Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Unlike Eve, her older sister, Ruth, couldn’t withstand the judgment without a coping mechanism and she’d turned to drugs. Though it wasn’t until Madden had discovered the children with Eve two weeks prior that he realized how serious Ruth’s addiction had become.
Knowing better than to be caught watching Eve in a vulnerable moment, lest she lock him out even more, Madden made sure to be sitting on the couch by the time she got back. She toed off her slides by the door but kept the hoodie on and sat down across from him on a leather ottoman, tucking her hands between her knees. The red tint on her cheeks gave Madden the urge to bring up the women at the bus stop. With an effort, he suppressed it, along with the impulse to reach out, grip her knees, and drag her close until they were nose to nose, breathing each other’s air.
“What did you want to talk to me about?” she asked.
This was it. His opportunity. And he couldn’t help but feel like a farmer trying to block a rabbit from the exit. If she wanted to find a way out, she would. She’d dart through his legs or run a figure eight and confuse him while she fled.
And if she knew his ultimate plan was to marry her—soon—she’d probably base jump without a parachute from the second-floor window.
First things first. You can’t rush a miracle.
“A couple of nights ago, Skylar and I had an interesting chat,” he started.
Her back straightened abruptly, her chest moving up and down. “Did you?”
“Oh, I’d say so.”
Eve picked at a string on the hem of her shorts, grew agitated and stopped. “What did you talk about?”
“I’m more than happy to tell you.” Was she holding her breath? She seemed to be, but he couldn’t be positive. Hope could be playing tricks on him. Hope that she cared for him a lot more than she’d been letting on over the years. “We decided to go for a drink in town. As friends. But she called the night off in the parking lot, because she incorrectly believed we were on a date. And she didn’t want to hurt Robbie.”
Robbie Corrigan was Skylar’s new boyfriend.
A hockey player with a past as colorful as his hair.
“You weren’t on a date, though?” Eve asked, shifting.
“No.” Madden shook his head and said it again. “No. We were not.”
Her throat looked to be stuck in the swallow position. “Oh.”
“I was taking her for a pint so we could talk about you, Eve.”
She quickly tucked some hair behind her ear. “Why . . . why me?”
“You know why.” Madden had begun making progress in her direction. Slowly. One step at a time. “I am not and I have never been interested in Skylar. I think of her as a sister. But when she brought up this notion of us being on a date, I got to thinking, Eve. Things started occurring to me.”
“Such as?”
“Such as . . . does Skylar think of me as more than a platonic brother type? Prior to meeting Robbie, of course.”
“I don’t know,” Eve blustered, as if she’d never pondered such a possibility.
Madden wasn’t buying it.
“See, I think you do know, love. She’s your best friend.” He was close now. Close enough to see the pink blotches that formed on her neck when she got hot or nervous. “Has Skylar been carrying a torch for me all this time? Answer honestly.”
“If that were true, I w-wouldn’t j-just betray her confidence like th-that,” she sputtered.
“She’s with someone else now. It’s serious.”
“What if it falls through?” she responded, worrying her lip.
Madden thought of the way Robbie, the wild-tempered, brick house hockey player, had reacted to finding out he’d taken Skylar out on a “date.” Madden was lucky to be standing there with all his teeth. “You didn’t spend your spring break watching them fall in love the way I did. I don’t reckon it’ll fall through.”
“What if it does?” Eve persisted.
“And then she goes back to liking me. That’s what you’re worried about.” Madden’s chest muscles knitted together and tugged. Hard. He’d always had a sixth sense when it came to this woman, but he’d missed something important, hadn’t he? Yeah, it seemed so. “Eve, answer me honestly. Have you been avoiding this thing between you and me, because your best friend had a crush on me?”
She was already shaking her head. “No. What? No.” Then, she seemed to play back his statement, her expression verging on alarm. “What thing between you and me?” she whispered.
“Now who’s gaslighting who?”
The tension grew thicker in the small, sunlit living room and he let it, because damn, it felt good. Not tiptoeing around what he’d always known. What he’d known since the night of that graduation party. They were meant to be a lot more than friends.