Total pages in book: 19
Estimated words: 17792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 89(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 89(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
I have a job, an apartment with genuinely good light, and a succulent that has been alive for two years, which I consider a milestone achievement and have named Kevin.
Oh God. I pound the steering wheel and scream at the windshield. To no effect.
I'm so screwed, and the worst part is … I brought this upon myself.
Rachel shares an apartment with her twin, River. They're on the third floor, and the elevator never works. I've climbed these stairs more times than I can count.
I didn't knock then. I don't knock now. I have never knocked. I come here after work at least four times a week, so they already know to expect me.
The door swings open to Rachel's mismatched throw pillows, the gallery wall that got two-thirds finished and then stopped because Rachel bought a new couch and lost momentum, the plants that are thriving against all reasonable probability.
But, hey, that's Rachel. Probability functions differently inside her orbit.
I slump on the stool by the kitchen island and groan.
River's at the stove, wearing a gray shirt, and his back is to me. Is it because of the tight-fitting shirt or has his back become broader? I stare at the ink on his muscled, veiny forearms and run my eye again across the width of his shoulders and immediately dig my nails into my palms. I am not doing this today. I still have things to figure out, and thinking about how hot River is will get me nowhere.
Rachel appears from the hallway, reads my face, and goes directly to the freezer. She's probably getting what we like to call our 'emergency stash'.
River turns from the stove. His gaze lands on me, and as always, I feel some tingling I should really ignore. The corner of his mouth lifts. "Ice cream situation or wine situation?"
"Ice cream."
A minute later, Rachel is beside me holding a big tub of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and two spoons. River isn't a fan of ice cream, which is why his body looks the way it does, and why I'm always out of breath coming up.
"Derek came to my desk and gave me his wedding invitation. He made this whole show of inviting me."
"He's always been like that," Rachel says. "Everything is the Derek Myers show."
"Right? He could've just given me the invitation along with the ones for Priyanka and Alec, but no, he had to be there himself."
"And he didn't just hand the invite, did he?"
I shove a scoop of ice cream into my mouth and moan before speaking. River whirls around, and his gaze narrows. Hmm, did I do something? "No, he absolutely did not. He asked if I was okay and if it wouldn't break my heart to see him marrying someone else because he knew I hoped it would be me."
Rachel's spoon clatters to the island. "He did not."
I nod and shrug, remembering the ring Derek gave me for my birthday. It was too big. He had never asked my size because he hadn't thought to, and I smiled and said it was beautiful because I'd been doing that, building things over the parts that didn't fit.
River turns back to the stove and says, "Exactly the thing I would expect from a guy who refused to carry that treasure chest you bought at an estate sale."
I smirk. "The one you carried four flights of stairs and claimed it was haunted?"
"Something in it rattled."
"That was a loose hinge, River."
"Spirits sound exactly like loose hinges, Nadine. That's how they get you."
"I had no idea you were scared of ghosts."
"I wasn't scared. No way! I hated them because I hate everything that lingers when they ought to be gone."
"Okay, sure. Whatever you say."
"And do not tell me it was coincidence Kevin almost died a day after you brought that blasted thing home."
Despite myself, I laugh. It really was one of the funniest things ever. Derek refused to accompany me because the whole estate sale was not his vibe. Rachel was busy, but River was not. Interestingly, River is never busy whenever I ask him. It doesn't matter if it's a call at 1 AM when I have a flat tire or running to my favorite taco place early in the morning. He is always available to me.
Rachel flicks her eyes from River to me. "Are we telling the Derek story or the haunted chest story?"
Right. Derek.
We were together for six months. Then, he came home after a work trip abroad with Alice and broke up with me. He said I was boring, that I played everything safe, that he couldn't imagine me doing something that scared me. That I'd probably never get married because I'd never let anyone close enough.
One week later, I saw them having dinner at my favorite restaurant. Derek was and will always be a scumbag.