Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
The little girl hit him so hard that he was forced to stand or fall over.
“Uncle Incy!”
“Addie girl,” I heard Quincy say as I got out of the truck, my eyes huge.
Because now there wasn’t just a little girl outside, but the cutest little toddler, too.
He was pumping his legs, running as fast as could be, and would’ve taken a fall right off the porch had his uncle not caught sight of him and launched himself forward.
Quincy caught him with his legs still spinning.
“And there’s my Tex,” Quincy said, placing the girl on one hip, and the boy on the other.
Heart still in my throat, I placed my hand over my chest just as a woman, likely Quincy’s mother, came out of the house.
“I know you didn’t just leave this door open like you were raised in a barn, Addison Marie Carter!” the woman bellowed.
My lips twitched at the use of the full name.
I didn’t get full-named myself. My mother would have to care for that to happen.
But I did used to hear Keda’s mom say it to her a lot.
Keda Louisa Jones, get in here right now and clean this kitchen up!
I couldn’t tell you how many times I’d heard that over the years of being her friend.
The thing was, Keda was hell on wheels before her accident. Cleaning up after herself just took up too much time.
I rubbed my chest again, this time for a different reason.
God, I missed her.
Would it ever stop hurting, this pain inside my chest? This huge, Keda-sized hole that felt like it got rawer every day.
It’d been six months now, but it felt like it was just yesterday that I’d learned she was gone.
“Mamasauce,” the little girl sounded apologetic. “I wasn’t raised in no barn! I was raised in a circus!”
I blinked, then had to pinch my lips together to keep from bursting out laughing.
It was apparent that the ‘Mamasauce,’ aka, the grandmother, had the same issue.
Quincy didn’t even try to hold in his laughter. He let it free, and it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever experienced.
Quincy Carter smiling? Yeah, that was fantastic. But his laugh, paired with that smile? It was like angels weeping up in heaven, shining their bright, angelic light down on the world.
“Shut your piehole, Quincy Declan Carter.” Mamasauce pointed at her offending son. “And get that girl in here so we can meet her. You rude little shit.”
Declan.
I liked it.
“Mamasauce said ‘shit,’” the little girl, Addison, whispered loudly.
So loudly that her grandmother heard her and rolled her eyes.
I quietly walked around the front of the truck, worried that I was going to bring too much attention to myself if I moved too fast.
But I shouldn’t have bothered. The moment I was no longer being hidden from the front bumper of his fancy blue truck, all eyes turned toward me. Even the youngest of the clan turned his angelic little face toward me.
“Peas!” the little boy said, wiggling himself in Quincy’s strong arm. “Dow!”
Quincy set him down, and it surprised the crap out of me that instead of heading for his grandmother, he headed for me.
He toddled over the uneven ground, uncaring that he nearly tripped four times, and walked right up to me and held his hands out.
I glanced at the two adults. “Is this okay?”
Quincy’s mom smiled. “It’s totally okay.”
I picked up the little boy, and loved the way he immediately leaned into me and laid his head on my shoulder.
“Usually when I see cute little kids like this, I’m making them mad,” I admitted a bit sadly.
“Why is that?” Quincy’s mom asked.
I walked toward them both, but it was Quincy who answered his mom. “Hollis is a rad tech in the hospital. The first time I met her, she was squishing this little boy into this hollowed out tube.”
I chuckled, unsurprised that he remembered exactly what I was doing at the time.
“Rad tech is a radiology tech,” I explained when the woman stared at me with curiosity. “My name is Hollis Aue. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Hollis. My name is Garnett Carter. It’s nice to meet the woman my eldest son invited to dinner.” Garnett smiled.
“Garnett Carter is also a forty-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department, and has a soft spot for her grandkids,” Quincy mused quietly. “You just cemented your place in her heart by picking up this hellion.”
Quincy then tickled said hellion, causing him to squeal in delight and laugh himself sideways.
Luckily, I had a strong grip on him, or he would’ve tumbled right out of my hands.
A made a mental note to always hold onto him tight, because I didn’t want him to go launching himself headfirst into some gravel.
Quincy jerked his head toward the open front door, and I dutifully followed into… chaos.
That was the only way to describe the amount of people all in one room.