Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
“Hollin, please. I just…I can’t talk about it.” At the thought of West leaving for LA, tears came to my eyes again, and I blinked furiously to stop them.
“Fuck, you look like someone broke up with you.”
I froze at those words.
Hollin noticed though. Of course he noticed.
“This is about West, isn’t it?” he asked carefully.
I put my head in my hands. “Do you always have to pry, Hollin? Can’t you let me be sad?”
“Nora…”
“Yes, it’s about West. And if you tell Campbell that anything happened, I will have your balls,” I snapped at my brother, rising to my feet and staring down at him.
Hollin’s eyes rounded in shock. I’d never talked to him like this. Not ever.
“Wow. What did he do to you?” he asked, all soft with concern. As if he were approaching a baby deer.
“We were dating, but I didn’t want either of you to know. He left for LA. That’s what happened. Campbell would go ballistic if he found out. I don’t want to break up the band. Swear you won’t tell, Hollin.”
He nodded slowly. “Okay, okay. I won’t tell Campbell. Breathe.”
I sank back into my seat. “Thank you. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, don’t apologize. And don’t cry,” he said hastily as a tear streaked down my cheek.
“Damn it, Hollin!” I said, reaching for a tissue.
He laughed at that. “What are siblings for?”
“To be a royal pain in the ass.”
He snorted. “True story.”
I blew my nose. “Thanks.”
“Anytime. You know you can come to me. Even though I want to punch him.”
“And that’s why I didn’t.”
“I would have listened. I don’t want you to think that I wouldn’t.”
“You punched August.”
“He was making out with Tamara!” he cried. “That is not the same story. Then, they got engaged. He fucking deserved it.”
“Yeah, well, they’re not engaged anymore. Tamara called to tell me that he dumped her because he was still in love with me.”
“Tell me you’re not going to go back to him. I’ll punch him again for emphasis.”
“No, that’s long over. He started texting after it happened. I told him I wasn’t interested and to leave me out of the drama.”
“That’s grown-up of you.”
I sighed. “I don’t know. I can’t deal with anyone else’s problems when I’m going through my own heartbreak.”
“I understand that perfectly. Just…try to keep your chin up,” he said gently as he came to his feet. “You’re perfect just the way you are. If Weston Wright didn’t see that, then he doesn’t deserve you.”
Tears spilled onto my cheeks again. “Thanks, Hollin.”
Then, he disappeared, back to work. I stared down at the mound of paperwork in dismay. Fuck, I needed to stop crying every time I thought about West. It wasn’t like he was coming back.
I met Eve at West’s house after work. She rubbed her hands together.
“Let’s do the damn thing,” she said.
“You’re enthusiastic.”
Eve put an arm around my shoulders. “No. I’m sorry about everything that happened. I feel partially responsible since I set you on this path. We agreed that, of course, you wouldn’t have to end up together, but I didn’t plan for what would happen if you did fall for him and he left.”
“That’s not on you. I didn’t really think it through either.”
“All right. Let’s go empty your closet. I brought my secret weapon.” She held up a box of garbage bags.
“Trash bags?”
“You can’t pack a closet without them. Realtor secret. Come on.”
I shook my head and followed her into the house. It was exactly as I’d left it. I’d neglected the plants, and I nearly started crying again when I found one of my babies wilting. I let Eve into my bedroom as I took a watering can around to all the plants. I’d have to figure out what to do with them all. I couldn’t bring a proper garden into my dad’s house. And I didn’t have a new place yet to move them. Which meant I needed to come over more frequently to take care of them.
I sighed. Just one more thing.
“Oh my God, your shoes!” Eve shrieked from the bedroom.
I laughed at her assessment. “Pretty amazing, right?”
“A girl’s dream. You want all of them?”
“Yeah. Let’s just clear everything out.”
I grabbed another garbage bag when my phone began to ring. I glanced down at the number, but I didn’t recognize the area code. Half of my job was answering strange phone calls from people about weddings. The number of people without an 806 area code in Lubbock was sometimes dizzying.
“I’m going to take this,” I told Eve, holding up the phone. She waved me off, and I answered it. “Hello, Nora Abbey speaking.”
“Nora, hi, it’s English. Anna English.”
My feet stilled in the kitchen. English. Oh my God, she’d called. I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart.
“English, hi. It’s so good to hear from you.”
“I’m so sorry it took me this long to get back to you. I’ll admit, partially, I wanted to see how you’d do with an event as big as the Locke-King wedding. I spoke to Gavin and Whitley. They had nothing but rave reviews of the event. They said it was utterly seamless.”