Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 153946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
No villain or obstacle I could dream up to pit against one of my characters could be so insidious. Or justify stepping away from life so completely, for so long.
“Are you better now?” Wade asked quietly. “Physically?”
“I am,” I told him after a moment of hesitation, running my hands through my wet hair. Mostly. “Can it please be your turn again? This AMA was supposed to be about you, not me. And don’t describe your favorite lunch meat or your dream vacation, either. I need something big to make me feel better about admitting how pathetic I am.”
I knew he wanted more details, but I was close to cracking.
“This race might be my last as their mechanic,” he said abruptly. “I haven’t told the guys yet. Only Kingston.”
I gasped, the water splashing around me as my hands dropped in surprise. “Bullshit.”
“I’m adding Dalton, the kid I rented my apartment to, onto the pit crew to see if he’s a good fit, so I won’t feel like shit about leaving them in the lurch. Is that big enough for you?”
It wasn’t bad. I couldn’t imagine how Gene and the others would react if they found out. “Can I ask why?”
He looked over at Merlin, who’d curled up in his favorite spot on the rattan couch beside the apartment door, before meeting my gaze again. “I guess for the same reason I’ve been looking for a home of my own. It’s time to try something new.”
When I could only gape at him, his expression turned flinty. “It doesn’t sound like me, does it? Because I’m predictable.”
“I didn’t say that.” I would have said steadfast. Dependable. Admirable.
“I know what I am. But I’m ready to make some changes. I don’t want to be so stubbornly set in my ways I miss the chance for something better.”
Now he was looking at me like that something better might include me, but I tried not to read too much into it.
“Your turn again,” he said. “Does Morgan know you’re leaving yet?”
10
AUGUST
Why did this man have such a gift for asking the hard, pointy questions?
“It only became an option recently, so no, I haven’t mentioned it to her.” That was the truth, as far as it went.
He lowered his head until his chin was under the water. “Is that all it is? An option?”
The question shouldn’t have been difficult to answer.
“It’s a likely one,” I made myself admit, “for too many reasons to count. Take this house, for example.”
Take this house.
“Wait. It just occurred to me that you’re looking for a house and I’m thinking of selling mine. You wouldn’t want to…?”
“Sorry.” He shook his head after less than a moment of thought. “It’s too much space for one man.”
“Exactly!” I emphasized the word with another splash of water, unwilling to analyze why I felt relief at his answer. If he’d said yes, it would have solved all my problems. “It’s too big a house for one person and it needs work. More so after tonight. Not to mention the fact that nothing good has happened since I moved in, so it might be a black pit in disguise. The place where everything I love goes to die.”
Mom. My health. My career. My social life. Merlin soon, if the vet was right.
Such a ray of sunshine. “Sorry, that got really dark, didn’t it?”
“Is it how you honestly feel?”
I shrugged. “Only some days. It isn’t the house’s fault that I’m having issues. It’s not like its sentient.”
He looked intrigued. “That would be cool.”
“No one says cool anymore.”
“I’m old enough to say whatever I want. A sentient house would make a cool story. I’d read it.”
“You can,” I told him with a smirk. “It’s been written about so often it’s practically its own genre now. There’s a husband-and-wife team who’ve perfected it with an Innkeeper series that sets the bar way too high for the rest of us. They have the coolest audiobooks too.”
“I’ll have to look them up. And no one says coolest anymore.”
I grinned as I let the water run through my fingers again. “Anyway, my best friend offered me a place with him in San Diego and it felt nice, you know? To be asked. To be wanted and have choices again.”
“This would be Chick, right?”
I stared at him. “How do you know his name?”
“I told you I read the newsletters.”
He must have. Mom had included several of the house parties he liked to throw in my Adventure Corner. “Yes, um. Chick. He’s got a beach house now with a lot of room. I could stay there until I decided what comes next.”
He was staring at me in silence. I couldn’t read his expression, but something about it tightened my throat. Was he judging me for abandoning the permanence here for temporary somewhere else?
Not that Chick would ever kick me out, but I knew before I said yes to him that it would only be a stopping point. He’d eventually find someone he wanted to share his life with. There was no doubt in my mind. The last thing I wanted to be was someone’s third wheel.