Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68524 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
I grinned and said, “You paint a vivid picture.”
As my coworkers began dissecting the game, play by play, he leaned against my good shoulder and closed his eyes. Sometime later, I realized he was sound asleep. That was surprising, given how loud it was in here, but apparently he was one of those people who could fall asleep anywhere.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and requested a Lyft. Then I texted Daria because she was clear down at the other end of the table, and told her I was heading out. She asked if everything was okay, and I responded: All good. Collie’s obviously exhausted though, so I’m going to take him home.
I left the ice pack on the table and collected our things, and then I woke Collie and said, “Time to go.”
When I stood up and waved to my team, one of the guys exclaimed, “You can’t leave yet! I wanted to buy you a shot.”
“Next time.”
As we made our way to the door, Collie said, “You don’t have to leave on my account.” He was holding on to the hem of my shirt, so we didn’t get separated in the crowd.
“It’s fine. It’s way too loud in here anyway.”
“I’ve been so tired lately,” he said, once we were in the back seat of our rideshare. “Even more than usual. I guess it makes sense, though. In the past few days, I emptied out my apartment, cleaned it top to bottom, packed my stuff, and drove almost seven hundred miles.”
“That sounds exhausting. Did you have any help with the apartment?”
“A little. My best friend Jeannie helped me go through my stuff and Aunt Sue’s and decide what to keep and what to donate. But she’s pregnant with her fourth kid, so I didn’t want her to do any of the strenuous stuff.”
“Her fourth, wow. Is she your age?”
“Yeah. We’ve been friends since Kindergarten. Her life is really different than mine now, but she’s happy as a knocked up clam. She always wanted a big family.”
When we got home, the cat came running—to Collie, obviously. He cooed, in a high falsetto, “Hi, honey bunny sweetie baby,” before scooping her up and kissing the top of her head.
On our way down the hall, I told him, “I’m going to heat up the leftover Chinese food for lunch. Would you like some?”
“No thanks. I think I’m going to change into something comfy and take a nap.”
“Want me to fold out the bed in the office?”
“I’m actually going to sleep in my van. It’s pretty cozy.”
Collie put down the cat when we reached the kitchen. He jogged down the stairs, took off one shoe, and propped the door open with it before disappearing into the garage.
The cat and I stared at each other for a long moment. Then she hurried down the stairs and slipped through the gap in the door.
I puttered around the kitchen for the next hour, before realizing I was waiting for Collie to finish his nap and come back inside.
Why did I miss him? I’d known him less than a day.
5
Collie
I was the world’s most boring twenty-seven-year-old. First, I’d fallen asleep in the middle of a loud, crowded bar. Then I’d followed that up with a massive nap. It was dark by the time I woke up.
I sat up and turned on my battery-powered chandelier. Kate was curled up at my side, and as I ran my hand over her soft fur, I told her, “You’re the sweetest cat ever.”
Apparently Miller had checked on me at some point. He’d left the shoe I’d used to prop open the door just inside the van. There was also a small ice chest with a sticky note on it that said “Eat Me.” That made me smile.
I took a peek inside the cooler and discovered a fancy sandwich on focaccia bread, along with a reusable ice pack to keep it fresh. There was also a little container full of carrots and celery cut into tidy sticks, and a bottled organic smoothie, whose label boasted that it contained ten essential vitamins and minerals. Miller definitely thought I was dying of malnutrition.
I put on my puffy Scooby Doo slippers, picked up the cooler, and climbed out of the van. Kate followed me.
The door connecting the garage to the rest of the house was held open by a wedge-shaped door stop. When I climbed the stairs to the kitchen, I found a huge bowl of fruit on the island, along with a plastic clamshell container full of chocolate chip cookies. I grabbed the cookies and a banana, because I was all about balance, and went to find Miller.
It turned out he was sitting cross-legged on the couch in his office, dressed in gray sweatpants and a long-sleeved white T-shirt, and he was playing a video game. When he saw me standing in the doorway, he said, “Hey. How’re you doing, Collie?”