Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
I grin at him. “We’re going to see Gatsby?” I hold up the wrist he fastened my daisy bracelet around. “Was this a hint?”
He smirks. “Maybe, but I also figured what better way to commemorate seeing this show than with a daisy bracelet?”
“I didn’t even know there was a Gatsby musical,” I say, looping my arm through his. “This is so cool. You’re a master date-planner. You should go into that career.”
“Nah,” he says. “I’ll save all my date ideas for you.”
___
Gatsby is incredible.
Our seats are perfect, the actors are phenomenal, and the songs… oh, the songs. I tear up once and get goose bumps three times before the show is over.
I’ve never been to a musical before, so I don’t know if this is how it always feels, but I’m floored by the surge of energy and excitement I get from being there, watching the art unfold on the stage right in front of my eyes. I feel fired up in a way that I recognize, but that no longer feels familiar to me—joyful in a way it’s hard to even explain. I feel inspired. When we get home tomorrow, I’m going to look up the actor who played Gatsby and listen to every song he’s ever recorded to try to recapture this feeling.
My whole body feels lighter as we leave the theater, and I can’t stop smiling, clutching my playbill and the Gatsby pin Tor bought me to remember the night by.
A rush of people leaves all at once, but Tor pulls me through the crowd and around the corner, only slowing down once we’re well away from the crush.
“What did you think?” he asks.
“Oh my god, I loved it.” I look over at him. “Did you?”
He nods. “Yeah, it was pretty great. And I think we found our wedding song.”
“Which one?”
“‘For Her.’ Gave me goose bumps.”
“Really?” I ask, delighted. “Me too. It was so good. And his voice. The fact that someone was just standing there singing his heart out for us… wow.”
“It’s like that song was made for us.”
I think it’s romantic that he thinks so. I was definitely moved by it, but I’ll have to listen to it again now that I know he was, too. “It was amazing. That’s not a couple song, though. It’s a yearning song, a love song for the girl.”
“It’s a Cassie song.”
I grin. “But a wedding song should be for both of us. I’m so down to pick one of those songs if we do get married, but we should probably go with a duet.”
He shakes his head. “Nope. Sorry. You can pick everything else, but I want that song.”
Usually, I try not to join in when he says crazy things, like wedding planning when we haven’t even been together for a week, but I’m so giddy after the show, I decide to indulge him. “Could we be those people and have a Gatsby wedding?”
“Hell yeah, we can. Make people wear sharp tuxes and flapper dresses. Signature drinks, classy but over-the-top roaring ’20s decorations. Sounds like a fun party to me.”
“We could get a jazz band.” I gasp. “Or a piano singer!”
He drapes an arm over my bare shoulders, pulling me close as we walk. “You can have whatever you want.”
I smile, leaning my head against his chest. “I want to see more Broadway shows.”
“We can definitely do that.”
“Thank you for bringing me here, Tor. New York, the show, all of it. I know I’ve said it dozens of times today, but this was so nice.”
“It’s been a rough week,” he says. “I thought it would be nice to get out of town and see some more of the world. Remind you that where we live is just a tiny, insignificant speck in the scheme of all things.” He looks over at me. “I meant what I said earlier. We can have a great fucking life together. I wanted you to have a taste of that.”
I sigh, wanting it more in this moment than I can explain, but afraid it’s unattainable for me, too. “I wish… I wish we would have broken into each other’s lives earlier.” It’s hard to put into words exactly how I think he would have done it, but I have a feeling that Tor wouldn’t have let me weather all of it alone, that maybe I wouldn’t have taken so much damage if I would’ve had him on my side earlier.
“Yeah,” he sighs. “I wish that, too.”
I don’t want to make the same mistake I made earlier, though, so I shove thoughts like those aside and ask, “Where are we going for dinner?”
“A restaurant over by our hotel. The place rotates slowly while you’re eating, so the view changes throughout the meal.”
“Ooh, that sounds cool.”
“I figured you would think so.”
My dress swishes against my legs as we walk, and the heels make a clicking sound I find quite satisfying. I never even consider wearing heels because I know how uncomfortable they are, but between the noise they make and how pretty I feel tonight, I may reconsider and get myself a pair of kitten heels for the next time we go out for a night like this one.