Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
My lips twitched. “Chicken noodles and tomato soup?”
“Beer, bread, beans, and far too many tubs of Pringles.”
“There’s no such thing as too many Pringles.”
He nodded his head in my direction. “That’s true. Anyway, we tended to just eat out or order food in because we couldn’t be bothered to cook, so usually the only things we had to eat after a night out was beans on toast.”
“That is really sad. Even I had more food than that and I was pretty poor.”
“Like I said, it wasn’t for a lack of finances.” He laughed. “Whoever thought letting teenage boys live alone and be responsible for their own food hadn’t thought that through.”
I pressed my lips together. “Mhmm. In my last year of uni, I had a house share with five other people. Three girls, three guys, and if we didn’t cook, then they’d exist on nothing but peanut butter sandwiches and soggy biscuits. Cheese on toast if they were feeling fancy.”
Max laughed. “That sounds about right. Sounds better than my experience. Fred used to make me run after because a hangover was no excuse not to work out.”
“Well, if all you were eating was beans on toast and Pringles, it was probably a good idea to run on a regular basis.”
“That’s true.” He sighed. “Are you going to leave today?”
I shook my head. “No. Probably tomorrow.”
“That’s probably wise. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No, thanks. I actually did a bunch of packing yesterday after I finished. I want to read through the draft before I leave, so I’ll probably spend today doing that before I finish up packing. I’d like to leave by lunchtime tomorrow if I can.” I toyed with the empty glass in front of me.
“It’s a long drive,” Max replied quietly. He paused for a second, then smiled at me. “I’ll leave you to work. I have a meeting with the estate agent about one of our tenants moving out, so I have to go.”
“Sure. Of course.” I forced a small smile. I knew it didn’t meet my eyes, but how could it?
Maybe this was goodbye.
Maybe it wasn’t.
“Um… this is weird, but do you think I could say goodbye to the goats tonight? Just in case I do leave tomorrow?”
Max stopped in the doorway and turned around. His lips curved up into the tiniest of smiles, the briefest of smiles, and laughter flashed in his eyes for a hot second. “You want to say goodbye… to the goats.”
“Yeah. I’m annoyingly fond of them, actually.” I frowned. “I’m not sure how it happened.”
His face broke out into a huge grin, and he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “All right. Why don’t we have dinner together and walk over there after?”
“Like a date?” I teased, trapping my tongue between my teeth as I smiled playfully.
“Not like a date,” Max said, turning away and heading for the front door. “A date.”
My breath caught in my throat, and I dipped my head, then slowly let it out through the most ridiculous tiny smile.
A date.
Sure.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
ELLIE
Goat To Tell You
“I cannot believe that, after all this time, you’re categorising us having dinner together as a date. And it’s pizza.”
Max looked over at me and stilled, then bit into a slice. “What’s wrong with pizza?”
“Nothing is wrong with pizza. It’s the food of the Gods. I just think it’s funny.”
His lips curved to one side. “I considered going out somewhere for dinner, but I thought you’d ultimately prefer to sit on the sofa in your leggings without a bra.”
I grinned. “You’re smarter than you look.”
“I… Thanks.” He paused for a second, and the briefest of frowns furrowed his brow before he shook his head as if he couldn’t believe I’d just said that.
Like it was the first time.
“I shouldn’t be surprised anymore.” Max snorted. “Didn’t you say something to that affect right after we met?”
“Oh, you mean back when you were a rude, grumpy, dismissive, intolerable—”
“You are really throwing out the compliments tonight, Ellie.”
“—Annoying, judgemental, sanctimonious little shit?”
He wiped a bit of pizza sauce from the corner of his mouth and pointed his finger at me. “Beautiful. You should be a writer.”
“I’ll take it under consideration.” I laughed and threw the last bit of the crust I didn’t want back into the pizza box. “Do the pizza delivery people ever get surprised when they show up here, do you think?”
“Why would they be surprised?”
“Well, big fucking house.”
“Big fucking ancient house, thank you very much.”
I nodded. “Big fucking ancient house, old-arse noble title, and… two takeaway pizzas.”
“You’d have to ask them. I really couldn’t tell you.”
“I’ll send them an email,” I mused. “Do you think The Queen eats pizza?”
Max paused and looked at me. “Like this kind of pizza?”
“Any kind of pizza, but I suppose takeaway pizza would be even more amusing.”