Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 151044 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151044 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 503(@300wpm)
“Rayne?”
I looked up from my phone with tears in my eyes and found Hale watching me from the bathroom door, a towel clinging to his hips and steam billowing at his back.
Still in shock, a stuttered breath filled my lungs and I held out my phone to him. “It’s my dad…”
He crossed the bedroom and took the phone, frowning at the screen. “He responded to your message?”
I nodded. This was so unexpected I didn’t know what to feel.
“That’s…great.” He looked up at me and then back at the phone as he continued reading. “He sounds sincere.”
I laughed, sort of outside of myself. There had been a hundred—no, a thousand—other moments when I wished my dad would answer me. I never imagined it feeling quite this way.
I was elated and confused. Sick to my stomach but also excited.
Dizzy, as if I just stepped off a rollercoaster I’d been locked on for the majority of my life. I didn’t know what to say or how to walk. I just knew my dad was there and he wanted to hear from me again.
All of my bottled-up emotions from the past week burst out of me in a giddy sob. Finally, someone I loved cared that I was getting married.
“I can’t believe it.” More tears fell and I actively began to weep with joy.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Hale said, coming to sit on the bed with me. “Don’t cry.”
“It’s okay.” I sniffled. “This is a good cry.”
There was such an incredible, indescribable feeling of relief. I thought about my twelve-year-old self and how badly she’d wanted this moment, but it was so much heavier than I’d ever imagined it would be. I wasn’t sure a little girl could process this much emotional baggage at once. Or maybe it was heavy because I’d been waiting for him to answer me since I was a child.
“I just can’t believe this. I never actually thought he’d reply. I mean, I hoped, but I was prepared for disappointment. I was frustrated when weeks passed with no response but I was getting over it. This…” I shook my phone and scoffed with a smile, still in shock. “I never expected this.”
“But you’re happy, right?”
I gaped at him. “Happy would be an understatement. He wants to get together with me, Hale. I’m going to hang out with my Dad!”
I jumped off the bed and paced. I wanted to pack and leave that minute, before he could rescind the offer and make this amazing feeling go away.
“He’s on the East Coast. It’s perfect. I’ll be in New York and he’s right in Pennsylvania. They’re pretty close, right? Drivable?”
“I read that. You should go. And yes, Pennsylvania’s only a short drive from New York. When you go back to the city you should plan a day with him. Martel will take you wherever you want to go.”
My heart did a cartwheel. “Oh, my God, I’m going to meet my dad!” Pressing my hand flat on my stomach, I paced the bedroom. “I think I’m going to be sick. This is like the night before Christmas when you’re a kid waiting for Santa.” I blew out a breath. “Wow. I don’t know what to do.”
“Enjoy it.” Hale laughed, probably so relieved to see me happy again. “He’s the lucky one. Trust me.”
I had no actual memories of the man behind the birthday cards and phone calls. Just a voice from random phone calls and the fact that he always capitalized his Es, even at the end of handwritten words like Rayne.
“I feel like I need to do something.” I didn’t want sweets or snacks. I didn’t want to sleep. I honestly felt like I could run a mile, and that was something I simply did not do. I wasn’t a runner. Was I? No. Definitely not.
“This is a good thing, baby. Don’t overthink it. Write him back and set up a lunch date.”
“What’s your schedule this week?” Now that we finally booked an officiant we both liked who didn’t stare at my boob and was also willing to travel to New York, we were pretty wrapped up on wedding homework.
“I fly out on Wednesday, but you don’t have to wait for me to leave. Go meet your dad, baby. You waited a lifetime for this moment.”
I was going to meet my father. Another wave of excitement hit with the sensation of rolling down a hill. “Holy crap. What should I wear?”
“I don’t think that matters—”
“It’ll be his first impression of me as an adult, Hale. Of course, it matters. The last time he saw me I was smaller than Elara. I’m a thirty-year-old woman now. He might have certain expectations.”
“Maybe put your expectations before his in this case, Rayne.”
I stopped pacing when I caught an edge of skepticism in his voice. “What do you mean?”