Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 111980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
To tell me how he feels.
My heart is beating outside my body.
No—it’s beating so loudly they can hear it in San Francisco.
It’s like bubbles flow through my veins, wonder comprises my cells, and hope lives in every molecule in me.
When he finishes the song, he says into the mic, “In other words, I love you.”
My throat tightens with emotion, and I’m about to say I love you too when he walks away, toward center stage.
Then he lifts a hand to his forehead, blocking out the bright light, peering out at the theater. What is he doing? He’s staring all the way up the aisle, where Levi and Hazel are standing. They must have rushed over there from backstage, and I’m guessing Zuri and Nisha are at Dog Tails with all the pups, including Captain, who’s there tonight.
Except—wait. I think I see a familiar tail thumping.
Then Sawyer says into the mic, “Captain, bring it.”
And my dog trots down the aisle, one red rose held delicately in his teeth.
My eyes well with happy tears.
I fling a hand to my mouth. I’m a hot mess all over again—of tears, of excitement, of surprise. Complete and utter surprise as my dog trots up the steps and across the stage, then drops the rose at my feet.
“For you,” Sawyer says.
I bend and take it as I try to find words. But none of the I was hurt, I felt discarded, I felt unimportant matter anymore. Not when he’s saying he’s sorry and telling me he loves me in the biggest, boldest way possible.
So I do the only thing I can. I cup his cheek and press a kiss to those soft lips in front of the whole town. A shiver races down my back.
When I let go, I say, “I love you too.”
Then I turn to the audience, take his mic, and say, “Sam Silversmith makes me hit the high notes.”
Laughter carries across the theater.
And then my world tips upside down when Sawyer hoists me up, tosses me over his shoulder, and carries me offstage.
40
SHOWER SONGS
CHLOE
In the lobby, I’m still floating on cloud nine. I feel like I’m the one who got engaged—I’m that bubbly, that happy. I keep showing off my rose to everyone. “Look. He had my dog give it to me,” I say to Bridget, even though, of course, she was there.
In the second row. She saw it.
“Yes, it was perfect. But so was the number,” she says, then whispers in my ear, “I told you so.”
I arch a brow. “Did you?”
She straightens her shoulders. “I told you to tell him how you feel. And you did. And it worked out.”
Damn. She has me there. “Fine, you’re right,” I say when my attention snags on a handsome man in a suit, lingering at the edge of the lobby, his eyes laser-locked on…Bridget.
“Do you have a secret admirer?” I whisper, forehead-tipping toward him.
She shifts her gaze to look at him. He has neat brown hair, intense eyes, and a mysterious air about him. Scruff lines his jaw, and he’s broad and strong.
“I don’t know. Do I?” she asks, a little breathy.
“I think you should swipe right,” I say.
She rolls her eyes, turning away from him and focusing back on me. “Anyway, the show was amazing. You’re incredible and…can I say it?” She gathers Ripley, Banks, and Sawyer close. “We should do karaoke.”
Sawyer smiles. “Yeah, we all should. Next week?”
“It’s a date,” I say.
“A double date,” Banks adds.
“And I’ll be the third wheel,” Bridget says, but she doesn’t sound upset about that.
I’m not upset about anything anymore, especially when Sawyer kisses me. A sweet, hot kiss that doesn’t last long enough. When he breaks it, we head over to see my mom, passing the guy in the suit again. He’s talking on his phone.
“Yes, Oliver here,” he says, tone confident, commanding. “Yes, this place looks great. It’s everything we want,” he says—then his eyes stray to Bridget once more. “And everything I want.”
My eyes pop. “What does he want?” I whisper to Sawyer.
“Maybe we’ll find out someday soon,” he says.
Before I can even answer with a maybe we will, I do a double take when I spot Ian. The Brit from the dance class, and from Dog Tails. He’s here too. Seems like he’s waiting for someone in the lobby since he’s looking around. But then, he stops looking when his gaze lands on Bridget, and stays there, his lips curving into a grin.
Well, well, well.
Someone has more than one admirer.
But I put my bestie’s prospects out of my mind tonight when my mom and Angelo make their way to the lobby, where my brother congratulates them. We head straight toward the happy couple too.
“Finally, your mother has made me an honest man,” Angelo says, sounding over the moon.
“I’m so happy for you. But I’m not calling you my stepdad.”