Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 84952 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84952 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
“I was thinking about taking a guy I just met to Jack’s Seahawks fundraiser tomorrow night. I don’t want to go, but Jack bought me a ridiculously expensive ticket. Two, actually. So I have to go and take a plus-one, or else he’s out like two grand.”
“Want me to go?”
“Didn’t you have some lewd love affair with Jack’s partner’s daughter or something a few years ago?”
He pauses. “I don’t remember. Possibly. Sounds like it could be true.”
“I think you did,” I tease him. “And I think it ended rather poorly.”
“Oh. In that case, who are you considering? Because it ain’t gonna be me, pal.”
A bolt of energy shoots through me, taking me by surprise. I get to my feet and pace around the room.
“I met a guy last night. You don’t know him. He’s just here for a little while. A few days, I think he said. Anyway, he pretended to be my boyfriend so Sebastian would leave me alone, and we hit it off in a way that … let’s just say he’s handsome and funny and had great shoulders—”
“This doesn’t sound like it’s going to end well.”
I snort. “Right?”
He laughs. “Where did you meet Mr. Kryptonite?”
“Paddy’s.” I stop midstep as I remember the excitement at being in front of him. A shiver rips down my spine. “Anyway, we had fun, and he was super cute. I thought I could maybe ask him to go with me tomorrow, but …”
My voice fades. I’m not sure what to say.
“But what, Riss?”
“I don’t know. I just … I really feel like I’m in a place in my life where I need a little perspective.” I close my eyes and try to make myself clear. “I swore off men because I repeatedly choose the wrong ones—”
“Facts.”
I open my eyes and glare as if Boone was standing in front of me.
“But Bellamy says it’s not men but relationships that are my problem,” I finish. “That I put too much pressure on myself or something. I don’t know.” I wince. “There was a raccoon analogy. It’s all fuzzy after that.”
“Leave it to Bells with the random analogy.”
“This one was a doozy. Anyway,” I say, trying to stay focused, “I feel like I’m screwing myself over after having just declared last night that I’m going to be single for a while. I made that decision sober and clearheaded, so I know it was a solid choice. Yet here I am, not twenty-four hours later, contemplating asking a guy to go with me to this event.”
“He could say no, you know?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think he would.”
The idea of him saying yes doesn’t help. It makes my insides all tingly.
“Riss, just … reality check here, okay? This guy, whoever he is, isn’t even from Savannah, right? It’s not like you’re asking to date him or have his child. You can still be single for all intents and purposes if that’s what you want and take this dude with you.”
“Yes, I guess you’re right.”
The weight on my shoulders begins to lift, and I realize how much I’m pressuring myself.
I’m turning into my mom.
Finally, after what feels like forever, Boone laughs.
“Has it ever occurred to you, ever, that you can be just friends with a guy who you aren’t related to?” he asks. “What I’m hearing—and correct me if I’m wrong—is that you just presume you’ll end up fucking this guy because that’s what always happens.”
“You haven’t seen him, Boone.”
“For fuck’s sake, Riss.”
I laugh. “Okay. Yes. You’re right. I presume things would escalate between us. And I just … I don’t want to do that. I mean I do, but I shouldn’t. I need to do what’s right for me as a whole person. I need to lead myself to victory here and not just, well, you know. To the bedroom, I guess.”
“I happen to find one-night stands quite victorious from time to time.”
I roll my eyes. “Of course, you do.”
Boone sighs into the phone. “Look, Jack will kill you if he paid that much for your tickets and you don’t use them.”
“I know. And Mom has already tried to hook me up with some random guy. Again.”
“Ew, no. Your mom has awful taste.”
“I know. Trust me. I’m half afraid to show up with Hollis as friends because she’d still be trying to parade me in front of her little picks like a dog in a dog show. Then she’ll decide who I’m the best with and invite me to lunch that, presto! she can’t make, but her man of choice will just happen to be there.” I groan at the thought.
My cousin makes a sound that resembles blowing a raspberry. It makes me giggle. It’s his deep-thinking sound, and it doesn’t happen often.
“I got it,” he says, his tone kissed with finality.
“What do you got?”
“Your solution. Hear me out,” he says. “Call up the guy from Paddy’s. You want to see him anyway. Tell him you need a plus-one to this fancy bullshit event but ask him to tell everyone you’re dating. You’ve done that before anyway, so he won’t think you’re nuts … or not any more nuts than you were last night.”