew.
“Excuse me, but I need to remind you that the walls in this house aren’t very thick, and sounds travel!”
Lori blushed and pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.
“No, no. I told you, I need that order of cheese ASAP!”
All eyes went to Parker.
“Does she know it’s the Fourth of July?” Lori asked no one in particular.
“It’s Parker. She doesn’t care!” stated Chuck, Parker’s husband and my former co-worker at Flippers. They hooked up the night before the girls left from their vacation last year, and after multiple flights between Florida and Texas, they found themselves married and opening up a restaurant on Lake Travis.
“What is the cheese for?” Matt asked.
“Mel’s baby shower. Parker wants to make these cheese and meat boards, but she is insisting on some kind of cheese that she said Mel will love.”
I turned to Amelia. “You don’t like cheese.”
My beautiful wife of ten months shrugged and said, “I tried telling Parker that, but she insists this is a special cheese. She thinks your mother and father will love it.”
She used air quotes when she said the word special. After a few rough months of my folks being upset with me for not coming back to the family business, they quickly got over it when Amelia and I announced we were expecting a baby.
“You’re missing the fireworks!” Lori called out to Parker, who simply waved her off and stepped back into the house.
Rolling her eyes, Lori leaned against Matt as the night sky lit up with more color.
I watched as Amelia smiled at the cascading red and blue lights in the sky.
Giving her hand a sqeeze, I said, “I love you, Mrs. Briggs.”
Dropping her gaze from the fireworks to me, she gifted me with the most breathtaking smile. “I love you more, Mr. Briggs.”
Leaning over, I kissed her.
With the next firecracker going off over our heads, Parker came running out of our house overlooking downtown Austin and yelled, “I got the cheese!”
The End.