Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
As she walks toward the water, I follow her, then stop at her side and wait. I’ve never asked how she’s chosen each place she’s picked to leave the memory of her mom, nor what she’s thinking as she dumps the ashes out, but I know for myself I think about Val. I think about the things left unsaid and the time I missed out on. I was a shit brother, a shit friend, and until he was gone, I never realized that I was the embodiment of every quality I despised in our father.
After watching Elora’s mom’s ashes float away in the wind, I drag her into my arms and hold her against my chest. She doesn’t cry this time. Instead, she clings to me with the side of her face pressed against my chest as the wind picks up around us.
When her hold on me starts to loosen, I kiss the top of her head and let her go so I can take her hand. As we make our way back toward the steps that lead to the deck of Jace and Penny’s house, I notice they’re no longer outside where we left them on the deck so Elora could see the bridge from the sand.
Walking up to the back sliding door, I see Jace and Penny standing in their kitchen, the two of them laughing. When they hear the sliding door open, they look our way, and Penny’s face softens as she glances at Elora.
“Wine?” she asks, and Elora nods as Jace comes my way, holding two beers.
“I’m going to hang with Jace outside for a bit,” I tell her, and she tips her head back my way. Her eyes have no tears, but the leftover sadness from what she just did is etched into her features. I cup her cheek and watch her lids slide closed. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Her lashes flutter as she opens her eyes. She leans up on her tiptoes, pressing her lips to mine before moving farther into the house.
As she joins Penny in the kitchen, Jace passes me a beer, and the two of us take a seat at the table on his deck.
“I like her,” he says, and I see his attention is focused inside his home and on the girls standing next to each other at the island. Elora is sipping wine, and Penny is eating the cake she made for dessert.
“Me too.” I take a pull from my beer and focus on him across the table. “I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to convince her to come back to New York with me and stay there after she meets my family.”
“I don’t think she’s going to need much convincing.”
“Um… you’ve met my family.”
“Your grandma is cool.”
I smile at that. My grandmother is cool, and she’s going to love Elora.
“When do you plan on going back?”
“I’m not sure. The next stop is Vegas, then she wants to go to New Orleans. We haven’t really talked about what comes after that.”
“It’s probably a conversation you should have sooner rather than later.”
“I don’t want to rush her.” And the truth is, I’m not excited about going back to my life. I’m scared as fuck she’s going to jump ship the moment she figures out what a shit show my life is.
16
ELORA
36.1716° N, 115.1391° W
With my fingers pressed against the glass of the hotel window, I watch the lights of the fountain in front of the Bellagio dance to the music. I can’t hear it, but I swear I can feel it against my fingertips. When Roman comes up behind me, I look back at him, and his eyes drop to my cheek before his face softens.
“This is so cool,” I tell him as his hands capture my hips, then slide forward to band around my waist, pulling me closer.
He’s always pulling me closer.
“What do you want to do while we’re here?”
“I don’t know.” I lean back into him, feeling his thumb slide under the edge of my tank top and smooth across my skin, making my toes curl. “What do people normally do when they’re in Vegas?”
“Drink, gamble, get married.”
I laugh and tip my head back to look up at him. “I would call you a liar, but Beth—the girl who took over my job at The View—married her husband here, and it was the first time they ever met in person.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” I look back out the window. “Do you want to go walk around with me for a little while before we go to bed?”
“We can do that.”
“Are you sure?” I ask because it’s already after ten, and we have spent the day driving.
Or he did. I sat in the passenger seat, listened to my podcast that he found disturbing, ate snacks, and told him stories about my childhood while he shared a little about his, which honestly sounded sad.