Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
“So your roommates got you?”
“Yeah. They’re good people, Dad. They’ve been good to me.” I shrug. “We’re a family.”
“I see.” He nods slowly. “So. What now?”
“Now…well, I promise to never lie to you again.” I rethink that. “Okay, no. I can’t promise not to tell a fib or two. But I’ll never lie to you about something of this magnitude again.”
His lips twitch. “I’ll take it.”
I smile. “Shake on it?”
We reach across the table to shake, and the moment his strong hand encloses mine, it feels like a load has been lifted off my chest.
“Come on,” he says, tugging me to my feet. “How about we go out to eat? I’m starved.”
“Might be kind of late to get a table anywhere,” I point out. “But there are some takeout places that are open late. Or there’s the pub if you’re up for it. But first let me rescue the guys. I’m pretty sure they’re hunkered down on the stoop without their coats and shoes.”
I’m not wrong. I hear their muffled voices when I approach the front door. I fling it open to find them shivering under the porch light, rubbing their hands together in the cold like a trio of street urchins in a Dickens novel.
“You can come in now,” I say, unable to smother my smile.
“We would’ve gone somewhere, but neither of us had shoes,” Lee says repentantly, gesturing to his socks and Jamie’s bare feet. “And Jackie boy forgot to put on a shirt again.”
Jack glances at me. “Everything okay?”
I nod. “Good. We worked it all out.”
We trudge back inside, where Dad greets the guys with narrowed eyes. Then he sighs and sticks out his hand. “I’m Gunner,” he says.
Lee stares at him. “Oh, we know.”
Jamie’s the first to shake his hand, followed by Jack, then Lee. After the introductions, Dad purses his lips for a moment before extending an olive branch.
“I thought I might treat us all to dinner.”
“I’m game,” Jamie says instantly. He’s always hungry.
Lee checks his watch. “I think Molly’s is still serving food.”
“Or I can get us a table at Soho House,” Dad suggests.
“Right.” An excited Lee snatches his coat off the hook on the wall. “Let’s go.”
“Wait,” Jamie says. “I need to change my shirt.” He smacks Jack’s arm. “You need to put one on. Something clean, please. Don’t embarrass us.”
“What’s Soho House?” I pipe up.
Lee and Jamie both shoot me a glare like I should be ashamed for asking.
“Somewhere we can get a bite without too much attention,” Dad says. “You’ll like it, kiddo. They do a great grilled cheese.”
A dumbfounded Lee gawks at him. “It’s an A-list only members club for actors and musicians and the like,” he explains to me. “Very swank.”
I sigh. “Dad, you don’t have to make a fuss— ”
Before I can even finish, Lee smothers me with his hand over my face. “She’s delirious. Please, make a fuss.”
“Abbs,” Jamie shouts from upstairs. “Can you steam my shirt?”
“Look what you’ve done,” I tell my father. “I hope they have a midnight menu.”
Our late-night dinner is not nearly as awkward as I expect, even with Dad asking the guys a mountain of questions. I suspect he wants to feel them out, give them the business or whatever, but by the time we’re ready to head home, the four of them have become fast friends.
“Abbs, we’re off,” Lee says when I return from the ladies’ room. “Dad is tired.”
“Really? You’re on a dad-name basis with him now?”
“Let me have this, Abigail,” he hisses in my ear. “Give me a superstar for a second father, and I’ll forgive you for hiding all your romances from me.”
“Deal.”
We exchange a grin, and I loop my arms around Lee in a tight hug. Emotion floods my chest as it occurs to me how much I’ve come to value his friendship. Today was brutal, tonight even worse. My heart still aches from my goodbye with Nate, yet one hug from Lee Clarke soothes some of that sting.
“What was that for?” he demands when I release him.
“Just an I-really-appreciate-our-friendship hug.”
“Right then.” He’s rolling his eyes but at the same time beaming.
It’s 1 a.m. when the five of us return to the flat so Dad can grab his suitcase. Despite all the guys offering up their own rooms for him, he’s decided to stay at a boutique hotel nearby. You can retire the rock star but not the rock star’s penchant for expensive hotel rooms and thousand-thread-count sheets.
“I’ll grab you an Uber,” I tell him, pulling out my phone in the front hall. “At this hour, it shouldn’t take long at all to get one.”
“Thanks, baby girl. Just gonna use the john and then I’ll be out of your hair.”
Lee stops my father at the stairs. “Thank you so much for dinner, sir. It was lovely.”
“Quite,” Jamie agrees. “Glad you’ll be sticking around for a few days, Mr. Bly.”