Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 141425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
From the other side of the booth, Corbin’s daughter, Charlotte, clears her throat, straightens her spine, and says, “The way I see it, we can either go to the bookstore now, then to Hey Nice Nails for a mani-pedi, or check out the pop-up board game exhibit on Lily Lane.”
“Is there really a Lily Lane here?” Sabrina asks, intrigued.
“Yes! I can show you. But first, you have to tell me which one you want to do,” she says to Sabrina in a no-nonsense tone.
I turn to Corbin, laughing. I’ve met Charlotte before, but every time I see her, I swear she’s ten times smarter.
“She’s organized. What can I say? She keeps me on top of things,” my friend says with a what can you do shrug as he pushes messy hair off his forehead.
“No doubt,” I reply.
“Looks like that’s a good thing,” Sabrina says to him with a playful rib, fitting right in with the crew.
That makes me smile stupidly, but I wipe the grin off my face so fast.
Corbin lifts his empty coffee cup in a toast. “Sure is.”
Charlotte, efficient and focused, swings her gaze to Sabrina. “You seem to be in charge. My vote is for the board game exhibit. Do you second it?”
Yup. Total take-charge kid. “As long as they have Operation,” Sabrina says.
“Let’s find out,” Luna chimes in, and just like that, the kids are wiggling out of the booth, off to hunt for the next thing to do.
“Excuse me. We’re not done,” I point out, gesturing to the cups of coffee.
Luna waves me off. “Oh, but you seem like you’re about to do the dad talk thing—blah, blah, blah, hockey. Blah, blah, blah, my back hurts. Blah, blah, blah, I can fall asleep anywhere. Last week, it was the barber.”
I whistle. “Damn.”
“I feel triggered,” Corbin mutters.
“Looks like someone knows you both well,” Sabrina observes. Then she slides out of the booth. “I’ll take them.”
And just like that, she’s off.
Funny how a few months ago, she would’ve asked if it was okay, and I would’ve wanted her to check in. Now? I don’t need her to ask. I trust her completely with the kids. And it feels like…it feels like she’s a partner.
I sit back in the dark green booth, walloped by that realization, the weight of it, the scope of it.
Corbin must notice, too, because once he confirms they’re gone, he leans back, draping his arms across the booth, and gives me a knowing look. “Looks a whole lot more than you just having it bad for her.”
I exhale, dragging a hand over my jaw. He’s not wrong. “It’s definitely more than that. I told her in New York I was…well, pretty much in love with her.”
He jerks back, blinking. “You said the L-word?”
“Well, not yet. I said I was crazy for her. But close enough.”
“Not really,” he says as no-nonsense as his daughter right now. “But it’s a start.”
That’s a fair point, I suppose. “True. But that’s what I was going for. To let her know my feelings were real.”
“Like I said, it’s a start. A good one,” he adds before he gives me a long, assessing look. “So what’s next, man?”
I shrug, my chest twisting as I try to navigate the road in the dark. “I guess we tell the kids that…we’re together together.”
Corbin arches a brow. “Together together? That’s how you’re saying it?”
I scrub a hand across my beard. “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, but do you?” He leans forward, resting his forearms on the table. “Because telling the kids is one thing. But if this is real real…have you thought about what that looks like for you?”
I know what he’s asking. Have I thought about where this could go? If it’s long-term? Marriage again? Another ring, another house, a whole new future I wasn’t planning on?
That twisting feeling intensifies, but it’s not bad. I’m not afraid. I just want to do it…right. I don’t want to make mistakes. Don’t want to set the kids back. Don’t want to promise too much too soon to anyone.
I drag a hand over my jaw, my mind zigzagging with all the next steps I’m not sure how to take. But they’re ones I want to figure out. “I’m working on it,” I say, meaning it.
“Good to hear. I’ll be here for you,” he says, and that’s another thing I like about the move from LA—I’m close to family but close to all these new friends too.
“Appreciate it,” I say, but then Corbin gets distracted as a brunette with blonde streaks in her hair, wearing jeans and a sweater with a line drawing of a slice of cake on it, walks by. No, rushes by. Like she’s late.
“Hey, Mabel,” he calls. “Did you forget to say hello?”
Mabel stops, then backtracks. For a split second, something flickers in her expression when she sees Corbin, like she didn’t expect to run into him. “Sorry. There’s a space I need to go check out.”