Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81423 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
A little while later, Josh stood as well. “I’m gonna head out. I can give you a ride, if you’re ready to go now. If not, no worries.”
He was giving me the choice again, and a part of me wanted to jump at it. Hell, I’d be lying if I said I never thought of fucking Josh, but now wasn’t the time. It wasn’t him I would be thinking about, and even if it was only a hookup, that wasn’t fair.
“I’m going to hang out with Knox a bit longer. Thanks, though.”
“No problem. Catch you guys later.”
“I’ll be right back,” I told Knox before heading outside with Josh.
“Hey…just so you know, there was definitely a possibility. You’re obviously gorgeous. My head is fucked right now.” I should have known even being friends with Remy would screw with me. I was passing up getting laid for what? To sit in my house and worry about him? To wish things could be different?
“Like I said, no obligation. Thought I’d put it out there.”
“Couldn’t you have done that a month ago?” I joked.
“Eh. I’m not going anywhere.” He grinned, then headed toward his Mustang.
I went back in, and we hung out some more. About an hour later, Knox finished his soda and looked at me. “You ready to head out?”
“Yeah, I could probably drive now, but I’d rather be safe.”
“Me too.”
We were in his car, on our way to my place, when he asked, “Is it me, or was something going on with you and Josh? You mentioned the bi thing before, but you know I wouldn’t give a fuck, right?” He rubbed a hand over his beard.
“Yeah, man, I know. I don’t know why it took me so long to say anything.” Maybe because thinking of being with men always made me think of being with Remy.
Knox shrugged. “You don’t owe anyone an explanation.” He paused for a moment, then said, “You and that guy?”
“He’s a friend,” I replied, which was true. Even though it was hard, even though he’d been gone for years, I couldn’t not be friends with him. “But I can’t really talk about it.”
Knox nodded, then was quiet the rest of the drive. He was good at that.
The next morning I woke up to a text from Remy saying he wouldn’t need my help that day. That he would call or text when he would.
And with each day that went by where I didn’t hear from him, I got more and more pissed. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe we could never be friends. What in the hell was I thinking, letting myself get wrapped up in Remington all over again?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Remington
I was a little on edge this morning, so of course this would be the day Mom called. For a moment I thought about ignoring it, but I always worried something was wrong. Logically, I knew that was unlikely, but my thoughts didn’t always pay attention to logic. “Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, Remington. How’s my boy?” Her voice was shaky and slow.
“Keeping busy. You know how it goes.” And I was. I hadn’t been able to take a real break for days. Still, she didn’t know the ways I was keeping busy. She didn’t know I’d bought a damn house and that I’d spent too long struggling to write. The last thing I wanted was to worry her.
“That’s good. You know how proud of you I am, how proud of you I’ve always been. I don’t know what we would do without you.”
Guilt twisted inside me, filling me until I nearly overflowed with it, but I worked hard to push it down, to bury it. I couldn’t do this. Not today.
“How have you been feeling?” I asked in an attempt to change the subject. It worked, and we spoke for about twenty minutes before getting off the phone. I showered and put on my favorite old jeans and a Henley, then lowered a hat onto my head.
My hands trembled slightly, which was stupid, but I knew it was about more than going out. It wasn’t as if I were a hermit. It was about where I was going and what it would mean.
After locking up, I climbed into the small Honda I’d purchased and headed for Chatham Street. Law had mentioned the name of the road his café was on. It would have been smarter to do some research first, look up local cafés, but it wasn’t like Havenwood had a lot of farm-to-table, breakfast-and-lunch diners on Chatham. I’d figure it out when I got there.
I knew it the second I saw the white building with black lettering and yellow-and-orange design. Sunrise Café. My hands started to shake. Law had named it Sunrise, and maybe it had nothing to do with me, but I wanted to believe it did. That it was because the first song I sang, the first night we met, was about a sunrise. Because we used to sometimes stay up all night, talking and fucking, before watching the sun wake up. Because he knew how much they meant to me, and maybe, somehow, that made them mean something to Law too.