Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
We’re three rounds and a dozen stories in, laughing at Kyle’s anecdote about his newborn. The booth is stuffed and we’re squeezed around the table loaded with wings, fries, and several pitchers of beer. Unfortunately, Niomi is seated across from me and there’s been no time to pick up where we left off at the step show. She looks up and our eyes lock. Her beer pauses mid-air on its way to her mouth. Both of her brows lift as if to ask me a question. My only answer is a slow smile and a quick shake of my head. What I need to say to Niomi can’t be done through silent signals in a crowded booth. I need some real time with her, and it looks less and less likely that I will get it tonight.
“Kids,” Carmella, who was pre-med at Finley and is now a pediatrician, says. “I deal with them all day at work like a champ, but let me get home to my teenage twins and I’m at a loss.”
“I know the feeling. Just when we thought we were done,” Kyle says. “This last one snuck up on us.”
“Did you ever think about kids, Niomi?” Carmella asks. “I remember when we were in school you wanted like three or four.”
“Oh.” Niomi traces the glass holding her beer with one finger, lowering her lashes. “Let’s just say I reassessed the situation. When my career took off, I kept delaying marriage. Delaying kids. Not sure they’re in my cards now. I do have two stepdaughters. Well . . .I did have them.”
Her laugh is brief and not bitter.
“I guess since the divorce I’m not actually their stepmother anymore. My ex and I are friends and stay in touch, though. They still invite me to birthdays and graduations. They may be as close as I’ll ever get.”
I’m not sure if regret tints her words or not. The conversation shifts, but I can’t look away from Niomi’s face. Despite the laugh she releases when Kyle launches into another of his stories, a guard has fallen and it feels like she pulled the blinds on her expression.
A few minutes later, Niomi scoots out of the booth and stands.
“Potty break,” she says, grabbing her glass and taking one last swig before heading toward the restrooms.
I watch her until she disappears down the corridor, and my gaze lingers there even after she’s gone.
“What are you waiting for?” Kyle asks in a low voice near my ear. “You making your move tonight or what?”
“Huh?” I turn my head, dragging my gaze from the dark hall that just swallowed up Niomi’s curvy figure. “What?”
“Her.” He nods in the direction Niomi just took. “I know you not letting her get away again. Ever since you spotted her our first night on campus, you’ve been into that woman.”
I take a sip of my nearly-flat beer and roll my eyes. “Now you exaggerating.”
“Am I?” He leans closer, pitching his voice low beneath the laughter and conversation of our friends at the table. “So it was a coincidence that every time she broke up with someone, you magically found yourself free, too, dumping girls left and right to try for Niomi Spencer.”
“Never worked. There was always somebody waiting in the wings. I never had a shot.”
“Correction. You never took your shot, unless you count that one kiss you didn’t follow through on.”
“Damn, Kyle. What was I supposed to do? She was dating some other dude. Besides, I thought I’d be back and maybe get one more chance. I don’t regret Celine, but if I hadn’t given in to all my horny loneliness in Paris, this might be a different conversation.”
“It would be a different life, man. You would have come back here. Maybe got caught up with Niomi. Maybe not, but you probably would have stayed stateside and never gone off to all those places where you accomplished everything you have. You drop a domino to the left instead of the right, it’s a different game. But your right now reality? That you can do something about.”
“For an idiot, you make a lot of sense sometimes,” I admit with a grudging, wry grin.
“I know I do, so listen to me. You have a beautiful daughter, have been on the adventure of a lifetime and have a career most only dream of. You’ve checked all the boxes, but you never checked her. Never tested to see if the reality of Niomi measures up to all them damn fantasies I had to listen to.”
“I never talked about fantasies to you.”
“Bruh, you talked in your sleep, and believe me, Niomi came up more than once.”
I glance toward the corridor. She’ll be back at the table soon, and any chance for real conversation will get lost in the group’s jovial catch-up. All my life I’ve made opportunities where seemingly none existed. I’m famous for creating pathways to a story when logic and the odds threw up roadblocks. For a guy who’s known to seize the moment and make the most of it, I’ve missed this one over and over again.