Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
Luckily, I’d been in so many gas stations by this point in my life, that I had an inner magnet for where the bathrooms were and spotted it instantly, pretty much waddling toward the sign because every step got that much harder. It wasn’t a huge travel center, but the station was a surprising size with a full-sized bathroom with stalls. I peed about two minutes straight, or at least half my weight in fluid, and got out of there as fast as I could. The employee behind the counter looked away from where she’d been focused outside and nodded at me. I nodded back.
And it was then that I noticed what she’d been looking at.
There was a huge class-A bus that had pulled into the offset section where I figured 18-wheelers in the area stopped at.
The door was open, and people were filing out of it, yawning and rubbing at their faces. It was too many people to not be a tour bus, I recognized.
Rhodes or Am had moved the car one pump over, and they were both hanging outside of it, Am staring at the pump and Rhodes leaning against the car, gaze on me.
I waved at him.
He shot me one of those low-key, devastating smiles that made me want to hug him.
And that was when it went to shit.
“Ora?” the unfamiliar voice called out.
Looking to my left, maybe ten feet away from the two men I loved and was in love with, were two other faces I recognized. Why wouldn’t I though? I’d known them for ten years. I thought they’d been my friends. And based on the pale expressions that had taken over their features, they were just as surprised to see me too. I was so caught off guard I froze and blinked, making sure I wasn’t imagining Simone and Arthur.
“It is you! Ora!” That was Simone who called out, tugging at Arthur’s jacket.
Arthur didn’t look all that excited.
I couldn’t blame him. I was sure he knew he was on my permanent shit list. And even though I thought I was a pretty decent person, I felt my facial features drop into a blank expression.
And I guess I decided to ignore them because I managed another two steps that brought me closer to Rhodes and Am before Simone’s hand wrapped around my inner arm just as she said, “Ora, please.”
I didn’t snatch my arm out, but I did glance at her fingers before meeting her dark brown eyes and saying, calmly, perfectly fucking calm, “Hi, Simone. Hi Arthur. Nice to know you’re alive. Bye.”
She didn’t let go, and when I met her gaze, there was something in hers that looked desperate. I didn’t even bother glancing at Arthur because I’d known him a year longer than Simone—I’d been in his wedding party for his first marriage—and I wasn’t about to let them ruin what had been a wonderful Christmas.
“I know you’re mad,” Simone said quickly, keeping her hand on me. “I’m sorry, Ora. We’re both sorry, aren’t we, Art?”
His “yes” was so sad maybe I would’ve played a tiny violin if I’d been in a better mood. If this had been any other day. Just maybe if I had been by myself.
One glance up had me meeting Rhodes’s frown. Amos I guess was watching too, wondering who the hell I was talking to at a random gas station in the middle of nowhere. I knew then in that moment, that I had to tell them about Kaden. That I couldn’t just keep giving them, especially Rhodes, vague details about my life. I knew I’d gotten lucky so far that he hadn’t poked at the huge holes in my life story considering how much we’d nudged at just about every other painful thing in our lives.
“Okay, I’m glad you feel bad. There’s nothing for us to say to each other. Please let go of me, Simone,” I said, giving her a long look.
She looked tired, and I wondered who she was on tour with now, who they were on tour with. Then I reminded myself it didn’t matter.
“No, please, give me a second. I was just thinking about you earlier, and it’s a miracle you’re here. Someone said you’d moved to Colorado, but what were the chances?” she rattled off, and I just kept on staring at her, but noticed out of the corner of my eye that Rhodes started heading over.
I lifted my arm and snuck it out of her grip. “Yeah, a coincidence. Bye.”
“Ora.” Arthur’s voice was quiet. “We are sorry.”
I’m sure, I thought, almost bitterly, but I really genuinely didn’t care much anymore. What I cared about was wasting my time talking to them when I could be around people who hadn’t turned their backs on me. People that wouldn’t just start ignoring my phone calls when their boss and I broke up, even though I’d technically been their boss too in a way. Because always, always, I had thought we were real friends. At some point over the years, I’d ended up spending more time with Kaden’s band than I did with him because his mom started to complain about how flimsy my excuse of being his assistant was.