Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 117574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 588(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117574 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 588(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Auggie picks up Lucky. “If you need anything, I’m just a door away.”
“Don’t remind me.” It’s a bitchy thing to say, given his kind tone, but there’s no bite to my delivery. Suddenly, what happened with Auggie this morning feels like the least of my worries.
“I’ll leave you alone now. Bye, ladies.”
“Bye, Auggie,” Tessa replies. “It was nice to meet you.”
“You, too.”
With that, Auggie disappears into his unit next-door with Lucky bopping happily behind him—and to my surprise, he doesn’t flash me a single scowl or glare before shutting the door.
“Okay, my love,” Tessa says, clapping her palms together, “my friend gave us an assignment. He told me to rent a storage facility for tomorrow for all this stuff. He said the crew will throw away any obvious trash, but everything else will be boxed up and put into storage, so you can go through it at your convenience later and see if there’s anything worth keeping or selling.”
The tiniest tingles of hope prickle at my soul. “That’s a great idea.”
“He’s a pro. I’m sure there’s a storage place close by, considering how close we are to campus.”
“Let’s do it.”
Tessa taps on her phone and quickly finds a storage facility only two miles away, and just that fast, I’m no longer wallowing in self-pity. I’m a woman on a mission, thanks to Tessa.
As we head toward the elevator, Tessa says, “After we get the storage unit, do you have time to get the kids with me and take them out for ice cream cones?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve got nothing but time till the crew works their magic. And, yes, I’d love to eat my feelings with my three favorite people.”
We reach the elevator, and Tessa presses the call button.
“Auggie’s kinda cute,” she says. She’s playing it cool. I know her well enough to know she wanted to deliver that sentence with a whole lot more enthusiasm than that.
“Girl, don’t even try to make Auggie a thing. Even if I were to somehow bury the hatchet with him, which is highly unlikely, he’s way too good looking and squeaky clean for me. The sex would be mediocre, at best.”
“You don’t know that. Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
I snicker to myself. Tessa obviously thinks I’m assuming Auggie would be terrible in bed. Which he probably is. Hot guys don’t have the same work ethic in bed as their ugly-hot counterparts. That’s a scientific fact. But in this instance, I was actually referring to the little secret I’ve never admitted to anyone: namely, that I can’t let go enough, sexually, when my partner is too hot and therefore makes me feel self-conscious.
“Auggie likes you, Charlotte,” Tessa teases, as we step into the elevator.
“No, Auggie hates me.”
“Nope. When Lucky started cuddling you, the look on his face was like you’d turned water into wine.”
“Okay, so he was amazed his scaredy-cat of a doggie curled up on my lap. Lucky liking me isn’t the same thing as Auggie liking me.”
The elevator doors open and we step out. “No, I think the two things are related. I think Auggie saw his terrified rescue pup trusting you and suddenly felt overcome with the primal urge to put his baby inside you.”
We both crack up. Leave it to Tessa to make me laugh, even through tears.
“Well, if that’s the case, then, no thanks.” I pause. “Although . . . the man’s got some damned good genes.”
“That’s an understatement. Think how pretty the babies would be!”
“And did you see how fit he is? I didn’t even notice that yesterday when he was sitting down. How’d I miss his hunky, hot bod?”
“It’s from all the break-dancing he did in the boy band.”
We both burst out laughing.
“Oh, no,” I say. “He was the break-dancing one? And here I was considering giving him a shot.”
We laugh again.
“You didn’t notice his hotness yesterday because you were too busy freaking out about Dumbass Brody to notice.”
I snort. “Brody. Such a dumbass. What was I thinking?”
“I have no idea, girl. No fucking idea.” It’s a funny statement, regardless. But even funnier because Brody is Tessa’s employee. She, better than anyone, knows the man is dumb as a box of rocks. A great bouncer, probably, but the man can’t carry on an interesting conversation to save his life. The fact that I bothered with him at all proves, emphatically, just how abysmal my dating life has become over the past few years.
We’re walking up the sidewalk now, heading to Tessa’s car. She says, “Were you really considering giving Auggie a shot?”
I shrug. “Not really, no. Although now that I think about it, I suppose it might be convenient to have a fuck buddy right next door.”
“Fuck buddy? Girl, aim higher. That boy’s going to be a veterinarian. They make bank. And did you notice how gentle and sweet he is with Lucky? That man’s going to make a great father one day. Auggie’s definitely husband material.”