Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 81867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
I figured I better announce myself before it went deeper and the way Juniper is looking at me right now, I know she’s wondering what, if anything, I heard.
“Is that on the dinner menu tonight?” I ask, nodding toward the cake.
Juniper seems at a loss for a beat, then starts rambling. “I was going to head out to the grocery store when the girls showed up. And well…”
“One bottle of wine turned into four?” I tease, holding up an empty.
“Five,” says Ava, lifting the most recent one she’s just opened.
“Let’s order pizza,” I say as I pull my phone from my pocket. “And ladies… either call your men to come get you and join us for food, or you’re Ubering.”
After I take requests for toppings and the ladies all decide to hire cars for their trips home, we sit around the kitchen island shooting the shit. We don’t talk about Titan trades, and we don’t talk about Juniper and me rekindling our romance. Because I tend to hang out with the coaches and not the players, I do know Sophie, Jenna and Ava a bit better than Danica, so I spend time talking with her.
The pizza arrives and along with cold bottles of water, there is some slight sobering before the women all request their Ubers. One by one, the cars arrive.
Danica and Ava share a ride and before they leave, they extract an assurance from Juniper. “The tea party isn’t a stupid idea, right?”
“It’s a brilliant idea,” she says with a grin. “How can we go wrong with little sandwiches and desserts?”
“There’s usually no alcohol.” Ava snorts.
“We can have champagne too.” Juniper laughs.
“Wait a minute,” I butt in. “You’re having a tea party? You know there’s no way in hell the menfolk will go for that.”
“Thank you for your opinion,” Ava says with a smirk. “But the men aren’t invited. We’re going to do a fancy monthly tea party for the Titan Queens and Juniper is in charge of cucumber sandwiches.”
“You ladies are still drunk, I think,” I tease as they hurry off to their waiting cars.
Sophie grabs Juniper’s hands and squeezes them. “You promise you’re coming next weekend, right?”
Juniper turns to look at me. “Sophie wants me to come with you to her wedding.”
“Absolutely,” I exclaim. “We’ll have a blast.”
Sophie kisses Juniper’s cheek and rushes out the door.
Jenna is the last to leave and she gives Juniper a long hug. “Interested in maybe going out to lunch sometime soon?”
I stand on the porch with my hands in my pockets, smiling as Juniper easily returns the hug, a big smile on her face. “I would really love that.”
“Bye, Callum,” Jenna says with a light punch to my shoulder.
“Later, Jenna.” I’m sure she can tell by the soft look on my face that I’m eternally grateful for her leading the charge today.
Juniper and I watch her trot down my porch steps and out to the street to the waiting Uber.
“That was nice,” Juni murmurs, watching as the car pulls away. “Thank you for arranging that.”
“I’m glad you had a good time.” I turn to the door, waiting for Juniper to precede me inside. She sways only slightly but catches herself before I can reach out to steady her. A small giggle escapes as she steps into the living room.
I grin as I follow her in, locking the door behind me and setting the alarm.
Juniper walks to the kitchen and I meander after her, watching as she tidies up by tossing empty pizza boxes and sliding leftovers into Ziploc bags. I pick up a rag, wet it and work on wiping the counters. Surprisingly, I don’t get chastised for daring to help, which would diminish the role she’s claimed for herself as domestic goddess to show her appreciation for what I’ve done.
“Joshua systematically cut me off from all my friends after we got married.”
The admission jars me and my head whips her way. “What?”
“You remember my girls, right?” I nod, because Juniper had an amazing group of friends from high school that remained tight even though they went to other colleges. “Eliza, Carrie, Heather, Tina… one by one, I lost them all.”
“How?” That doesn’t make sense or seem possible.
Juniper shrugs as she leans against the counter. “I’d like to blame it fully on Joshua, but I guess it’s my fault too.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “It started benignly enough. Every time they wanted to go do something, he’d want me to decline because he’d want to take me somewhere special instead. Then he’d complain if I did hang out with them. I’d have to defend my friends and it led to big arguments, so it became easier to just not hang out with them as much. Next thing I know, I’m not seeing them at all. They just sort of faded away and I can’t blame them. I didn’t give them anything of myself so why would they want to stay friends.”