Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81375 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81375 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
“The crows liked your gift.”
“That’s… I’m really glad.” I go to step off the porch and nearly miss it completely. I recover, ungracefully, by taking one long stride forward like I meant to not use the stairs. At least I don’t fall on my face.
“There’s one pair. The female brought a necklace for her mate. They haven’t returned it back to me, but I expect a few gifts will be brought to the deck soon. They usually leave things by the feeders. I went and dispersed all the jewelry throughout the woods. I didn’t want to make it too easy, so I hid some under leaves and behind rocks. I also hung a few pieces off of branches.”
“Wow. That’s brilliant. And also dedicated,” I say.
He wraps his arms around himself like he needs that form of self-protection to ward me off. It’s the worst form of penance there is, seeing his pain reflected fever bright on the surface of his eyes that are beyond green now that the sun’s shining perfectly on his face. “It gave me something to do while I was thinking.” He pauses, doing the thing where his lips purse out to say something, but nothing happens. On me, it looks like fish lips. On him, it just looks straight up sinful. “Are you expecting company?”
I was so fixated on Luca that I didn’t even see or hear the second car turn down the driveway. He turns quickly, pulling his hood back up.
“I ordered pizza,” I answer.
“Ahh.”
“I thought I looked too awful to go out in public, so I got delivery.” It would be nice to stop talking.
Then again, I’m sure he can see that I’ve been riding the hot mess express with a round-trip ticket. My hair is a knotted nest of terror, and I haven’t showered or even washed my makeup off from yesterday. Considering I went with a full face of makeup that was quite goth-inspired, there’s been a lot of black smudging all over the place. The tears probably took care of most of the foundation, but I know I’ve got the raccoon rings and streaks going on. Plus, I’m wearing leggings and an old ratty sweater. It’s my favorite, but I’d never let it see the light of day. I’ve had it since I was a teenager. It has my high school’s football team logo on it.
“I thought I could maybe drown my sorrows in cheese and pepperoni, but that’s never worked for me before.” The car creeps down the driveway with as much care as Adam’s did.
“You should try ice cream,” he deadpans.
“I mean all food.” I keep my eyes on the car while he has his back to it. Is it weird having a conversation like this? Not really. Not after everything that’s already happened between us. “When I get really upset, the last thing I want to do is eat. The anxiety that clenches up my belly like a big sack of stones kind of works against it. But also… I had no groceries.”
The car stops, and the driver’s door opens. A lanky teenager gets out, but he’s all big smiles as he pops the trunk and produces the world’s most epic pizza box.
I can’t help it. I laugh. He laughs. I’m afraid he’s going to drop the box since it’s so massive and he’s doing the thing where his whole body laughs with him. I rush over and grab the other side. It’s heavy. It’s not deadweight, but twenty-eight inches is a lot of food.
Luca is nowhere to be seen. He probably walked around the side of the cabin or went through the front door.
“If you want to just set it down here on the porch…”
We lower the box together. It takes up so much space that I start laughing again. Almost the whole little front deck is covered by the pizza box. I prepaid, but I have a twenty in my pocket, which I hand over, saying, “Thanks so much. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble finding the place.”
“Nah. We deliver to rural areas all the time. I’m used to the fire numbers and geo locations.”
“Thank you again. Have a safe trip back.”
He nods and flashes me a smile that pretty much draws up his whole lean face with it. “Thanks. Enjoy the pizza.”
After the car disappears down the driveway and back down the road, Luca steps out of the cabin. He freezes when he sees the box, gaping at it. “Garp! What the hell is that?”
I’ve never actually heard anyone say garp before, but he somehow makes it incredibly sexy.
Focus. On anything but him. “A twenty-eight-inch pizza,” I reply.
“You really went for it then.”
“I thought it might be funny. I’ve spent money on worse things. Like coming out here. Like hiring someone to give me all the details of your life. Like… okay, yeah, we’ve been over this a few thousand times already.” I pick up the box by myself, but freeze. “How are we going to get this through the door?”