Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Gideon made a clicking sound with his tongue before moving again, going straight to the house two doors away from Beth’s.
“Gideon,” Beth called—her voice a shade above a whisper—as she trotted along in his wake. “Where are you going?”
He ignored her and stepped through the Delfino gate. Beth hovered uncertainly between the gateposts while Gideon strode confidently to the front door and—oh-so-politely—rang the doorbell.
So, he could behave like a civilized adult at times.
Who knew?
Julia Delfino, the thirty-something-year-old single mom, opened the door and immediately fluffed her hair and smiled flirtatiously when she saw Gideon. Beth knew the woman was in a serious, long-term relationship with a very nice man but it would likely be most women’s natural instinct to primp when a guy like Gideon unexpectedly showed up on her doorstep.
“Gideon, hello,” Beth heard the woman greet in a surprised, but not displeased, voice.
“Hi Jules,” he said in reply—Jules?—before leaning forward and lowering his voice to say something to the woman. Julia’s gaze shifted to Beth, which told Beth that he was speaking about her, and the woman lifted her hand in greeting.
Beth waved back. She and Julia Delfino were on friendly enough terms, they were neighbors, after all, but they didn’t go out of their way to chat. Julia was always so busy with her boys. And Beth wasn’t one to strike up random conversations with people she barely knew.
The woman laughed lightly at whatever Gideon had told her and nodded, before calling into the house, “Grady, Finn, Mr. Hawthorne needs to talk to you guys about something.”
Was Gideon actually going to ask a nine-year-old and an eleven-year-old for spider catching advice?
Beth ran her palm over her face for a moment and then watched Gideon kneel in the doorway to bring himself closer to the boys’ eye level. He spoke with them for a few moments, voice low and inaudible to Beth.
“Cool!” “Yeah!” the boys suddenly said enthusiastically, and Julia shook her head fondly when they ran back into the house then reappeared moments later. They were already in their pajamas. Grady, the younger boy, in a Spiderman onesie and his brother in an Iron Man flannel two piece. They were wearing sneakers, and one of them had a clear plastic box in his hand.
Gideon joined Beth at the gate and Julia waved from the doorway.
“Come straight back home and take it directly to the yard. It’s not allowed in this house at all,” she called. “Good luck, Gideon. Night, Beth.”
Beth waved back, still wholly confused by this turn of events.
The boys ran by her with breathless, hello Miss Finch’s and raced ahead of them up the road toward Beth’s house, where they stood waiting impatiently at the gate.
“What’s going on?” Beth asked when Gideon’s hand fell to the small of her back and they walked companionably side-by-side to her house.
“I’m taking care of the problem.”
“You’re giving the spider to the boys? Why do they have to be here for that? You could have brought it over to their house.”
He grimaced and made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat.
“Not quite what I had in mind.”
“Then what?”
He didn’t reply because they’d caught up with the boys. Gideon rumpled their tousled red hair affectionately before leading the way to the front door and opening it for them.
“The bathroom is through that door, boys. Keep it shut while you’re hunting for our little buddy, we don’t want him escaping into Miss Finch’s house, okay? And don’t break anything.”
“We’ll be really careful,” Finn promised, before eagerly heading inside.
Beth stood still at the gate, and watched in horror as the boys happily entered her house and went straight to the bathroom.
“You’re not even going to do it yourself?” she asked, her voice high and indignant.
Gideon shut the front door and came to stand beside Beth at the gate. His arm settled heavily around her shoulders and he twisted his lips and shook his head. “Nope. I told you, I don’t like spiders.”
“Well, maybe I should go on a date with one of the boys! Since they’re doing all the work,” she squawked with a glare.
“Don’t think their mum would like that,” he said, his eyes still on her closed front door. They couldn’t see anything through the stained-glass panes.
“This feels like a cheat, Gideon,” Beth grumbled, and his arm squeezed her shoulders before he dropped it and moved to stand in front of her, blocking her view of the door.
“You don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to, Beth. I’d hate for you to feel forced or manipulated into an uncomfortable situation. My family en-masse can be a bit daunting, and I know you struggle with new people.” His eyes gleamed with the reflected light from the lamppost above them. She could see that he meant every word, but she also knew that he’d meant it earlier, about needing a friend—an ally—at that party.