Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 105697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Daniel says, “I know it’s hard with me on the road most of the time, but we have the summer to make up for it. Okay?” Roman nods, his expression not convinced, but he hugs his dad anyway. “I love you, buddy.”
“Love you, too.”
When Daniel stands, he continues holding Roman’s hand. “I think we’ll stay at the cottage tonight. It will be like camping but with nice beds.”
“In case you change your mind, I’ll keep my phone on.”
He looks down as if a shyness comes over him. “Thanks.”
Dolly turns with a tin in her hands. “Cookies for the road?”
“We won’t say no,” Daniel replies. “Thanks, Dolly.” When his eyes land on me again, he grins. It’s not smirky in the least, but it is endearing. “We’ll get out of your hair for the night.”
“I’ll walk you out.”
Roman gives Dolly a hug. She gives Daniel another vise-gripper right after. They use the facilities once more before I lead them out the front again. I stop on the top step of the porch just as Roman takes off for the tire swing again. Daniel stops in the grass and turns back. “Thanks for the bathroom.”
“Anytime.” I lean against a column and cross my arms over my chest. “Sorry about the water situation. What a nightmare.”
“It will give Roman a good story to tell his friends. How he roughed it over the summer without indoor plumbing.” He laughs, but I’m not sure he found it that funny by the tone. After checking on Roman over his shoulder, he turns back to me with a foot parked on the bottom step. “Tell me something.”
“I’m an open book.”
That has him grinning with his eyes locked on mine like he might change his mind and stay. I’ve been on the fence since the cottage. This feels fast. Not that we can control broken pipes. That part feels more kismet if I believed in such things. It’s okay to want nice things, and Daniel Sutton is a very nice thing.
“Who chose the pink?”
I burst out laughing and gallop down the stairs to take in the same view as he is. “Truth? Spring. It was her ninth birthday, the first after . . .” I don’t say it and pretend I didn’t stumble into the story that still hurts just thinking about it. “All she wanted was a pink Barbie house.” I glance at him while he studies the architecture of the house. Our Victorian has some interesting features that I’ve not seen in others locally—a turret and trim that others removed long ago to modernize their homes. Holding my arms out wide, I say, “We surprised her with a Barbie pink house she could live in.” I point toward the roof. “Winter chose the green gingerbread trim, and Fall wanted blue shutters.”
“What did you choose?”
I stare up at the circular third-floor window tucked into the roof. I still feel closer to my parents when I see it, which isn’t as often these days since I don’t hang out on the top floor much anymore. “The stained glass design in the window. It’s two lovebirds. My parents used to call each other “lovebird,” so it felt like a way to hold on to the memory and honor them.”
Glancing up at it again, he says, “It’s beautiful. I think it completes it.”
I nod, unable to speak words with the lump in my throat blocking them. Daniel wraps his arm around me, and though it’s only a side hug, I feel safe in his arms.
“Dad?”
“One minute, bud,” he calls back to Roman.
I swipe under my eyes and slip out from his arm. “No, it’s okay. He needs you.” The time to part feels heavy between us. I take a breath that feels freeing from being around him. “You’re sure about tonight?”
“I’m sure. Thanks, though.” He walks backward with a rogue grin lifting his expression. “You have a good night, Summer, okay?”
It’s only evening, but I nod as if it wasn’t rhetorical. “You, too, Daniel.” Daniel . . . my summer tenant, my short-term neighbor, my friend. And if you asked me how much I’d bet that there will be more with the handsome Mr. Sutton, I’m going all in.
As soon as I shut the front door behind me, I lean against it, closing my eyes while imagining him in my head, and smile.
“You’re in so much trouble.”
I pop open my eyes to see Spring standing on the stairs. I push off the door and start toward her. “I’m in no such thing.”
She laughs. “Keep lying to yourself, but I’ll bet dishes for a month that you sleep with him before the Fourth of July.”
I take four steps past her and turn around with my mouth hanging open. “That’s in . . .” I calculate from today’s date, and my jaw hits the floor. “That’s three and a half weeks, Spring.”