Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 696(@200wpm)___ 557(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
I nodded and couldn’t stop doing it.
“I got it, you can stop nodding now,” he said, beard again twitching.
I stopped nodding.
“She’s not usually like this,” Luna informed the assemblage. “She’s just seriously into Cap.”
I looked to Shirleen. “It really is a pleasure to meet you,” I assured her. “I was just caught unprepared.”
“I see that,” she said to me, then to Cap, “Should we tell her Jules is in town too?”
Oh my God!
The idolized-first-female-to-show-him-love Jules?
Cap felt my reaction, so he answered, “Probably not, but too late now.”
“We need to do a dinner,” I hurried to announce. “My place isn’t big enough, or I’d cook. But someplace nice.” My mind blanked, so I called, “Luna?”
“Rustler’s Rooste?” she suggested.
I shook my head. “Too touristy.”
“The Tee Pee?”
“I’m not sure they have a big enough table to fit us all.”
Though, maybe they could pull some tables together on their patio.
“Steak 44?”
“That might be too loud, unless they seat us at a back table.”
“Oregano’s?”
Oregano’s famous pizza cookie came instantly to mind, I snapped my fingers and cried, “That’s it!” I took them all in and asked, “When can you all do dinner?”
“We have a team meeting tonight, Raye,” Lee said.
“Right, so, I have some time to, you know, plan,” I replied.
Would the outfit I bought but didn’t wear for our first date be too dressy for Oregano’s?
Yes.
I needed to shop.
“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” Cap took me out of my thoughts of shopping.
“Luna and I had an appointment downtown,” I told him, and seeing as he wasn’t liquored up, and his family was surrounding us, I wasn’t getting into Clarice Davis at the mo’. “Since we were close, we decided to pop by.”
Luna came to my rescue. “We should probably get back now, though.”
I turned to Shirleen. “I honestly am not like this normally. I was caught off guard. Next time I see you, I’ll have it together.”
“Child, I’ve been around these boys for a while. I know the wallop they pack,” she replied. “And if you didn’t give a crap, or pretended you didn’t, that wouldn’t be good. But you give a crap. That says all sorts of good things to Shirleen.”
Whoa.
She could pull off referring to herself in third person.
I knew no one who could do that.
So it wasn’t just her Afro and mom skills that were awesome.
I smiled at her.
She smiled back.
Okay, it seemed I hadn’t put her off.
Shoo!
“I’ll walk you guys down,” Cap said, turning me toward the door.
“Wait!” I cried and looked to Liam. “Are you seeing anybody?”
“No,” he said slowly.
“Would you be into pretending to be someone’s boyfriend so the guy she likes will get his head out of his ass and make a move on her?” I asked.
“Raye,” Cap warned low, trying to pull me to the door.
I was fighting it so I could get this done before we left, but Cap was strong, so I was not winning.
“She’s a ballerina with the Arizona Ballet and super sweet,” I cajoled as Cap all but dragged me to the door.
“Fucking hell, it’s happening again,” Lee muttered.
“I told you,” Mace said.
“Cap know the players?” Liam asked me.
I nodded.
“I’ll talk to Cap about it,” Liam said just as Cap got me out the door.
“Thanks, Liam! ’Bye, Hot Bunch! ’Bye, Shirleen! So nice to meet you!” I shouted, as the door closed behind us.
“Yeah, ’bye Hot Bunch and Shirleen,” Luna added on her own shout.
“Totally get that Hot Bunch thing now,” I said to Luna.
“Totally,” she said back.
“You’re not involving Liam in Jacob and Alexis’s shit,” Cap said as we made our way to the elevators.
“Why not?” I asked.
He didn’t answer, he inquired shrewdly, “Is that why you showed at the offices?”
“It was secondary to saying hey to you.”
He hit the button on the elevator.
“I think it’s an awesome idea,” Luna chimed in.
“You would,” Cap muttered.
I turned to Luna. “I don’t know about Oregano’s. Maybe I can throw a shindig in the courtyard.”
“You can make your pudding,” she replied.
Perfect!
That’d win them all over.
It won everybody over.
The elevator doors opened and we entered with Cap saying, “How about we deal with your dad first, and you can deal with my family after?”
“Your dad?” Luna asked.
“I forgot to tell you,” I said. “He hits town Wednesday. We’re having dinner Wednesday night at Lon’s. Cap is coming.” After I said this, I thought about it and hoped she wouldn’t feel slighted since she was my ride or die. I didn’t want her to feel left out, like I was replacing her with Cap. So I said, “You wanna come too?”
“You bet your bippy,” she replied.
One hundred percent my ride or die.
“Do you two ever kick back and read a book?” Cap asked.
“Yeah, loads,” Luna answered. “There are twenty-four hours in a day, you know. Plenty of time to shove it all in.”
“I try to read,” I told him. “But I usually get side—oh snap!”’ I exclaimed when I remembered Patches. “I forgot to go over to Jenn’s and get Patches.” I looked to Luna again. “We need to make another pitstop.”