Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
“I don’t have anything better to do. Honestly, there is nothing I want to do.” She pressed her lips together. “I’m totally free, I just want to make sure you’re, like, I don’t know, I guess, okay with everything.”
Dylan chuckled. “I’m good with everything. Trust me. Just a slight annoyance that I didn’t cancel in time, but it’s a private island. There will be no one around. It’ll be me, you, and Buttercup.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“Yeah, it does. So, what are you making?”
“I have no idea,” Robin said. “I think it might be mushroom and basil-pesto bruschetta, but I could be wrong.” Then she gasped, remembering the bread in the oven. She rushed to it and pulled it out, but it was perfectly fine. “No, we’re good. If it had been burnt, I’d have told you it was for the flavor.”
She moved back to the counter where she’d been slicing mushrooms. Dylan had already gone to the fridge to grab himself a beer. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that he was pouring her a soda. Robin rarely drank and he’d paid attention.
“How are you feeling?” Robin asked.
“Okay. I would have lost the money if I needed to, but I don’t see anything wrong with us going and enjoying some time away.”
“Do you miss her?”
“My ex? Fuck, no.” Dylan sat, lifted the bottle to his lips, and took a long sip.
“I find that hard to believe when you got an island for your anniversary, in advance,” Robin said. “That had to mean something.”
Dylan blew out a breath. “I worked a lot. The last anniversary we spent together, I bought her a bouquet of roses and took her out to the best restaurant. Throughout the whole meal, she complained that I didn’t get her really nice things. That woman loved jewelry and I’d stopped getting her little trinkets of my affection.”
“Oh.”
“Yes, she complained that flowers were a lazy afterthought, and asked if that was all she had become.” Dylan laughed.
She saw the anger in his face.
“So, like a fucking idiot, I decided to surprise my wife in advance. I was going to tell her about the anniversary this past year, get her ready for the surprise.” He shook his head. “At least I found out what she was really like.”
“But you’re angry.”
“Of course I’m angry. I was taken for a fool by a woman I couldn’t stand. I only did that shit because I was trying.” He stopped and rubbed at his temple. “She got a doctor to convince me that I needed to take care of her during her grieving period. Whenever I asked about children, she’d tell me I was being cruel, reminding her she’d lost our child. That she was useless. So I stopped talking about it.”
“Wow,” Robin said.
“Yeah, wow. No, I don’t love or miss my ex-wife. Hearing about my anniversary gift reminded me what a fool I’d been.” He shook his head. “And that is just too much of a reminder.”
He ran a hand down his face and Robin moved away to put the mushrooms into the skillet she had preheating.
“Tell me something about your ex,” Dylan said. “I feel like I’m always talking about mine. Why not tell me about yours?”
“You’re not always talking about your ex-wife, and besides, I’ve talked about mine a couple of times. I don’t see the point.”
“You were married longer than me but you said you don’t love him anymore. What made you fall in love with him?” Dylan asked.
“Lies are what made me fall in love with him. Hope, and I don’t know, a sense of duty is what kept me with him, even when he was being a bastard.” Robin sighed, picking up a spoon to move the mushrooms around.
“How did he lie?” Dylan asked.
Robin laughed. “By telling me he loved me after about three months of dating. We met through a mutual acquaintance. I later found out that he’d gone to our friend and asked for them to find someone that looked respectable. Who would help his image of a guy settling down and wanting to start a relationship. That was me. Trust me, our mutual friend is not in my life anymore. They knew and they didn’t even warn me. Asshole.” She growled.
“All of this was for his law firm?”
“Yes, to get the proper image they wanted for their company. It was total bullshit.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t think cursing is right.”
Dylan burst out laughing and she loved the sound. “Come on, it is super fun.”
“It is, but my ex got me down the aisle by telling me lies.” She shook her head. “You know, I had my doubts about him during the three months we were dating. He’d always be on his cell phone, or he’d talk over me. He was never interested in what I had to say, or even what I did. We always went to the places he loved, what he enjoyed doing. There was never any interest at all. In fact, I was going to break it off and tell him I just wanted to be friends, even though I kind of hoped we’d never be friends. That was when he blew my mind with his lies.”