Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“As OK as it can be,” Noah said. He glanced at me, smile flickering a little wider. “There’s been a silver-lining to all of this mess.”
“Good, I’m glad. I just can’t imagine—Not that I can’t imagine anyone stalking you. You’re clearly an incredible handsome man with a very charming smile and now I’m sounding very weird. Jeez, I need to learn to filter myself sometimes.” Mason’s papery thin skin took on a flush of rose red, his cheeks turning into bloody spotlights.
“That’s fine, I’m never one to turn down a couple of compliments.” Noah chuckled. “Or baked goods. Wink wink.”
“I’ll be around later today with exactly that. The baked goods. Not compliments, unless you still want them. Ok, I’m done. You two go off on your romantic date. I was just heading home.”
“Oh we aren’t—“ Noah didn’t finish his sentence and I didn’t bother to complete it for him, either. We waved goodbye to Mason and turned, the air between us crackling with a different kind of energy.
“Ooook. Where do you want to go first?” Noah asked, looking at the map, which gave me a chance to look at him, devouring him from head to toe, noticing that his bubble butt wasn’t the only thing bulging in those khaki shorts.
I brought my thoughts back down to earth. “Want to check out the Cascade Gardens? Then we can make our way over to the orchid center?”
He nodded, smiling at me as he tucked the map into his back pocket. I was surprised there was still room there.
We took a right and started down a path flanked by bushy ferns and perfectly trimmed hedges. Even though it was a random spring Sunday, the gardens were pretty packed, with families pushing strollers and dates walking hand in hand, admiring all the colorful flowers and foliage. The path curved and rose over a tiny hill, opening up onto the Cascade Gardens, which the Earth Goddess called home. She was a living sculpture, massive in scale and covered with hundreds—if not thousands—of flowers that flowed down her long tendrils of hair. Her moss-covered hand was outstretched over a large pool, water falling down from between her fingers like a magical waterfall. It was serene and tranquil, a peacefulness that settled into your chest and made most conversations drift off as everyone stood around in silence to appreciate the beautiful living art.
“This is one of my favorite spots in the garden,” I said to Noah, my voice low. He snapped a couple of pictures before lifting his phone in the air and flipping the camera. He leaned into me and smiled. I rested my head against his, matching the grin, both of our eyes gleaming as he took the picture.
“Send that to me,” I said, already deciding that would be one of my favorite photos of all time.
“I will,” he promised, pocketing his phone and turning back to the Earth Goddess. We soaked in the beauty for a couple more minutes before deciding to move on, walking down toward the azalea walk, which had one of the most stunning blown-glass sculptures I’d ever seen. It rose up at least twenty feet into the air, made of sunny yellow spikes that grew out of an ocean-blue center. It almost seemed like a real plant, belonging somewhere on an alien planet.
“Wow, that’s crazy,” Noah said, craning his head and shielding his eyes from the sun so he could see the entirety of the towering structure. “How can anyone make that?”
“Lots of dedication and lung strength,” I said. “I took a glass-blowing course in college, actually. Thought it would be an easy A. Turned out to be the one class I almost failed.”
Noah chuckled at that. He shook his empty coffee cup, the ice clanking around inside. “Where did you go to college?” he asked.
“University of Miami. It was close enough to home but far enough for me to be able to stretch my wings and figure things out on my own. It helped that I had a full-ride scholarship.”
Noah nodded, impressed. “Yeah, I crossed that one off my list because of the tuition. And my grades weren’t anywhere near good enough to get a scholarship.”
“Where’d you go?” I asked.
“Stayed local. I went to the University of Georgia over in Athens. It was a good time, and I went with Eric and Tristan, so it felt like home from the start.”
I smiled at that, happy his experience was so positive. “Eric and Tristan seem like really good guys.”
“They are. They really, really are. Both of them have hearts of gold, and all three of us have each other’s backs until the end. They’re like my brothers at this point. How about you? What’s your friend group like?”
I pursed my lips, shoulders dropping a bit. “Well, most of my closest friends were from UM, and we all kind of dispersed after college. When I moved back to Atlanta, I started dating, and my friends were mostly my partner’s friends, which never really works out after a split. My closest friend here, oddly enough, is probably Ashley, my ex-girlfriend. I turned into her gay guru after she came out to me seconds after I proposed to her. It wasn’t great, but it’s exactly what needed to happen. I was feeling pressure to pop a question I really didn’t want to ask and she was being pressured into staying with me.