Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 100713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“That would be perfect,” I said, relieved. “Thank you so much.”
“No problem.”
“I can’t wait to see you. How’s your family?”
“Pretty good. I’m the best uncle ever.”
I laughed. “Of course you are. How’s your dad?”
“Physically, he’s in good shape. Mentally, he’s got some issues.”
“Oh, no. Like Alzheimer’s?”
“That hasn’t been confirmed yet, but it’s pretty likely.”
“I’m sorry. Does he live with you?”
“Yes.” He exhaled. “Some days are better than others. I built a bigger house for us, so at least we have more space.”
“Do you have help?”
“My sisters each try to come one day a week. I really need to hire somebody, but for now, it’s just me.” He chuckled. “I don’t get out much.”
“Well, maybe we can sit at your kitchen table and do some math problems for old times’ sake.”
His deep, resonant laughter made my insides warm. “Or we could just have a beer and some conversation.”
“That sounds good too.” I promised to get in touch in a few weeks, and we hung up. That night, I slept better than I had in weeks.
Something about Beckett’s voice was so reassuring. Maybe it took me back to a simpler time. Maybe it reminded me that no matter what, someone was always in my corner. Maybe it was just a deep, masculine sound, and some primitive part of my brain was wired to feel safe and protected when I heard it.
Two days later, he called me back.
“Hey, I hope you don’t mind, but I took a closer look at the house. It’s in no condition for you to stay there, Maddie.”
“Really?” My heart plummeted. “Shit. I guess I’ll have to rent a room or cottage somewhere.”
“You could try, but everything is pretty booked up around here already. The tourist season is even busier than it was when we were kids.”
I groaned and put a palm to my forehead. “Serves me right for putting this off so long. I guess I’ll have to stay outside town.”
“Or you could stay here,” he offered.
“Beckett, that’s so sweet. But we couldn’t do that.”
“Why not? We have plenty of room. You and Elliott can each have your own bedrooms upstairs, and they share a full bath.”
“Are you sure it wouldn’t be an imposition on you and your dad?”
“My dad would love having someone to talk to besides me. He’s mad at me all the time anyway.” Then he laughed. “You’d be an entirely new audience for all his baseball stories. And you’d be right across the street from your mom’s house.”
I chewed my lip. “Gah, I’m tempted.”
“Then do it.”
“Only if you promise to put us to work while we’re there.”
He laughed. “Deal. Chores are never-ending on a ranch.”
I smiled. “Elliott is going to be so excited. He loves animals.”
“Plenty of those around here. I can’t wait to meet him.”
Elliott’s voice broke through the memory. “Mommy!” he hollered from the back seat, as if he’d said it a hundred times and I hadn’t answered. “Are you even listening?”
“Sorry.” Guilty, I glanced over my shoulder at him. “I was daydreaming. What did you say?”
“Are we going to go in?”
“Not yet.” Focusing on the road again, I took my foot off the brake and kept driving. “I want to see my old house first. We’re early anyway. I told Beckett we’d be here at three, and it’s just after one.”
“You said we could get a milkshake.”
“We can,” I told him, turning left into my old driveway. “I just want to—”
But I couldn’t finish my sentence. My mother’s house, the one I’d grown up in, was in shambles.
Actually, shambles might have been too quaint a word.
The roof sagged. The porch drooped. The white paint had flaked and peeled so much the home appeared gray. On the second story, one of my old bedroom windows had been replaced with cardboard. The grass and shrubs were so overgrown, there were weeds shooting up through the porch floorboards. A squawking crow flew out of the chimney. The whole scene looked like something out of a horror movie.
Although if the place was haunted, it would not be by my mother, who’d been a housekeeper and kept the place immaculate. She wouldn’t even be caught dead here—literally.
“What is that place, Momma?”
“That’s—that’s my old house.”
“You lived there?”
“It didn’t look like this back then.” I put the car in park, turned off the engine, and got out.
Tears sprang to my eyes, which surprised me. It wasn’t like I had a ton of happy memories here. Mostly when I thought about this house, I heard my mother’s voice saying things like, “Do you know how hard I’ve worked so you can go to college? Do you have any idea the opportunities you have that I didn’t? Do you think anyone is going to hand you things in life, Maddie? You have to work for them. You have to be better than everyone else. You have to be laser-focused on the future all the time, or you’ll end up dependent on a man—and you can never, ever trust a man to take care of you the way you’ll take care of yourself. Men always break their promises.”