Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Ariana glared at us for a long time before she noticed everyone in the restaurant was watching her standing there, glaring at a man who walked away from her in order to sit with another woman he was obviously very with, and as such, she was making a fool of herself.
She then stomped out, and the people she came in with, clearly her parents, sent sorrowful looks toward Gabe (oh yeah, they knew what she threw away) before they followed her.
When the coast was clear, and I was in no danger of breaking a nail, I asked Gabe, “What did you say to her?”
“I said we were over. I said she made us that way. I said years have passed, she is not a part of my life and hasn’t been for a long time. So her making a scene when I’ve moved on in a way I’m never gonna turn back would be a waste of energy. And I thanked her for showing me what I didn’t want so I could find what I did.”
Wow.
It didn’t seem their interaction lasted that long.
Also, sick burn.
I smiled at him.
He smiled back and added a kiss through it.
It was pretty awesome.
When he pulled away, Maisie, Luke and Ava’s youngest, proclaimed, “This isn’t fair. Wyatt can’t be my boyfriend, because he’s married to Kacie. And now Gabe can’t be my boyfriend, because he’s with Willow.”
“You’re too young to have a boyfriend,” Luke stated.
“I am not,” Maisie retorted.
“And you’ll be too young until you’re fifty and hopefully I’m dead,” Luke went on.
“Luke!” Ava snapped.
“Daddy!” Maisie snapped. “I’m not waiting until I’m fifty to have a boyfriend!”
“We’ll see,” Luke muttered.
Maisie screwed up her face toward her father.
Ava rolled her eyes toward me.
Luke ignored them both and took a pull of his beer.
“Nana, Daddy’s being mean to me,” Maisie told on her father.
“He’s being protective, sweetheart,” Josie replied. “One day, you’ll understand the difference.”
Maisie harrumphed.
“I’m waiting to meet a man just like Daddy,” Gracie, Luke and Ava’s oldest, and an apple that didn’t fall far from her Grandma Josie’s tree, announced primly.
“Oh my God, don’t do that,” Ava replied.
Luke’s brows went up and his indigo eyes went to his woman.
“There’s only one of you,” Ava explained. “She’ll never find anyone if she’s looking for someone like you.”
“This is not a problem,” Luke retorted.
Ava’s eyes got dangerously squinty.
Luke ignored her too and sent a wink to his oldest, who smiled brightly when she received it. His youngest, who was sitting next to him, got a daddy headlock and a kiss on the top of her hair. Maisie squirmed through this, but I could tell her heart wasn’t in it.
And I wondered how some men didn’t understand how absurdly sexy it was to be a demonstratively good and loving dad.
Shelby changed the subject to say to me, “I’m thinking about taking a Christmas shopping trip to Phoenix in a couple of weeks. Viola introduced me to that mall, but I’m into giving my custom to local businesses. Do you think you could show me around?”
Ohmigod!
I’d love that.
“I will one hundred percent play that kind of tour guide,” I replied.
“Brilliant,” she said. “I have a line of attack. I’ll text you what I’m looking for.”
“And I’ll build a shopping tour that’ll rock your world.”
“Rock our bank account, you mean,” Mike said.
Shelby rolled her eyes. “Says Mr. Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend.”
“Uh, they are,” I put in.
“I know,” Shelby agreed. “He gets me some every Christmas. And I will make certain to note that what I said was not me registering a complaint. The thing is, Mike is so good at giving gifts, I can’t compete. But I also can’t give up.”
“You don’t have to compete,” Mike stated.
“Like it works that way,” Shelby muttered.
“It could, if you’d stop competing,” Mike returned.
They bickered.
Gabe ate his tacos.
Kacie turned to Wyatt and stated, “Since we’re talking Christmas lists, you can pass the diamonds and buy me a new pair of hiking boots.”
Wyatt winked at his wife in a way I conjectured those hiking boots were already hidden in their house somewhere, awaiting their holiday unveiling.
I pried my hand from Gabe’s thigh and went after my burrito, not knowing, several weeks later, that I would learn father and son were like minded.
Because I got the prettiest, little delicate necklace with a trio of dainty but lustrous diamonds from Gabe for Christmas.
So, yeah.
Shelby was right.
Nothing to complain about there.
The first to fall was Jessie.
No surprise.
The writing was on the wall.
It happened after she and Eric returned from their Thanksgiving vacation to France (or, Disneyland Paris, Jessie was one of those adult Disney people, which was a shocker, because Jess really wasn’t like that, however, she also totally was).
Even though she expected to get a lot of guff when she announced she was moving out of the Oasis to officially move in with Eric, she didn’t.