Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 169305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 847(@200wpm)___ 677(@250wpm)___ 564(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 847(@200wpm)___ 677(@250wpm)___ 564(@300wpm)
They matched. Our names winked back at us from cheap plastic beads. It looked ridiculous among her otherwise head-to-toe luxury brands.
I snatched a spam musubi, unwrapping the film. “What are you having?”
“Probably the steak and fries.” She heaved a sigh. “I mean, the sushi downstairs looks so good, it should be downright illegal, but I can’t eat raw fish right now.”
“I’m talking about your pregnancy.”
“Oh. A girl, I hope. I’m willing it into the universe.” Dallas’ face lit up. “Rom says he’s worried about being outnumbered. But I say he’s always been outnumbered. I have multiple personalities, depending on my mood and what time of the month it is.”
“You’re going to make an amazing mother.”
I meant it.
“I’m going to try my best.” She smiled. “If there’s one thing I learned from my own mother, it’s that you need to teach your daughter to be powerful enough to protect herself.”
A lick of longing tugged at my belly.
I wished I had a mother. A real one. Not one that abandoned me. Or one that spent my entire life trying to kick me out.
I tilted my head, toying with my next words. “Have you noticed something about the moms here…?”
“Here as in this household, this city, this state…?”
“Here as in around us.”
Not that there was an us, but Dallas felt like an actual friend. I couldn’t help but latch on to her warmth.
“Hmm…” She tapped her lip, pausing. “I actually don’t know much about Oliver’s mom, but Romeo’s leaves much to be desired. He mostly calls Constance his mom.”
“Constance?” My jaw dropped. “As in, Zach’s Constance?”
She grinned, nodding. “I know. It seems impossible, but Romeo said she wasn’t always like this. That the Constance he remembered used to be warm. She packed him lunch every day because she didn’t want him to eat junk, picked him up from school with Zach, and personally taught him math, which she once lectured at the collegiate level.”
“Constance Sun,” I repeated.
“That’s the one.” Dallas traced circles on her belly. “Rom told me that, after her husband died, she became a zombie. When she finally snapped out of it, she transformed into a different person. Rigid. Full of rules. Humorless. Rom thinks Constance is afraid that, if everything isn’t perfect, something bad will happen again.”
I lay on the pillow, considering Dallas’ words. Losing someone tragically didn’t excuse bad behavior, but it did explain it.
Grief rewired your brain. The quiet moments became the loudest ones. The only way to shut it off was to make your life louder than your mind.
I, of all people, could attest to that.
Which gave me no right to judge.
And still, I couldn’t help but resent her for the way she made her son suffer. Even if he constantly made me suffer.
I nibbled on a corner of cieple lody without really tasting it, though it must’ve tasted good because Dallas’ eyes rolled to the back of her head.
She nudged my arm, wiping crumbs off her chin. “Hey, what’s eating at you? You were a complete firecracker the first time I met you. You look… down.”
“Everything’s fine.”
Was I convincing her or myself?
“Try again.” Dallas snorted. “In this friendship, we only do honesty.”
“It’s my birthday today,” I admitted.
“What?” She paled, jumping up to her feet in an instant. Well, as fast as she could with an entire human in her belly. “Are you kidding me? What are you doing here? We should be celebrating.”
“There’s nothing much to celebrate.” I stared at the desserts, swallowing saliva. “I don’t have any family, and all my friends are in Korea.”
“Not all of them.” Dallas opened the closet, saw that it was empty, and shut it. “I’m here, and I have some gorgeous clothes to lend to you for an unforgettable night. All you have to do is say yes.”
“No.”
“The music downstairs is amazing. The food is divine. Besides, no one will recognize you. And I won’t leave your side at all.”
“The answer is still no.”
“Oh, come on, Farrow.” She bent her knees, pressing her palms together, begging. “You can’t deny me. I’m pregnant and vulnerable. What if my water breaks early because of you? You’d have to move to another planet to hide from my husband, and then we can’t binge eat our way through Earth together.”
I couldn’t afford to binge eat my way through Earth, both financially and practically if I expected to win any gold medals in this lifetime.
Dallas began panting, listing all the ways her husband and his friends tracked their enemies. She was relentless. No wonder she wore Romeo Costa down.
The woman could overthrow entire regimes with one tantrum.
“Do you want that?” She didn’t wait for me to answer, patting my shoulder. “You just stay here, okay?”
I wanted to say no. To tell her that I was beyond repair. But if Zach could find it in himself to push through and make a change… then, maybe I could, too.