Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Okay, apparently, I’m keeping the blender.
“Maybe this would be easier if you told me what was here when you moved in,” he grumbles, opening another cupboard.
“Well…” I place the stack of books I’m holding into the box resting on the coffee table, then walk around Winter, who is coloring on the floor while watching her iPad. “I think the salt and pepper shakers were here when I moved in, and the white dishes were also here.”
I open another cupboard with the drinking glasses I bought to replace the cheap plastic ones Eli had, since they were all to-go cups from restaurants Eli had gone to. Actually, I’m pretty sure those cups are still in the back of one of the cupboards somewhere.
“I don’t really remember,” I lie, because the truth is, most everything here now is mine, or I at least paid for it. Eli’s place was very much a bachelor pad before I moved in, and he would have been fine with keeping it that way. But everyone knows you need simple things—like a toaster, good pots and pans, and other odds and ends—if you plan on cooking a decent meal.
“Emma.” One could say I haven’t experienced many of Miles’s moods since I’ve known him, but it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out—between him calling me by my full name instead of Em and the twitch of his jaw—that he’s annoyed. Then again, his mood has drastically deteriorated since he began packing. Or more so, since he saw the few things I set out to pack, and he started asking questions about the “shit,” as he called it, in the cupboards and drawers. “This is not a time for you to feel bad. If you bought it, then you get to take it with you.”
“I feel weird completely cleaning everything out and leaving it bare.”
“No, you feel guilty, because you ended things with him. You shouldn’t. He couldn’t give you what you wanted, and you’re moving on,” he says, proving what I knew all along—that he and Miranda talk, and that he knows way more about why Eli and I broke up than I ever told him. Especially since I haven’t told him anything about it at all.
“Yeah, but I tossed a lot of his stuff when I bought new stuff, and Miranda has glasses and things at her place I can use, so all of this can stay here.”
“What if she wants to take that stuff with her?”
“Then I’ll go out and buy what I need. It’s not a big deal.” I shrug, watching his jaw get impossibly tighter.
“You’re taking the things you paid for Emma, so either you can tell me what those were, or I can just assume it’s all yours and pack everything.”
“How about you pack up the stuff I set out in the living room, and I’ll finish in here,” I suggest calmly.
“Emma,” he bites out, and I’m about to tell him that I don’t appreciate him using my full name in that tone, but I swing my head to the door when there is a knock. “Are you expecting someone?” he asks, moving me aside and walking toward the door like this is his place.
“No.” I follow him around the corner and watch him open the door, surprised when I see Eli standing in the doorway and holding two cups of coffee.
“Uhh…” Eli mutters, seeming confused to find a man he doesn’t know in the apartment.
“Eli.” I attempt to get past Miles, but he doesn’t budge an inch, which forces me to go under his arm attached to his hand holding onto the frame. “What are you doing here?”
“I uh...” His eyes ping between Miles and me. “I came to see if you needed help packing and moving.”
“We’ve got it covered,” Miles clips, and I fight back the urge to elbow him in the ribs.
“Thanks, but we’ve got it. I’ll send you a message and let you know when I’m done. It shouldn’t be much longer.” It’s not really a lie. Before Miles called this morning, I got all my clothes packed along with my stuff in the bedroom and bathroom. Now, I just have to deal with the living room and kitchen. The kitchen—if Miles gets his way—is going to take the longest, but I should still be able to have everything out by this evening. Since the apartment is so small, I never had the space to accumulate much, which is a good thing. And all of the furniture was Eli’s, so I don’t need to worry about any of it.
“Oh, that fast?” Eli asks.
“You did tell her you wanted the place back,” Miles unhelpfully reminds him, and he flinches.
“I didn’t mean it had to be today,” Eli says softly, looking at me.
“Did you tell her that?” Miles asks, and Eli looks at him, then me, hurt flitting into his eyes.