Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 65346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 327(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 218(@300wpm)
“Well, honestly, I feel like this was all you, and I can’t take any credit for it. But even if there was a tiny bit of credit there, it’s really the least I can do. You saved my life back when we were younger. When I felt so fucking angry with myself, with my weight. I let other people’s assumptions and judgment get through to me, and it wasn’t until you taught me how to accept myself that I truly did. And listen, I’m not saying I’m fully there. I am loving the idea of being a big bear, and it seems like you love it, too—” He gave me a look that had me blushing. “—but it’s hard. And so, even now, you’re helping me accept myself. Every day. You’ve been helping me, all this time.”
His hand squeezed my thigh, rubbed. Rex’s jaw flexed as he looked straight ahead. Was he fighting back tears?
I put my hand on his. My fingers slipped through his, and he held on tight.
“Anyways,” Rex said, pulling him together with a deep breath. “I’ve got a surprise for you. Back at the guesthouse.”
“Oh really?” I perked up. “Interesting. Very, very interesting… What is it?”
“Nice try,” he said, chuckling. But again, his laugh cut short. His forehead wrinkled and his eyes seemed to look somewhere further off than just the empty road ahead.
“Rex, everything’s okay, right?” I had to just ask. After coming out of an hour chat with a doctor asking question after question, this one came out pretty easily.
“Yeah, yeah, everything’s good.” The way his tone inflected made me think everything might have been an exaggeration.
“You sure?” I asked, prodding a little deeper.
He rolled his neck, and I heard a few loud pops. “Yeah, I’m sure. I’ve just been focused on pulling this surprise off, that’s all.”
Steering things back to the surprise. I smiled, feeling the excitement from Rex rising, but I couldn’t box away the nagging doubt that nipped at my heels. Something was up with him, although it was clear I wouldn’t be figuring it out on this car ride, seeing as we were already pulling up to the security gate at the front of the sanctuary.
“Curtis!” I said, cheerily waving over Rex.
Curtis returned with an equally as cheery “Hey there, fellas!”
He pressed the button in his booth, and the heavy iron gates in front of us rolled open. I’d gotten used to this already, but it did take me a few days to accept that this was our reality now. When I was growing up, the sanctuary only had fences for the enclosures. We never had to worry about keeping people out, only about keeping animals in.
Not anymore. Not since the Dove flew into our lives, threatening to shut us down if we didn’t do it ourselves. These days, there wasn’t merely a physical fence around the entire property, but a digital one, too. Alarms would trip if anyone climbed any section of the wall and we’d all be immediately alerted.
Again, I had a difficult time accepting it was our reality, but the sense of safety was very much welcome.
Rex pulled into the parking spot, next to my mom’s van. I hopped out and started down the brick path that wrapped around the house, toward the backyard. Rex caught up to me, putting a hand on my lower back for a split second before taking it off.
Damn, did I wish he had left it. I wanted to walk hand in hand with him.
Was I falling too hard? Too fast?
Yeah—six years too fast.
I set aside the needless worries and instead braced myself for whatever surprise waited for me on the other side of the bold blue door. Rex put a hand on the knob, his smile making his eyes crinkle.
“All right, you ready?”
“Yes, ready.”
He cracked the door open but froze. “Wait, wait,” Rex said. “Cover your eyes. And don’t peek.”
I listened, putting my hands over my eyes and shutting them tight. Rex’s hand landed on my hip as he guided me over the threshold and into the guesthouse.
“Can I open my eyes?”
“Not yet, hold on.” I could hear Rex move further from me. He fiddled around with something. A cable? What was that sound… Mariah Carey started crooning from the surround sound speakers, the familiar jingle of one of my favorite songs making me suddenly giddy.
“All right, open.”
I dropped my hands and then my jaw.
The guesthouse living room had been transformed into a winter wonderland, with fake snow on the floor and clouds of it on the windowsills and across the couches, all made to seem dreamlike with the green and reds and whites of the smart light bulbs, which slowly shifted between those colors. The ceiling had a trail of mistletoe, hanging in a single-file row, leading all the way to the bedroom. There was an inflatable snowman next to a group of dancing elves, their animatronic motion smooth enough to make them look real. The windows were coated in a dusting of snow, with festive phrases written on them.