I Walked Away Seven Years Too Late But Right on Time novel Chapter 226

During the two hottest months of the year, Sophie and Gavin's romance blazed just as fiercely.

Lost in the blissful honeymoon phase, they wanted to be glued to each other's sides every second of the day.

"Thank god for air conditioning," Sophie joked.

Without it, the way Gavin constantly draped himself over her, they would have broken out in heat rashes.

Gavin gazed down at the woman nestled in his arms, tapping her nose playfully. "I think your mom is deliberately staying away to give us the place to ourselves."

He adored holding her like this, pulling her onto his lap when they sat on the couch, and keeping her firmly tucked against his chest in bed.

"My mom already toured the entire Pacific Northwest. She left for Montana the day before yesterday and is currently checking out St. Ignatius Mission. Once she meets up with her travel group, they're driving all the way out to Alaska."

As they spoke, the shadows in the room began to sway. They looked up to see the chandelier swinging overhead.

"An earthquake?" Sophie scrambled to her feet, and Gavin immediately stood up beside her.

The tremors were mild. They knew the epicenter had to be far away, but both instinctively guessed it was hitting somewhere out East.

Sophie quickly grabbed her phone to check the news. Moments later, the alerts popped up. The epicenter was in Yellowstone National Park.

She immediately dialed her uncle's number. Thankfully, they had felt the tremors but were safe and had already evacuated to an open plaza.

She then called Sarah, who was also perfectly fine.

Letting out a shaky breath, Sophie buried her face against Gavin's chest.

During The Great 2008 Quake, they had still been in college. They had spent days glued to the news, crying over the footage of collapsed buildings and staggering casualty counts.

She prayed she would never see a disaster like that again.

A few minutes later, Gillian called to check on them.

"We just felt a slight tremor. Sophie and I are completely fine."

"Thank god," Gillian breathed a heavy sigh of relief over the line.

"It's just so devastating. The scenery there was breathtaking," Gillian murmured sadly. Yellowstone had been the site of her and Graham's honeymoon. They had just revisited it last year, and now, it was scarred by a violent earthquake.

"What about you? Have you and Jason talked about having one?"

"Me?" Gwen shook her head vigorously. "Jason and I are barely surviving as it is. We definitely can't afford a baby right now. My dad is basically my oldest son."

Poverty and exhaustion were the ultimate forms of birth control. Gwen had completely lost any desire to expand their family.

"Ever since his stroke, my dad has been obsessively health-conscious. Now he's desperate for a companion. Since your mom rejected him, he's set his sights on the older ladies at the park."

Thinking about her father made Gwen groan in frustration.

"Even Mia noticed. She was roller-skating at the park this morning, and my dad was just sitting on a bench, aggressively staring down every woman passing by, trying to figure out who was his type. It makes me want to scream."

Gwen let out another heavy sigh. "Why do men get so incredibly obnoxious when they reach a certain age?"

Sophie didn't really have an opinion on the matter; she hadn't grown up with any father figures. But thinking of Harold Harper, she still frowned slightly.

"My dad gets a few hundred bucks a month in social security. That was fine in our small town, but in the city? He can barely afford groceries. Where does he get the confidence to think any respectable woman would be blind enough to want him?"

Sophie pressed her lips together to hide a smile. When Gwen decided to roast her own father, she took absolutely no prisoners.