Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 43920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
“Why am I walking backward?”
“Because I’ll have more of the weight that way.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Just grab your side.”
We had the cage lifted and moving in moments.
“You see how much better this is?” he asked me.
It was. No argument there.
“I’m sure you had better things to do tonight than watch kids with me.”
He smiled. “Just like earlier when I went with you to get Cami, all I want is to be with you, Chris. Whenever I can, however I can, I’ll be there.”
How earnest he was, the look on his face, in his eyes, I could read him easily, and all I could see was hope.
“Well, you’re gonna be bored,” I apprised him.
“Probably not, but I wanna show you how great I am at watching kids.”
“Why would I care about that?”
“For when you wanna have babies with me.”
“Oh God,” I groaned. “Listen, for the record, she knows that—”
“I don’t care. She clearly gets me, and that’s all that matters. Plus, you love her, and I’m going to teach her how to play the guitar, so how golden am I?”
I could feel the fractures in the walls around my heart, that was how much I was thinking about him and how shiny he’d become in a very short time.
“Now come on,” he urged. “I’ve gotta get you fed before you completely lose all your patience.”
“I am really hungry,” I confessed.
“Yes, I know.”
I wasn’t about to tell him how much I enjoyed him caring. As much as I meant to all my friends and the people I worked with, no one was focused solely on me. I missed that, and here he was, wanting to take care of me. Crazy to think he was the same guy, filled with memories of me, how I was, what I needed, my likes and dislikes, but now changed so that I was his priority.
“You’re not gonna be able to say no to me much longer,” he whispered.
And that was probably very true.
Georgine’s home had been listed as a condo when she originally went to look at it, but all I saw was the cute little historical home on Saint Louis that had been recently renovated. The small stairs that went up from the street to the pale-green house with red shutters, the original corbels Georgine loved but I didn’t understand the lure of. We had them at the club too, frou-frou pieces that helped support the roof. And they probably didn’t—corbels appeared more decorative than anything else—but they were always listed like they were a big deal. There were also ironwork window guards, which were at least interesting to look at. So from the outside, it was pretty, but the inside, to me, was the treat.
Wooden floors, fireplaces, crystal chandeliers I told Cami were made of diamonds, and a huge chef’s kitchen. Originally, there were two entrances, but Georgine turned the second doorway into windows and put in more of the wrought-iron guards. I liked it better now, and that was where Cami and Henry sat a lot of the time, on the steps together, contemplating whether they wanted to walk to the park or play in the courtyard in the back, the open gate there connecting Georgine’s home with Seth’s.
Once Dawson and I carried in Otto, taking him to Cami’s room, where I put him on the floor near her reading nook—complete with window seat, throw pillows, and a light machine—I came back out into the living room, where I was pleased to see that Dawson had brought in everything else. Cami’s loot was there, and she was already showing it off to Henry—black-haired, blue-eyed, with adorable wire-rimmed glasses. Cami, with her voluminous curly afro and big brown eyes, a miniature Georgine, was explaining to him all about stickers you put at the edge of your eyes to make them pretty.
“Okay,” he agreed because that was his way.
Cami went to work on stickering them both up.
“Don’t you just love my house?” Georgine prodded Dawson. “Isn’t it charming?”
“It is,” he agreed, sounding wistful. “I love it.”
She was smiling at him.
“There’s a lot of light.”
“Are you going to get a house here?”
He grimaced. “No. I learned my lesson the first time.”
“What happened?”
“Electric guitar amp,” he explained. “Once I write a song, I have to play it, and sometimes that’s at, like, two in the morning.”
“Which can get noisy for your neighbors.”
“Exactly. That’s why Simone’s place is perfect. It’s soundproof, which, if someone is trying to murder me will suck, but for writing music, is great.”
“Murder you?” she asked him.
He shrugged. “I’ve only had a few stalkers, but the third one got into the bus when we were on the road. I had the flu, and he came out of the bathroom… It was spooky for a second, but Enoch is a black belt in karate, so that was the end of that. Cami said she does karate. I’m sure E will wanna come see her tournaments.”