Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“Okay,” Nathan said with a nod. “And I want you to know that in reality, I’ve never seen Shawn happier. And I’m really fucking excited for both of you.”
“Bullshit,” Shawn said, shaking his head. “You see me get this happy every October when Hazel’s Diner starts doing pumpkin spice cappuccinos again, and you know it.”
Nathan snorted. “And I make fun of you every time.”
I pulled Nathan into a tight hug. “Thank you for trying to protect him,” I said. “I’m glad Shawn has so many people who care about him. But also, you can fuck right off if you think I’m ever going to hurt him or you.”
“Heard, loud and clear,” Nathan said.
“Does this mean it’s actually margarita time now?” Shawn asked.
“Margarita time, and time to make Nathan wildly uncomfortable for the rest of the night with excessive PDA,” I said. “Shawn, I’m going to hold you in the photo booth, I’m going to try to win you a heart-shaped plushie, and I’m going to kiss you on the Ferris wheel. Does Spring Festival even have a Ferris wheel? Maybe that’s just fall.”
“Just fall,” Nathan said. “Thank God.”
“Maybe we can get matching couples’ face paint, then,” I suggested.
Nathan groaned. “I’ve got to go find my daughter. She’s probably been sucked into a conversation with Mom about which exact shade of eggshell white would be best for repainting the guest bedroom. And I think I’ve realized that you guys are just going to torture me tonight, aren’t you?”
Shawn shrugged. “Not if the margaritas are on you this round.”
“Margaritas?” a voice called out from behind us. “Margaritas… are on me.”
We all turned to see Charlie there, clearly well on his way to sloshed even though we’d been here for a grand total of less than an hour. He was holding a plastic cup in each hand, one of which was indeed a margarita, and one of which was probably white wine.
“Charlie,” Shawn said, stepping over to put a hand on Charlie’s arm as he swayed to one side. “How many drinks have you had?”
Charlie shrugged one arm, which made him spill a little of the margarita. “Four. No—five? These things are fucking tiny, dude. And they never give you enough. Unless you tip twenty bucks, which I did at the margarita tent, because the guy was hot. Turns out he’s married, though. Married, married, married. That’s my luck. Did you know Jim is getting married?”
Oof. There it was. That explained pretty quickly why Charlie was treating tonight like it was a college party with a keg instead of a cute small town festival.
“How can he be this drunk from four small drinks?” I leaned over and said to Nathan, keeping my voice down.
Nathan clicked his tongue. “He’s forgetting to mention that he had more than a few drinks before I picked him up tonight, too. He promised me he wouldn’t go overboard here, but that’s clearly off the table.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Shawn was asking Charlie. “Jim’s been dating you and about three other guys off and on for as long as I can remember.”
“Didn’t you guys just break it off, like, last week?” I asked, going over and gingerly taking the margarita from one of his hands, which he didn’t want to give up.
“We sure did,” Charlie said, bitterly looking up at the sky. “And then he proposed to the same guy he cheated on me with, last night. On their trip to Miami. Isn’t that just special? I need another drink.”
“We’re going to get you a nice, big drink,” Nathan explained, gesturing for me and Shawn to lead Charlie over toward a tent offering different flavors of water. “It’s a clear liquid drink, but they put all sorts of flavors in it. Do you want lemon, lime, watermelon, or strawberry?”
“Lime,” Charlie said. “Margarita with lime, please.”
We got two lime-flavored waters and walked over to a bench with Charlie. We got him to throw back one of them, at least, before he got tired of it and started asking for liquor again.
“Can you guys try to go find some food he can get down? I’m not sure he’s eaten enough today,” Nathan said as he let Charlie slump against him on the bench. “Some kind of sandwich, and maybe bananas from the smoothie tent?”
“You got it,” I told him.
Shawn and I took off right away toward the food. “I feel awful,” I said. “I’ve never seen Charlie this bad.”
Shawn sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I wish I could say the same. Charlie is a mess, sometimes. A very lovable mess, but a mess. I know he’s capable of getting on the right track, but he just has to do it.”
“I had no idea,” I said. “He’s so good on the job.”
“Oh, he’s perfect when it comes to construction work,” Shawn said. “Charlie will do the best job he can possibly do. It’s just his personal life that’s a shitstorm tornado of pure chaos, sometimes. He just needs direction, and love—Christ, he has so much love and nowhere to put it. But he’s reckless when he’s heartbroken.”