Red Hot Winter - K. Webster Page 0,33
rises from the table and rushes off.
“Ouch,” Winter mutters. “She fucked your boss? Gordon?”
Tony snorts and takes a long pull from his beer bottle. “His problem now.”
I laugh because I thought the same when Tony started seeing Jackie. Well, at least after I got past the initial shock of being cheated on. Jackie is a huge problem and hell if this guy doesn’t seem relieved to be done with her.
“You really meant all that?” Winter asks.
Tony nods. “We were in a bad place. I was trying to save our marriage. When she told me her lies, I believed them. When she made me choose a side, I got caught up in trying to fix us…” At the sacrifice of his daughter. “I made a mistake. A bad one. I’ll do whatever it takes to get you back into my life.”
She hugs him again and he looks a little teary-eyed with relief. Winter eventually pulls back and straightens her spine. “Dad, I’m seeing August now.”
“She’s not a whore and I fucking love her,” I growl. “Got a problem with that?”
He grits his teeth but shakes his head. “No problem as long as she is happy and loved. That’s all I could ever hope for.”
“I learned how to cook,” she chirps, her lie so sweet I almost believe it.
“Impressive,” he says. “Maybe you could cook for me sometime.”
She preens and I snort, which earns me an elbow to the gut. Tony darts his brown eyes that match hers exactly back and forth between us.
“She still burns mac and cheese?” he asks with a smirk.
“She burns cereal,” I retort.
“Assholes. You are both assholes,” she says with a laugh. “I hate you both.”
Callie returns without her mother. “What’d I miss?”
“Winter is lying to her dad. Told him she’s a star chef now,” I tease.
Callie cackles and Winter flips her off.
“I got sick when she made spaghetti last week,” Callie tells Tony. “Is it possible to get garlic poisoning?”
“Arsenic is my secret ingredient,” Winter deadpans to Callie.
As the girls snap playfully back and forth, I can’t help but feel somewhat relieved. Jackie will go have her bitch-fit elsewhere. Winter can repair her relationship with Tony. And we can have a nice meal that my girlfriend didn’t cook. Thank God.
Landon shows up and tells hilarious football stories that Tony seems quite tickled by. While they’re distracted, I hug Winter to me and kiss her cheek.
“You’re mine forever.”
“Sheesh, man,” she teases. “You move fast. I think the romance books call this instalove. The real world would call you a creepy stalker.”
“Don’t make me spank you.”
Her eyes meet mine, a devious glint in them. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”
I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, admiring how beautiful she is. She regards me with soft, loving eyes. So sweet and innocent and mine.
“For the record, I love instalove and creepy stalkers and a good spanking,” she says, tilting her head, offering her lips to me.
I kiss her supple lips. “For the record, I love you.”
Winter
Seven years later…
Oh God.
The envelope feels heavy in my hands. I mean, it’s my future after all. I should just rip it open and find out one way or another. I’ve been working hard all through college and then law school. I was prepared. I know I passed, deep down.
Right?
But what if I didn’t?
August will try so hard to cheer me up and then pump me up to try again.
Sickness roils in my stomach. I’ve been so stressed, I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I can’t do anything but obsess. And before that, all I did was study. It was taking a toll on my health. While I studied and studied, it was all August could do to keep me fed and hydrated. This past summer, I got sick three times in a row.
Something has to give.
Bile creeps up my throat and I try to ignore it. I feel horrible and I swear to God if I have another sinus infection, I’m going to go nuts. My stomach aches sending a cold sweat across my flesh.
I think of one of my close friends who dealt with some horrible health issues. Suddenly, I’m worried on top of being worried. What if passing the bar exam becomes the most unimportant issue in my life? What if I’m dying?
The door bursts open and Dad strides in, an expectant look on his face. “You passed?”
Instead of being excited about the envelope in my hands, I burst into tears. “I’m dying.”
“What?” he says, chuckling. When