Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 103061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
“What the hell is Bewitched?”
“It’s a classic sitcom! Comfort TV! You’ve never seen Bewitched?” To remove temptation, I went downstairs into the kitchen.
“No, I rewatch Friends for comfort like everyone else who isn’t ninety. Listen, it’s not weird to be friendly to a new neighbor. Go say hi and welcome. Bring him a pie or something.” She laughed. “But no falling in love with him. Give it at least a week.”
“Haha.” I opened the fridge and stared at the contents, possibly hoping to find a stray pie. But the only sweet thing in there was my half-eaten chocolate Frosty from yesterday with a plastic spoon sticking out of it, which I didn’t think would make a very nice welcome gift. “You’re just trying to sabotage me so you can win the bet.”
“I’m going to win the bet anyway,” she said with confidence. “I can’t believe you made it in the first place.”
Honestly, I couldn’t either. It must have been the vodka.
Three months ago—right after my engagement imploded—Ellie and I went out for drinks, and I announced I was swearing off men.
Ellie had laughed. “Ha! You won’t last six months.”
“Wanna bet?” I’d challenged, tossing back the rest of my second martini and licking vodka off the last olive on the bamboo pick.
She’d raised one eyebrow. “It’s May, Winifred. You think you can make it to November without falling in love? You?”
“Definitely,” I’d replied, and then hiccupped.
“I admit,” Ellie said to me now on the phone, “I didn’t think you’d even make it to the Fourth of July.”
“See?” I gloated, although generally, I did enjoy having a significant other on national holidays. And bank holidays. And especially Hallmark holidays.
“But fall is coming,” she said suggestively. “Cuddle weather.”
“Doesn’t matter.” I took a quick bite of the Frosty before closing the fridge. “I am the boss of my feelings.”
“Glad to hear it. But if you fall in love before Thanksgiving, you still owe me the thing.”
I shuddered. I did not want to owe her the thing. “I can absolutely make it to Thanksgiving. In fact, let’s make it Christmas.”
“Christmas!” She burst out laughing. “Now you’re just talking crazy. You didn’t even like being single at Christmas in seventh grade.”
“Well, this is an all-new Winifred talking. And I am perfectly capable of not falling in love—not even with my hot new firefighter neighbor.” But apparently, I wasn’t capable of minding my own business, so I decided to go check and see if the mail had come yet.
I opened the front door, peeked into my mailbox for half a second, then looked toward the parking lot. He was standing next to the truck, looking at his phone.
And that’s when I saw two little girls jump out of a minivan and run toward him. “Daddy!”
I smiled triumphantly. “Guess what?” I whispered. “He’s not single, so it doesn’t matter. His wife just arrived with their two kids—actually, make it four kids.” I watched a dark-haired woman get out of the car, and retrieve a toddler and a baby in a carseat.
“Four kids?”
“Yep. Two girls, a boy, and a baby.” Relieved, I grabbed the mail and went back inside. “Crisis averted.”
Ellie sighed. “Damn. I really want you to owe me the thing.”
“Never gonna happen.” But at least now I could introduce myself and make friends with the new neighbors. As easily as I fell in love, I did not go for married men. To console myself, I took another spoonful of Frosty, then put it back in the fridge. “Are you still coming with me tonight?”
“Yes. In fact, that’s why I called. What’s the dress code?” Ellie was my date for my cousin Chip’s engagement party.
“I’d say cocktail casual,” I said, heading back upstairs. “I’m sure there will be people in jeans there, but also some dressed up.”
“What are you wearing?”
I reached my bedroom and opened my closet door. “I’m thinking dark flared jeans, halter top, heels.”
“Which top? The stripes?” Ellie and I knew all each other’s favorite outfits.
“Yes.”
“Okay, I’ll go that direction too. What time should I pick you up?”
“The party starts at seven,” I said. “So maybe like quarter to?”
“Okay. What are you doing the rest of today?”
“Not much. I have some errands to run, but other than that, just painting my nails and stalking the nice people next door.” Unable to resist another peek, I went over to my bedroom window and looked out again—the two little girls I’d seen were running up and down the truck ramp. “Maybe I’ll pick something up at Plum & Honey while I’m downtown and take it over there. I bet those kids would like my mom’s cupcakes.”
“Good idea.”
“What about you?”
“We started the harvest this morning, but I had to come in and clean up because Mia asked if I could handle a meeting with a prospective wedding couple this afternoon—which I really don’t want to do because that is not my job.”