Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“What does one do at this?”
“We went last year with Wyatt,” he explains. “It’s like the school’s welcome back. You mingle with other parents and eat food. Every classroom is decorated with a different activity, and then there was this haunted house thing the older kids set up. There was also a maze. It was fun. I think there was an auction.”
“Good.” I nod. “We’ll see you there.”
He laughs. “I’ll tell Autumn.”
“Much obliged.” I fold the paper and put it in my back pocket. “Let’s get the horses in.”
It takes about an hour and a half for us to get all the horses in and settled. The night shift is arriving when I walk into the office area and see Lilah at her desk doing something. The sound of her clicking away on her keyboard fills the area with Lucy beside her doing her homework. “You ready?” I ask Lucy, who looks up at me and then looks at Lilah, not sure she wants to leave her.
“You get to choose what we are having for dinner.” I try to ease her away from her.
“Oh, that sounds like fun.” Lilah smiles at her. “I would ask for steak with baked potatoes and corn on the cob.” I gawk at her. “Now I’m hungry.” She smiles down at Lucy, who is putting away her things.
“Thanks for watching her,” I say softly. “I know it’s past your quitting time.”
“We were each doing our homework.” She ignores even looking at me as she stands up and tucks her chair in. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Lucy.” She gives her a side hug. “No more running away, yeah?” She winks at her and then holds out her hand, extending it to her and holding out her pinky. “Pinky swear.”
“Pinky swear,” Lucy vows to her, wrapping her pinky with Lilah’s. Both of them exchange a smile that fills the coldness in my bones.
She smiles at her as she grabs her phone and her keys. “Have a good night, Emmett,” she says, not being rude in front of Lucy. She walks away from us, but the whole time we stand and stare at her, the both of us secretly wanting her to come with us.
“She’s nice,” Lucy says.
“Yeah, she is,” I agree.
“She’s pretty,” she notes.
“She is,” I confirm but stop there, “but not as pretty as you.” She looks up at me. “Let’s get home so I can get to cooking you a steak.” I put my arm around her shoulders and walk out with her, the both of us learning how to live with the other.
Chapter Sixteen
LILAH
“Where have you been?” Sierra says when I press the green button on the display center in the truck. “It feels like it’s been a month since I’ve spoken to you or have seen your face.”
I laugh at her dramatics. “It’s been a week, maybe even ten days at most.”
“It feels like eighty-four years,” she groans. “What’s been happening?”
I take a deep inhale. “I was dating someone,” I share, mentioning Caleb. Why? I don’t even know why. She gasps. “It’s already over.” I don’t go into detail because it’s not important. “Um, oh, and I made out with Emmett.”
“Um, excuse me?” Sierra says. “Emmett? The Emmett?” I roll my eyes. “The Emmett you’ve been in love with since, I don’t know, like your whole life.”
“It hasn’t been my whole life!” I shriek. “It’s been six years.”
“Okay, whatever. How was it? Tell me everything!”
“It was good.” I try to downplay it.
“You are a liar, liar, pants on fire.” She laughs. “It was good, my ass.”
“Okay, fine,” I admit, “it was the best kiss I’ve ever had in my whole fucking life. And now every single time I look at him, I want him to kiss me, but he’s an asshole, and he doesn’t want me like that, so I’ll just have to be happy he kissed me at least once and move on.”
“I’ve been telling you to move on for the past five years. Yet here you are.”
“I go on dates,” I defend myself. “I was dating, but—”
“But he wasn’t Emmett,” she interrupts softly.
“But he wasn’t Emmett, and it wasn’t fair of me to string him along.” I pull up to the school, seeing the parking lot has been closed off for activities, so I end up parking almost two blocks over. I shut off the truck, putting my head back and closing my eyes. “Now I have to attend some fall barbecue thing, but tomorrow, when I wake up, I will call you. We can have a coffee date, and you can tell me all about the guy who ghosted you.”
“He didn’t ghost me,” she groans. “Maybe his cell service is bad.”
“For ten days?” It’s my turn to pick on her. “Think about another reason.”
“You too,” she snaps. “Now go and pine over your man. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”