Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 145634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 728(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 728(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
He puts down the stack of papers he was looking at, and stands up from the stool he was sitting on at the kitchen counter.
“Are these all of the places you're planning on applying to once you graduate?” he asks me.
I forgot I was looking through some of my options before I left to go to Sandra’s for winter break. I stare at the one on top, I put them in order of most desirable.
“Yeah, they're the schools and offices I'm interested in. I don't know if I'll get a job at any of them, but we’ll see.” I shrug. “Are you hungry?”
“I can eat,” he says, taking one last look around.
I take him to one of my favorite places. It's just a small family-owned restaurant where they know me by name. It’s nothing like the bistro Derek took me to. Here all the booths are covered with a tough red fabric. I don’t even know what kind of fabric it is, but it’s wipeable and that’s what matters. Kay’s Tavern is one of my favorites though. I love their hot wings. “You gotta order them extra crispy though,” I tell Derek as the hostess walks us to a booth near the front window. It’s a bay window, and lining it are a few large picture frames with magazine cutouts and newspaper articles inside of them from when they first opened. They won a few awards, too. I was telling him all about it on the drive over, but every bit of conversation only made me more and more anxious. I know that we’ve led separate lives until now, and that our past lives didn’t mesh. It’s a cold hard truth that I eventually accepted. But now he wants to try to blend into mine, and I don’t know how that’s going to happen.
The late evening sun makes the untouched snow out front look even prettier. But beyond that, the cars have driven over the snow and ruined the purity of the scene, leaving dirty slush in their wake.
That’s just the way it is though. The pretty parts never last.
Across the street are rows of houses lining the busy road. In front of one of them are a couple of kids making snowmen. It makes me smile. Derek follows my gaze, and it makes him smile, too.
I watch him look around the old restaurant. Family pictures decorate the pale yellow walls. Wooden tables and chairs fill the room except for the row of booths that line the front windows.
An older lady with short, curly red hair walks toward our table. “Well hello, Miss Emma. We've been wondering when you'd be back from break,” she says with a smile and a bit of her Philly accent. Kay is a funny lady. She’s got a few kids at the university I go to. Running this place means long days and short nights for her, but it’s paid her children’s ways through college. She likes to joke that they better put her in a nice nursing home when she gets older.
“Hi, Kay. It's good to be back. This is...” I trail off as I'm not sure how to introduce Derek. We haven't really had that talk yet. We're together, but do I say he's my boyfriend? That sounds so lame. Do I say he's my friend?
“I'm her boyfriend, Derek. It's very nice to meet you, Kay,” he says as he shakes Kay’s hand and smiles.
“Well, it's nice to meet you too, Derek,” Kay says as she smiles at me. “He's a handsome one, Emma. Good for you.” The way Kay lowers her voice and looks away with a blush makes my eyes widen. This is a side of Kay I haven’t seen before.
I'm smiling from ear to ear, and it takes me a moment to realize what Derek just said. He's my boyfriend. It seems too childish for me to get all wound up over it. I pick up my water and hold the straw as I take a sip. Derek Wade is my boyfriend. The thought makes me want to laugh. He's so much more than a boyfriend, but I still like hearing the word. I like having a label on us, even if it does seem immature.
“Yes he is, very handsome,” I say to Kay. “Derek, Kay is the owner of this restaurant.”
“Oh, really?” he says. “Well, you've got a very nice place here. And you seem to do a great business.”
“We do. Thank God,” Kay says, looking around her restaurant. “What can I get you two tonight?” she asks as she pulls out her notepad.
“Can we have two of my favorite, Kay?” I ask with a smile.
“Of course, baby girl. I’ll get that right in for you,” Kay says as she scribbles our order down on the pad and then puts it back into her apron.