Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70570 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Cole and I stand together halfway between the patio and the swimming pool, which shimmers in its bluish romantic lighting. No one else is out here. We’re rather suddenly alone.
“Well, she sure does her work, huh?”
I snap my eyes to Cole’s. “Wh-What?”
“Mrs. Strong.” He lets out a soft chuckle. “That woman sure doesn’t know subtle.”
“Oh, right.” I make myself laugh, then turn stiff as a board the next second, my laughter strangled out of existence. “She did tell me the moment I arrived that there was someone she wanted to introduce me to.”
“Me, too,” he admits. “In fact, the moment she learned I like guys, it’s like I pressed the big ‘detonate’ button on any hope of a private life. She’s gotta know everything about everyone.”
“So we’ve both been hit by Hurricane Nadine, it seems.”
“Hey, we’ve already got something in common!”
We laugh together.
Then draw quiet.
I glance back at the house for some reason, as if having heard a noise at the window. All I see are bodies in the kitchen moving around. I’m not sure why, but I think I expected to find Samuel there at the window staring back.
“Everything okay?”
I turn back to face Cole. “Sorry?”
“You seem a bit antsy, if you don’t mind my saying.”
“Oh, I don’t mind you saying anything. You-You have a lovely voice. Say everything you want to say.” I clear my throat. Did I really just say that? And did my voice just squeak? “I’m fine. I’m not antsy at all.”
Cole’s lips curl, as if amused.
What’s wrong with me?
Distant laughter and clinking glasses reach my ears. I guess things are already underway in the back of the house where I helped set the tables. Nadine probably gave my dad a spiel about letting me enjoy myself and not be tied down by duties. I can hear her now—as well as my dad sighing with agreement. Not a soul is out here on the side patio. Obviously that’s intentional; Nadine put the two of us out here to have all the privacy we need.
I throw a thumb over my shoulder—somehow almost poking my eye out in the process. “Are you sure you aren’t missing out on the dinner thing? Well, it’s really more of a fancier-than-necessary buffet sort of ordeal, but … anyway, Nadine really went all out.”
“She did! It’s impressive. Probably the biggest fuss made over a wedding I think Spruce has ever seen.”
“Even bigger than her older son Tanner’s,” I agree. “I think I’d just turned seventeen when they got married, Tanner and Billy. I had a lot of big teenage feelings about it. It was a weird time.”
“I think I remember that wedding. I was about thirteen.”
I really don’t want to do the math of that. “Hm.”
“Your family catered that whole wedding, didn’t they?”
So he’s been told a little about me. “Well, yes, but—”
“As well as this one? That’s what Mrs. Strong said, anyway. Do I have that right, or—?”
“I—Yes—Well, it’s more my dad and the restaurant. I didn’t … I really didn’t have too much to do with what’s going on today.” I shuffle my feet and glance away uncomfortably.
Cole studies me. “Really? Or are you just saying that?”
I look at him. His eyes are so striking. “What do you mean?”
“Downplaying your contributions? Being modest? I know you did a lot more than you’re giving yourself credit for.” He smiles. “Nadine was right about you. You’re so down to earth.”
I stare at him. Me? Down to earth? Was Nadine high when she talked me up to this magical Cole Harding person?
Somehow, I don’t feel like correcting him. “Yes. Yeah,” I agree as I run a hand through my hair—then panic over the fact that I think I just completely messed up my hair. How could I dare to mess up my own hair in front of a perfect guy like this?? “I’m … fairly down to earth, yes. A very down-to-the-ground kind of fellow.” Oh my god, what does my hair look like now? What did I do to it? “That’s me.”
“I love your scarf, by the way.”
His compliment throws me. I instantly forget about my totally self-messed-up hair. “What? Oh. This … This old thing? It’s …” My hand goes to its red, lacy length. I realize I don’t feel like telling him about my mom or her departure. “I just got it at some store in Fairview,” I lie—and I may never know why I just lied.
“The one Lance Goodwin opened up? I heard he opened up a clothing boutique out in Fairview, but that might’ve just been a rumor. I’ve never been out there, actually.” He smiles again, his smooth, inviting face spreading apart like ocean waves shattering against a shore of diamond sand each time he does. It’s dazzling. Then his eyebrows lift slightly. “Would you take me someday? Out to Fairview? I would love to see what all the fuss is about.”