Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92841 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92841 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Speaking of which … I shoot Shane a text, letting him know I’m done looking at houses and to call me later if he’s bored. Sometimes during his shift, when it’s slow, he’ll FaceTime me, and we’ll talk while I’m in bed. It’s quiet and nice, and it feels like he’s with me even though he’s not.
The text once again turns green.
“What’s wrong?” Mom asks.
“Shane’s phone is dead. It’s, like, a hundred years old, and it won’t keep a charge. Thankfully, he said he’ll have it looked at tomorrow. But I’m hoping it’s done for and he’ll get a new one.”
After we finish our coffee, I head to the lingerie shop to pick up something sexy and then stop at the store to grab the items I need for my surprise.
When I get to Shane’s house, the dog walker is just coming out, and I make a note to let Shane know there’s no reason to pay someone to walk Becky when I’m here all the time anyway. He did it for the days and nights Taylor wasn’t around and he was on shift, but between the three of us, someone is always around.
I send him another text, but when it turns green, I wonder if maybe he’s having an issue with his messages, so I try to call him, only it goes to voice mail. I consider calling him at the station, but what if he’s busy?
I put away the lingerie I bought since I won’t need it until tomorrow morning. And then I go about placing sticky notes all over the room—Kinsley’s toothbrush goes here, Kinsley’s shampoo here, Kinsley’s clothes here, Kinsley’s pajamas here, Shane and Kinsley sleep here—so when he reads them, he’ll know that I’m planning to move in.
Once I’m done, I grab my book and settle in on the couch to read. Becky joins me, so I pet her while she cuddles into my side, snoring softly.
Eventually, I get bored of reading, so I make myself a sandwich for dinner, and then I work on some tattoo designs for clients until my eyes can barely stay open. I go to bed, falling asleep almost instantly, excited at the thought that if all goes well, I’ll officially be sleeping here, in Shane’s arms, every night.
“Kinsley, I need you to wake up.”
Shane’s gravelly voice has me waking with a sudden jolt. I must sit up too quickly because the room spins.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, shaking the dizziness away.
Even if I didn’t hear it in Shane’s tone, I see the black circles under his eyes and the stress lines in his furrowed brows. Something is wrong … very wrong.
“I need you to stay calm,” he says, his words causing me to be anything but. “Taylor and her mom were in a car accident. I tried to call you, but my damn phone went to shit, and I didn’t know your number by heart. I called the shop, but of course, nobody was in yesterday …”
He continues to speak, but the only detail I can absorb is that Taylor was in a car accident.
Like Brandon.
Like me.
Like my unborn baby.
And just like that, everything around me goes black.
THIRTY
Shane
Twenty-Four Hours Earlier
“Shane, my man.” Luke grins up at me when I walk into the station, and I already know what’s coming next. “I’m craving a steak and baked potato. What do you say? Want to go by the store and pick up dinner?”
Chuckling, I shake my head as we go about doing an equipment check.
Luke and I have been working together for too many years to count, and before that, we went to school and played baseball on the same team. He’s been married for about six months now, and he doesn’t have the heart to tell his wife, who loves to cook, that she can’t cook for shit. So, instead, he pretends to love it, barely eats, throws it away when she’s not looking, and then begs me to cook on our shifts since he can’t cook either.
“I’m going to buy you and your wife cooking lessons for whatever holiday is next,” I tell him, pulling my phone out of my pocket when it beeps, indicating that it’s dying, so I can try to charge it.
I connect it to the charger, but after a few seconds, it disconnects and blinks red, letting me know it’s almost dead and not charging.
“Fucking phone,” I grumble, accepting the fact that I’m going to have to buy a new one. It’s not that I’m cheap, but phones are expensive, and I literally use it for nothing except to text and call my friends and family. Hell, half the time, I can’t even keep track of where the thing is.
Once the trucks have been checked, Luke says, “Store?”
“Yeah, yeah.” I wave him off. “Let me get a workout in, and then we’ll go.”