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)
As we left San Francisco, Collie began to cry. It made my heart ache. I wanted to hold him and comfort him, but I was behind the wheel, inching us along through Friday afternoon traffic.
I didn’t even know what to say to make him feel better. I wanted to tell him something might happen, something like Jeannie and her husband reconciling, so Collie wouldn’t have to stay. But it felt like false hope.
I snuck a look at Collie as traffic ground to a halt. His fuzzy purple blanket was wrapped around him, and he was hugging a throw pillow and the smallest of his stuffed gators to his chest.
He was sweet, and adorable, and unlike anyone I’d ever met.
When exactly had I started falling for him?
And what the hell was I going to do about it now?
If I was being honest with myself, the answer to that first question was that I’d been falling for him all along. But I hadn’t told him how I felt, and I hadn’t acted on those feelings.
That was partly because I was afraid of starting another relationship. I didn’t know if I had it in me to try again, or to open my heart to anyone else. I thought I’d been hurt too badly, and that I was far too broken. If only I’d been braver.
It would have been bad timing, though. Collie had spent the last month going through a major medical ordeal, and he’d needed to put his energy into healing. Maybe if we’d had more time…
Traffic started to move, so I eased off the brake and let the van roll forward. We only gained a matter of inches. When we stopped, I glanced at him again.
I’d almost kissed him last night. But right before I leaned in, Collie started to sway and grabbed onto me for support. It was a reminder that he was still fragile, and far from fully recovered. I’d picked him up and carried him to bed, and the moment passed.
Had that been my last chance?
I couldn’t kiss him now, because it would seem manipulative—like I was trying to make him choose between me and his best friend, or like I was trying to give him another reason to come back to San Francisco.
Leaving had been hard enough for him without that added complication.
I lasted until midnight, and then I absolutely had to stop for the night. I checked us into a roadside motel and brought the cat and some of her stuff inside before returning for Collie. He stirred a little as I scooped him up—blanket, pillow, alligator, and all—and brought him into the room.
I tossed back the covers with one hand, sat him on the bed, and took off his shoes before hurrying outside for a couple of our bags. When I came back into the room, he was sound asleep.
After I quickly set up the litter box, a pet bed, and her food and water bowls, I released the cat from the carrier and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. Five minutes later, I fell onto the mattress in my T-shirt and briefs. It had been an extraordinarily long day, and I was exhausted.
I didn’t fall asleep right away, though. Instead, I rolled onto my side and studied Collie in the semi-darkness.
We’d gotten the last available room, and it only had one bed. Wasn’t that the set-up for half the romance novels ever written? And yet here we were, stuck in the friend zone for all of eternity.
When I woke up the next morning, Collie and the cat were missing, but he’d left a note on the nightstand. It said: Kate and I are going for a walk. We’ll bring back brekkie from the place next door. Be back soon.
I took a quick shower and got dressed. Just as I was about to go look for him, Collie and the cat breezed into the room. He’d managed to get her into the harness and leash I’d bought months ago. She’d almost killed me the one time I tried to put it on her, but now she was strutting along happily.
Collie smiled at me and said, “I guess I was pretty out of it last night, because I don’t remember checking into a motel.”
He was carrying a shopping bag, and he put it on the table by the window before unfastening the cat’s leash. She jumped onto the bed and glared at me as I told him, “Yeah, you barely woke up when I brought you inside. I know you’re in a hurry to get to Jeannie, but I was too tired to drive through the night.”
“It’s fine. Check it out.” He pulled up something on his phone and handed it to me. It turned out to be a photo of Jeannie holding an adorable little baby. She looked exhausted and sweat drenched, but she was beaming with pure joy.