Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 101524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“What?” I take a bite from my ice cream as Logan frowns at me, realizing what I did.
“You still haven’t answered the text I sent you about Saturday.”
“My not answering you was my answer,” I tell him, licking around the edge of my cone when I notice the ice cream is melting. Lifting my gaze to his when I feel him staring, my cheeks warm to the point of hot when I see the look in his eyes.
“What’s going on Saturday?” Cooper asks while Zuri waits for my response.
“Nothing,” I tell the two of them.
“Are you going to come to my game?” Cooper asks.
“Game?”
“Baseball, Dad coaches, and we have a game every Saturday.”
“Oh, well, I don’t…”
“I wanna go,” Zuri says, and looks at her. “Heather’s brother plays too, and she’ll be there.”
I look over at Logan and can see he’s trying to hide his smile.
“How about we talk about it tonight? I was thinking that we could go to the movies Saturday,” I say and her shoulders slump. Darn. “Or we could go to the game,” I give in hating to disappoint her.
“Thanks, Namalama.”
“You’re welcome, kid,” I sigh, ignoring Logan’s chuckle.
I continue ignoring him while I listen to Cooper and Zuri talk while they eat. Seeing them interact, it’s obvious that the two of them are friends, where normally Zuri would be shy and unsure around someone new, Cooper keeps her laughing and involved in the conversation. It’s sweet.
“Alright, are we ready to head over to Gigi’s?” Logan asks when the kids are done and start gathering up their trash.
“Yes.” Cooper shoots out of his seat. “Do you like Xbox?” he asks Zuri.
“I don’t know. What is it?”
“What is it?” He laughs. “Only the coolest gaming system ever. Gigi got me one for her house so we can play while we’re there.”
“I thought we were going to pick up a car,” I tell Logan quietly as the kids walk to drop their trash in the garbage.
“We are, Mom’s letting you borrow her Toyota, she never drives it, so it’s just been sitting in the driveway.”
“I’m sorry, I think I just misheard you. Did you just say that I’m borrowing your mom’s car?”
“Yeah.” He gets up and walks to the trash with his cup, so I follow him as the kids take Dozer over to the jeep.
“I can’t do that, Logan.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s your mom’s car.”
“And?” He looks down at me, it really is annoying how tall he is. “What does it matter?”
“I don’t know, it just does.”
“It doesn’t.”
“Yes, it does.”
“Where did you think we were getting a car from?”
“I don’t know, I thought maybe you knew someone who rented cars, or someone who had a hoopty they don’t use.”
“Mom’s car is a hoopty and she doesn’t use it, so there you go.” He places his hand on my lower back and uses pressure to get me to start moving.
“Logan,” I hiss, and he leans down so his mouth is close to my ear.
“You should know that every time you argue with me, it makes me want to kiss you to get you to shut up.”
My heart drops, my pulse skyrockets, and my mouth clamps shut, but that doesn’t mean I don’t glare at him when he laughs.
Five
NALIA
“So, you went on a date with him and now you are seeing him again?” Harmony asks from my iPad on the counter in my bathroom, and I look down at the screen at her and Willow.
“I didn’t go on a date with him.”
“You kind of did,” Willow tells me. “Sure, the kids were with you, but you ate a meal together, so that is technically a date.”
“It wasn’t a date,” I repeat.
“So, you’re not interested in him, and you don’t think he’s hot?”
“Nope,” I lie because he is hot, and he smells good. Like leather and cedar with a touch of motor oil, which I didn’t know I found attractive until him. “Anyway, he’s too tall.”
“Wow,” Harmony laughs. “You are just dead set on finding a reason not to like him, which makes me even more curious about this guy.”
“Exactly how tall is he?” Willow asks.
“Ridiculously tall, like a tree.” I dab some blush on my cheeks.
“Like a tree you want to climb?” Harmony bursts into laughter.
“You’re an idiot,” I laugh along with her.
“I don’t know, I feel like you two are basically engaged at this point,” Willow says, and I shake my head.
“How did you come up with that?”
“You met his parents.” I did meet his mom, or Gigi, as she insisted Zuri and I call her, and his dad, Craig, whom Cooper and Logan both called Pops.
I have no idea what I expected his mom to look like, but when she opened the door to the condo, I was taken aback. She looked like she belonged in Manhattan, not a small town in Tennessee, with her jet-black hair that was cut into a sharp bob with blunt bangs, black rimmed glasses, and red lipstick that matched her nails and a flamboyant outfit of bright colors.