Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71165 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
I poured myself a mug of freshly brewed coffee, sat down at the kitchen table, and contemplated how I would handle my dinner date. My phone rang; it was Olivia.
“Hey,” I greeted cheerfully.
“You sound happy,” she remarked.
“I am,” I said simply, let her make of that whatever she wanted.
She laughed. “That’s good. I always felt bad about what happened between you and Tiffany.”
“Don’t worry about it, Livy. It’s all water under the bridge now,” I said airily.
“Anyway, I’m making the name cards for the reception and I realized I still don’t know the name of your plus one.”
“His name is Rex Hunter.”
I hear her scribble the name down, then she says, “Got it. So, how’s it going with him?”
“Good. Very good.”
“I’m so glad to hear that, Willow. I can’t wait to meet him actually.”
“Well, you don’t have very long to wait.”
I heard someone calling her in the background. “Oh, Mom has just arrived. Do you want to say a quick hello?”
“No, no,” I said quickly. “I’m just about to go out. I’ll see her when I get there.”
“All right then. See you at the weekend,” she murmured.
“Bye.”
With a sigh I ended the call. My relationship with my stepmother was complicated to say the least. This weekend was going to be interesting if nothing else.
Saturdays usually found me in the office, going over stuff I hadn’t managed to get done during the week, but today I didn’t want to go in. Perhaps it was time for me to go shopping instead. I needed a dress for the wedding.
“I gotta go get myself a dress for the wedding,” I said to Pogo.
He nodded solemnly.
I took a cab into town. Paying the driver, I hurried into a little dress shop where I’d, in the past, seen some nice stuff in the window. I was determined to get the classiest dress I could find. It took me the whole afternoon to buy myself two new outfits and a pair of cream shoes. They were all on sale so I was pretty pleased with myself.
Now all I had to do was have dinner with Rex so we could fashion a credible story of our first meeting, etc. etc.
7
WILLOW
I walked into La Chipola at five minutes to seven-thirty. Rex was already seated at a corner table. His dark head was bent to his cellphone. I walked up to the table and said, “Hello you.”
He raised his head and smiled at me. Wow! He was even more hunky than I remembered.
“Good. You’re on time. Have a seat,” he invited cordially.
I’d bought a lot of takeaways from that restaurant so the waitresses knew me well. I could see Isabella surreptitiously pointing at Rex and mouthing, “Wow,” while Megan was widening her eyes dramatically to show her surprise and approval at my taste in men.
I nodded a greeting at them and quickly sat down. Bella arrived at our table.
“Something to drink?” Rex asked, taking a sip of his drink.
I smiled at Bella. “Just some water, please.”
When she was gone, I opened my purse and pulled out the check I had written for a thousand dollars.
“Here is your first payment and the other one I’ll write at the end of the weekend,” I said, and pushed it along the table towards him.
He looked at it and frowned. Immediately, I wondered if I had quoted a different figure last night.
“That is what we agreed on, isn’t it?” I asked anxiously.
He looked up at me, his mouth quirking. “Yes, of course.” He took the check, folded it in half and slipped it into his jacket.
Bella arrived with a jug of water and filled my glass.
He regarded me curiously. “So, where and how did we meet?”
“We met in the rain. I had gone out to buy a hotdog and you were rushing home from work when we ran into each other. The mustard from the hot dog was splattered all over your shirt and coat. I looked up to apologize and that was it. Love at first sight under our umbrellas.”
He looked amused, but said nothing.
“Do you think that’s too corny?” I asked.
“No, not at all. What happened after?”
I frowned. “We went back to your place.”
His eyes glinted. “Really?”
“No, scrap that. That does sound a bit cheap. Let’s go with, we went back to your place, you changed your shirt and we went out to dinner.”
“And then?”
“And then we went back to your place.”
He laughed then. “How come all the girls I date are not that easy?”
“It was love at first sight!” I protested.
“Where do I live?”
“Uh… in the better part of town.”
“Got an area?”
“How about the next street? There are some nice apartment blocks on Melvin Street.”
He nodded.
Bella came back to get our orders and we both ordered the ossobuco.
“So, tell me more about you?” he invited.
I spent ten minutes telling him all about me, Pogo, my job; basically, poured out my whole life. “Now tell me about you?”