Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 86068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Xavier,” Vivienne introduces, going to the woman’s side and side-hugging her, “this is Dylan’s sister and my cousin, Abigail.”
I nod my head at her. “Pleasure to meet you,” I say. “We didn’t meet last night, right?”
She throws her head back and laughs. “We did not. I got in this morning.”
“Abigail is in her last year at Johns Hopkins,” Vivienne tells me proudly.
Abigail smiles. “That would be me.”
“Oh, cool, what are you studying?” I ask her, and she looks down shyly.
“I’m doing my master’s in nursing,” she replies, and I whistle.
“Damn,” I say, “that’s impressive.”
She shrugs her shoulders. “I guess so.” We turn and say hello to a couple more people before finally making our way to the food, only stopping six times to say hello to people we met yesterday.
“So,” Vivienne says when she hands me a white plate. “Do you remember who everyone is?”
I shake my head. “I know the hockey guys,” I answer honestly. “The rest are a blur.”
“Next time, we’ll do cue cards,” she teases me as she fills her plate with food. I follow her as she makes her way to an almost empty table. Erika is sitting down and eating with Cooper beside her.
I pull out the chair for Vivienne, who smiles at me before she sits down. I sit in the chair next to her. “How are you holding up?” Erika smirks from in front of me when the chair next to her is pulled out, and Julia sits down, followed by Jillian. “It can be overwhelming.”
“That’s an understatement,” Jillian adds. “I wanted a low-key baby shower.” She shakes her head while she grabs a piece of salad. “They invited a hundred people.” She shrugs. “You learn to just go with it.”
“If you can’t beat them, you join them,” Julia advises as Chase comes over looking for her. He grabs a chair from another table, cramming himself onto ours.
“You can sit at another table,” Cooper tells him. “She’s right there.”
“This coming from the man who has a heart attack if he doesn’t see Erika after three point one seconds,” Chase fires back at him.
“That’s because they have five kids, and he’s scared he’s going to be stuck with them alone,” Vivienne says to Chase.
All I can do is sit back and listen to their banter, trying to keep up with the conversations about who is who. I lean back in my chair, putting my arm around Vivienne’s chair as my thumb slowly rubs her back. I look around the yard, searching for Matthew, and when I find him, I get up. Vivienne looks up at me. “I’ll be back.” I lean down and kiss her lips.
“Venturing off on your own,” Alex says from beside Julia, “that’s ballsy.”
I chuckle as I zigzag through tables, doing my best not to make eye contact but then stopping at the table where Matthew sits with Max, Evan, Viktor, Justin, and Mark. “Hey,” I say, and Matthew looks at me. “I was wondering if you had a moment.”
“Oh my God,” Max says. “He’s going to ask for her hand in marriage.” He pushes Matthew’s shoulder. “The last one out the door. You know what that means.” Matthew looks over at him. “You’re that much closer to the grave.”
“You keep forgetting that you are older than me.” Matthew gets up, and Max follows him.
“Oh, I didn’t,” I start to say, and the rest of the guys just shake their heads.
“It’s a package deal,” Evan explains. “M&M for life.”
“I can’t believe that nickname took.” Viktor laughs at them. “One year for Christmas, we got them the blue and red shirts.”
I look over at Matthew and Max, who just glare at them. “This is a lot of fun,” Max says, “but let’s go inside.” I nod at them and follow them into the house. Matthew walks toward the stairs, going to the front door and then down a hallway to an open door. I step inside and see that this is probably his home office. There are pictures of all the men in the family in their hockey gear, most of them action shots. I take a second to look around before seeing him and Max sitting on the leather couch in the corner. “Take a seat.”
“Wow.” I shake my hands, walking to the couch in front of them. “I feel like I’ve been summoned to the principal’s office.” I laugh nervously when the door opens, and Vivienne comes in.
“You were going to have a meeting without me here?” She folds her arms over her chest. “Rude.”
“He might be asking for your hand in marriage,” Max offers. “Why would you be here? Unless.” He looks at me, then back at Vivienne. “You two eloped in Vegas, and you don’t have to ask him.” He rolls his lips and puts his hands to his mouth. “Please tell me that I’m right.”