Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78340 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78340 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Once that song ended, “I Love It” by Icona Pop began to blast from the speakers. He chuckled and said, “Oops, I guess I put it on shuffle.” A moment later, we both just went with it and started jumping around and dancing wildly as we belted out the lyrics.
We let the shuffle be our guide through several more songs, alternately slow-dancing, salsa dancing, or rocking out, depending on what came up. Then we collapsed side-by-side on one of the benches and leaned on each other as we caught our breath.
“This was so much fun,” I said. “Thank you for a wonderful night.”
“I had fun, too.” He kissed me, lingering in the moment before saying, “I guess we should think about heading back. It’s getting late.”
I sighed and muttered, “Yeah, we probably should.”
Once we got back to the garage and stashed the helmets and jackets, he walked me out. These nights were never long enough. Not by a long shot. We both just stood there for a while, and I trailed my fingers over his short beard while he rubbed my back.
Finally, he tilted my chin up and kissed me. It went on a long time, and it took all my strength to finally end it and take a step back.
He tried to sound cheerful when he said, “So, I’ll see you next week. Eleven o’clock for brunch.” There was so much longing in his eyes.
I pulled up a smile too and nodded. “Looking forward to it.” I had to force myself to turn and walk away. I could still taste him on my lips and smell a faint trace of his cologne on my clothes.
If it was this hard to say goodbye to him after a date, how the hell was I going to say goodbye for real when he moved across the country?
Chapter 8
The following Friday afternoon, I stood in the doorway to the living room with the baby on my hip and said, “Wow, you’re really going all out.”
Lark and JoJo had taken on the task of decorating for Owen’s first birthday party, and restraint just wasn’t in their vocabulary. The theme was sunshine and rainbows, and the living room looked like an explosion at a rainbow factory.
Lark had sewn a lot of the decorations, with the intention that they’d have a life beyond the party. He and JoJo were currently stringing up one of several long ribbons lined with festive, triangular flags. Some of the flags were rainbow-striped, while others had primary-colored backgrounds and featured cute, smiling suns or happy, grinning clouds. At least eight of these long pennant strings crisscrossed the ceiling, and fluffy clouds, suns, and rainbows hung from the chandelier like a giant mobile.
My brother had also sewn three pillows in the shapes of a sun, a cloud, and a rainbow, each with cute happy faces. They were lined up on the sofa, and Owen was dying to get his hands on them. As the baby squirmed in my arms, JoJo said, “Go ahead and let him roam. All the pins and scissors are out of reach.”
As soon as I put him down, Owen speed-crawled across the room. I followed him and helped him onto the couch, and he smiled delightedly as I sat down beside him and showed him the spiky, round sunshine pillow. He grabbed it and put it on his lap, and then he started drumming on it with both hands.
I looked around and asked, “Where’s Dylan?”
Lark was grinning as he told me, “He needed to run an errand, but he’ll be back soon.” He was definitely hatching some kind of surprise, and I let him have his fun instead of trying to figure out what was up. He quickly changed the subject with, “By the way, we’re getting pizza for dinner. We’re all cooked out after making stuff for brunch tomorrow.”
“That sounds great, and I really wish you’d let me help with some of the party prep,” I said.
“No way. You’re the other guest of honor at the party tomorrow, along with the baby,” JoJo reminded me, as she hung up a hand-painted poster.
I started to protest, but Lark cut me off by saying, “There’s no point in arguing. I’m fully on board with JoJo’s idea that parents of little kids need to be celebrated, too. Your whole life revolves around that little person, day in and day out. This is a great chance for us to tell you we think you’re awesome and we love you. Besides, we missed your birthday, because it was the month before you moved in.”
“This is incredibly sweet, and I appreciate it,” I said. “I guess I’m just not used to people going through so much trouble for me.”
Just then, the front door flew open. Hal ran into the house and threw his backpack aside as he shouted, “Bitch, get over here and give me a hug!”