Page 40 of Breakout
“As you should. It’s yours. He left it for you,” I point out.
“You’re right.”
“Have you read the letter yet?” I ask after a beat.
“No, but Mr. Piper was pretty insistent that I should. That all the answers would be there.”
“What’s stopping you from reading it?”
“What if I don’t like what he has to say? What if it only makes me angrier than I already am? I hate being mad, Beckett.”
I cross the room and pull her into my arms. For a minute she’s stiff, but she quickly relaxes and wraps her arms around me.
“I would be angry too if I were you, but you also deserve to know. Don’t wait too long to read it, though, and if you want, I’ll be next to you while you do. Or hell, I’ll even read it out loud to you.”
She chuckles against my chest. “I can hear you now. My dearest granddaughter…”
I laugh as she does her impression of me.
“You know I would.” I kiss the top of her head. “Now what else is eating at you?”
“How do you know something else is bothering me?”
“Because you wouldn’t be this upset or distracted over something you knew was going to happen. So what is it?”
She pinches my side. “Do you have to know everything?”
“I am your husband, so yes. Now tell me.”
Peyton buries her face further into my chest. “He gave me a set of keys.”
I frown. Keys? Why is she upset about keys?
“Okay…”
“To the estate,” she whispers.
“He gave you keys to the family home.”
She nods.
“Well shit, I guess we have a home now…” I tease. Through my shirt, I feel her smile.
“You’re ridiculous.”
“Ridiculously handsome, I know,” I quip. “So what about the keys bothers you?”
“I have a home, Beck. One I’ve never seen.”
“Well, we have the address. You tell me when, and we can drive over there together and check it out.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
Peyton pulls back and grabs my face. She kisses me softly before falling back onto her heels. She tips her chin up and rests it on my chest as she stares at me.
“You know, Beck, you’re a pretty great husband.”
