Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86455 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86455 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
“Aw!” they both cried.
“Oh. My. God!” said Sarah. “Romantic!”
“Wow,” said Abby.
“It doesn’t mean anything though,” Tildy replied. “I mean, I’m not in love with Hawk. I barely even know him. And he obviously doesn’t want to get to know me.” She glanced wistfully at the back door.
“He’s just weirded out over the marriage thing,” Abby replied. “He’s totally commitment phobic.”
“Why?”
“Chris said it’s because his parents are divorced. So’s his sister.”
Tildy made a face. “That kid. Emilio? He said, ‘One night only.’ I thought he was joking.”
The other two women grimaced. “No,” Sarah confirmed. “Pretty much that’s how it is. But he’s honest about it up front. He doesn’t lie or make empty promises. Sometimes girls think they can change his mind. Never ends well.”
Tildy fingered her medal and glanced at the door again. “I couldn’t change his mind,” she sighed. Not Tildy with her too plain face and lack of brains or grace. The silence from Sarah and Abby told her they agreed.
Chapter 11
An hour later, Abby insisted on driving Tildy home since she was still a little out of it. Tildy fumbled a bit as she put her seat belt on.
Abby laughed at her. “You weren’t kidding when you said you didn’t drink, were you?”
She started the engine and pulled out of Tex’s driveway.
“I can’t believe this is your car,” Tildy said, glancing around. “It’s really nice.” The black interior was leather and it shined as brightly as the seats of Tildy’s Mercedes.
“You should have seen it when I bought it,” Abby told her. “It was a mess.”
“Did Tex fix it up for you?”
“No!” Abby scoffed. “I’ll have you know I found this car myself, haggled the kid down, and fixed it mostly on my own.” She smiled slyly. “Tex came over a lot to help me with it. But really he just wanted to hang out.”
Tildy couldn’t tell if she was more surprised at the idea of a woman fixing her own car, or a guy as hot as Tex making up excuses to spend time with a girl. Neither of those were possibilities for Tildy.
“I can’t fix anything,” Tildy admitted. Not even my own life, she thought.
Abby just shrugged. “Just a thing you learn, like anything else.”
Tildy scowled, thinking of all the things she’d never learned- or not learned well enough at any rate.
Abby made the turns at Tildy’s behest, and they soon came upon Tildy’s well-to-do neighborhood. She sank into the seat, feeling embarrassed and awkward. Half a block from the house she said, “Could you stop here for a second?”
Abby pulled over.
Tildy peered at the house. The garage doors usually remained open during the day, if someone was home, but they were closed now.
“What are we looking for?” Abby asked, following Tildy’s gaze.
“Just seeing if they’re home. They’re not,” Tildy said, relieved. “I can get out here,” she offered. She reached for the seat belt buckle.
“No, I can pull up,” Abby insisted.
She did, parking in front of the Fletcher house.
Tildy put her weight into the door and half stumbled out. It was a very good thing her parents weren’t home. Abby got out too. Tildy was about to protest when Abby said, “You’re blitzed, girl. I’m walking you in.”
Tildy put one hand on the car’s frame to steady herself and nodded.
Abby helped her to the door, and Tildy punched the alarm code before opening the front door and heading inside.
“Wow,” Abby intoned, looking around the two-story entryway. The heels of her boots clicked on the marble. In the living room, Abby’s eyes were still wide. “It’s like a museum,” she declared. “I feel like I shouldn’t touch anything.”
Tildy snorted. “You and me both.”
“I can’t imagine growing up here.”
“Well, you don’t,” Tildy replied. “You just sort of go from 3 to 30.” Tildy turned too fast and her head swam a little.
Abby grabbed her shoulder. “Whoa there. Let’s get you upstairs.”
The pair of them left the living room. As they entered her bedroom, Abby made a face that was halfway between horror and pity. It was hard to say which girl would throw up in her mouth first.
“I know,” Tildy groaned, waving her hand dismissively.
“Well,” Abby declared. “At least when you finally do get married, you can just take all this lace, sew it together, and have a dress with a train that stretches out to the Black Hills.
Tildy rolled her eyes. She unfastened her medal, gathered it into her palm, and stuffed it into the pillowcase. She then picked up the sundress and wrap that her mother had laid over the foot of the bed that morning.
“That’s cute at least,” Abby told her.
Tildy opened the closet door. “I was supposed to wear it to brunch today,” she said hanging up the clothes.
“You could have worn it to the barbecue.”
Tildy’s nose wrinkled. “I’ve never been to a barbecue,” she admitted. “I wasn’t sure.”