Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
CHAPTER 15
Elizabeth
DECK THE HALLS
December 18th
“Did you just get the text?” I ask as I walk into the kitchen the next morning and see Nate sitting on the couch with a bucket of pictures beside him.
“No, what text?” He looks up as he flips the stack of pictures in his hands.
“From Joshua,” I tell him and he shakes his head. “Apparently, it’s a two-for-one day,” I announce, going over to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee, “so we can have a free day tomorrow.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” he asks me, his head turning to me and I see his hair is sticking up on the side. He’s wearing another pair of fucking gym shorts that hang softly on his hips, and I wonder if I pull them down, if he’ll be naked under them. The thought alone makes parts of me tingle.
“It means today is the gingerbread competition, which”—I walk to the fridge—“I’m going to win.” He rolls his eyes. “Then it’s the ice hockey game tonight.”
“Did you forget who won yesterday?” he asks and then points to the stupid trophy that is sitting on top of his counter.
“Seriously?” I lean against the counter. “You going to say you won fair and square?”
“Fucking right,” he declares as he looks through the pictures in his hands and puts the stack to the side and grabs another one from the basket.
“You hip-checked me,” I point out to him.
“It’s not my fault that you were in my way.”
“I was standing up reading my clue,” I gasp.
“And also, in my way.”
“And what about when you took our clue with you by ‘accident’?” I mention the last clue they took with them so we wouldn’t catch up to them. The minute Joshua threatened us with helping do the seating chart, it was like you thought we were in The Amazing Race and were going to win one million dollars as the prize.
“We didn’t take it.” He rolls his eyes. “It accidentally fell on the floor and was pushed under a table.”
“You should have been disqualified.” I point to him.
“But we won, so it’s neither here nor there,” he gloats, and I walk over to the couch and sit down in the spot where I’ve sat every single morning, “and we got a trophy for it.”
“At least yours survived.” I snicker. “Jack’s ended up crushed under Evie’s shoe.”
“I did not see that coming.” He laughs also. “She fucking pummeled that thing as if she was King Kong.” We both laugh.
“I wonder if she let him in the house?” I ask. “I can’t believe she left him at the venue and said ‘Find your own ride home.’”
“I can’t believe he chased Joshua around the fucking venue saying he ruined his day.” I laugh so long I have tears in my eyes.
“I thought Jack was going to deck him,” Nate says, “and I think he might have if your father hadn’t walked in to see what was happening.”
“Right time, right place,” I say. He suddenly stops what he’s doing and looks over at me. My heart races when I remember when I said those words to him, and I quickly look away. “Needless to say, someone was in trouble and for once it wasn’t me.”
“You kicked me,” he hisses out, not touching on the remark from before or maybe he doesn’t remember. But with the way he looked at me, I know he does.
“I did not.” I shake my head. “I accidentally fell forward with my leg connecting to your shin. It was as much of an accident as the clue ending up under a table.” I shrug. “Anyway, what the heck are you doing?”
“I told Belinda I would get a couple of pictures of Joshua in high school and some of us growing up.”
“I haven’t seen a real picture in forever,” I mention, leaning over and grabbing the stack. “Everything is all digital these days.”
“You know what is making a comeback?” he asks, as I flip through the pictures. “Those disposable cameras.” I gawk at him. “I know someone who works with me always brings it with her. We were at a team dinner the other day, and we all posed for a picture and she took out this square thing from her purse. It had the flash and everything.”
“But then how do you know if the picture is good or not?” I ask him and he shrugs.
“You find out like in the old days when it’s printed.”
“Oh my gosh.” I turn one of the pictures over. “Is this prom?”
“I think it was semi-formal,” he replies. I look back at the picture of both of them in suits, standing side by side. My eyes go to just Nate, who was always hot, even back then. But it was different, he was just Joshua’s best friend back then. He was also one of the people I could have counted on just like Joshua and Jack.