Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 25869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
He smiles a bit.
“Well, honey, if you’re an escort, then I’m definitely using escorts,” he quips. And then the smirk is back, the same one that made me melt two years ago, like he knows our banter is just a game. I can feel the tension start to subside, although I still feel breathless at the sight of him. This man like a dream come to life, somehow even more handsome than I remember.
Yet he left you with a baby, the voice in my head warns again. Don’t fall into the same trap. The thought makes me flush with humiliation because as serendipitous as this reunion is, it’s not exactly a normal situation. How in the world did this happen? Of all the men in the world, he had to walk back into my life.
Then, Bruce’s blue eyes narrow, and I can see he’s picking up on my thoughts. Biting the inside of my lip, I lift my chin. “My situation is complicated,” I manage in a dignified tone.
“Complicated?” he raises dark eyebrows. “How so?”
“I mean, it’s a complicated job,” I gabble uncomfortably. “And I didn’t think I would have to explain it to anyone. Especially not a potential customer.”
For a moment, I’m kicking myself, worried he’ll be offended, but instead, Bruce just takes a sip of his drink and continues to watch me. It’s amazing how he can make me feel like I’m the only person in the room, with only one glance from beneath those hooded eyes. “Well, I’m very surprised, sweetheart,” he says at last. “But surprises can be good things. How long have you been doing this? Were you -” But then he cuts himself off, his expression darkening.
He doesn’t have to finish the question for me to know what it was: were you working as an escort when we met at that bar in Jersey? He’s probably wondering other things, too, like whether I was really eighteen. I shake my head. “I’ve been doing this for a little more than a year,” I tell him, surprised at how calm I sound. “But I wasn’t an escort back when we met.” I see a flash of something in his eyes when he hears that: relief, mixed with a hint of something else that makes me shiver. “I guess there are a lot of things you probably want to ask me,” I venture, hoping to quell some of my nervous energy. And there are a lot of things I want to ask you, too, I add in my mind.
“A few,” Bruce admits, turning to face me fully. “But I think this might be a better conversation over drinks, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I reply with what I hope is a confident smile. “That would be perfect.”
Bruce flags down the bartender with the kind of self-assured poise that tells me he’s a frequent patron of upscale lounges. It definitely seems more like his kind of place, and not that dive back in Jersey. I order a cosmopolitan, while he asks for another bourbon. There’s a moment when I’m nervous I’ll get carded - it wouldn’t be the first time - but the bartender doesn’t even blink. Thank god, because that would be embarrassing, even if I’m legit now.
We wait for our drinks, and the silence between us pulses, but I don’t even know where to begin. Do I just blurt out that we made a baby together that night? Do I tell him I still dream about him all the time? None of it feels right, nor would my words be welcome, come to think of it.
“So,” Bruce says, finally breaking the silence. “Why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself, Annemarie? The stuff we never got to that night in Springdale.”
I take a sip of my drink, feeling a bit awkward. “Well,” I reply, “I guess the first thing you should know is that I moved to the city to start school.”
“No kidding.” Bruce smiles a little. “What do you study?”
“Education,” I reply, “although I never actually got my degree.”
He nods and takes a slow sip of his amber liquid. “Can I ask why?”
I take a deep breath.
“I love the subject matter, and how education represents an intersection of so many factors including socio-economic status, finances, and personal values,” I reply simply, shrugging my shoulders. “But the bills, stress, and pressure made it too much, and I dropped out. But I hope to finish my degree one day. They said the credits are good for a couple years at least.”
“Ah.” Bruce takes another sip of his drink and shakes his head. “Then it sounds like you have a plan.”
I smile a bit.
“It doesn’t feel like a plan, but I’m going somewhere.”
He nods his head once more with approval. “I’m glad, but I still can’t believe it’s you, Annemarie. These past two years… I feel like I just saw you in that club yesterday. And you’re no different than you were then.”