Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 117415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
And that’s about all TJ can handle: “We gotta go. Thanks, Mr. Billy! Uh—Billy. Sorry, just Billy.” Then I’m swiped away from the counter like a kid from a candy shop counter, and Billy’s waving us goodbye with wiggling fingers.
Like some kind of full circle thing, we end up at Chatty Cat’s with a pair of hot chocolates, despite the muggy evening. We sit at the front window next to each other while I listen to TJ go on and on about his boss and how he’s so like his mother-in-law Nadine, it isn’t funny. “Trust me, him finding out is just as bad as her.” After a thought, he adds, “Am I making a bigger deal out of this than it is? Should I just relax? Why am I so worked up about this?”
I’m about to answer him when I catch a couple of girls looking our way, sitting at a table closer to the counter. One of them has a phone out, but it isn’t aimed at us. The other keeps sucking on her straw while eyeing us, like she’s having dirty thoughts.
“I just realized what it is,” TJ says, his speech slowing. “It’s … It’s because I always pictured myself coming out with a guy. I had boyfriends back at school, but … none of them I’d bring back here to meet my parents. None of them were serious. None of them … felt worth it.” He stares into his drink a moment, stirring absently with his straw. Then he glances at me. “You do.”
His words, or maybe the sweet way he delivers them, pulls a smile out of me. “Good,” I say, lifting my chin, “because I already know none of those loser exes of yours could throw down a hot chocolate like I can.” I tap my cup, then lift it for a chug. I come short when I realize it’s still way too damned hot, choking, and set it back down with a grimace. “In a sec. G-Gimme a sec. I deserve another shot at that.”
TJ’s already laughing, tears in his eyes.
I only ever want him to have tears of laughter. No other kind are allowed around me.
This guy deserves the world.
“It’s nice,” he starts telling me before he’s fully recovered, his eyes still wet with happiness, “for us to finally have this nice little coffee date we sorta missed out on the first time.”
“On account of a distractingly cute cat outside,” I point out.
“And you not liking crowds.” Then he nods. “I get it now, your thing with crowds. What you really meant back then.”
I glance at him, feeling appreciative. “I don’t hate ‘em.” I lean in. “Just depends on who I’m in ‘em with.”
Our faces draw so close, it’s a wonder we don’t kiss right here and just get it over with. Whether or not anyone’s looking. Those girls. Someone outside the window. None of it matters, at least not right now. That world out there can keep on moving, heedless to the gooey-eyed pair of us.
And for once, I don’t want to run from it.
Chapter 19.
TJ
One minute, I’m on a rocket, soaring through the stars, except I can literally reach out and touch them, and they’re each the size of a mote of dust, floating around me. Not sure where I’m headed, but there’s a pair of arms squeezing around my waist—Austin’s, of course—and the rumbling of the rocket engine fills my ears like thunder booming, propelling us faster and faster into the stars.
The next minute, I jerk awake.
In Austin’s arms. Heavy rain spraying against the window and pummeling the roof. Monstrous booms of thunder outside.
“Like dogs and cats out there,” mutters my mom at breakfast. My dad’s out in it apparently, having gotten up and out early to check on a client in Brookfield. “And in the middle of the summer, too. Can’t remember the last time we had this much rain. It better not be raining on the Fourth. I can’t cancel all that catering …”
“The storms seem to chase us,” I say with a chuckle after a sip of my orange juice. Austin’s gazing at me across the counter with a dreamy smile, his smiley mug lifted to his lips, pausing to listen. I smile back. “Night we met, it was raining. Like dogs and cats,” I add with emphasis to poke fun at how my mom says it.
She doesn’t notice that part. “Aww, really? It was raining? Tell me about it. Leave out nothing.”
She’s probably just trying to distract herself from worrying about Dad being out in this. Or whether her Boomin’ Barbecue plans might be turned into an indoor thing.
Just when I’m about to remind her that I already told her the story, Austin lowers his mug and takes over. “It was stormin’ in more ways than just outside. It was stormin’ in my head, too. I don’t think it’s an understatement to say … the night I met TJ, I … I was pretty lost.” He meets my eyes across the kitchen counter and smiles. “Real good thing we ran into each other.”