Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
The answer I give: “I can’t even guess. To be honest, you didn’t really give me the time of day back in high school.”
He laughs like this isn’t the cold hard truth, and I almost want to push him on it. He didn’t notice me back then. He had his hands full—quite literally—with senior girls like Summer Collins and Layla Hendricks. Kendra only caught his eye for a few weeks because she was so obvious about it, hunting him down between classes, leaving love notes on his car. I thought the mixed CD she slipped into his locker was one step too far, especially adorned with all the hearts and XOXOs, but I was proven wrong. The day Sawyer asked her out or agreed to go out with her—the details are fuzzy—Kendra ran into our pre-calculus class and started screaming so loudly Mr. Garcel threatened her with detention. She didn’t care.
“This is it,” she exclaimed once she reached our table. “Destiny!”
“What is?” I hissed, trying to be quiet now that I knew Mr. Garcel already had his detention notepad locked and loaded.
“Sawyer and I are going out. We’re going to fall in love, get married right out of high school, and have so many babies we can field our own football team.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Surely that’s too many kids.”
She laughed, which drew Mr. Garcel’s attention, and we both ended up serving afternoon detention.
“You were too busy to notice,” Sawyer tells me now.
I can’t hold back my sarcastic laugh. “Yes. That makes sense. As a lowly freshman I would have been too busy to notice the hottest senior boy in school. A tale as old as time.”
He doesn’t even gloat about this title I’ve given him. He pushes forward with his point. “You were already running track, heading up the debate team, studying every second of the day. And if I remember correctly, freshman year you were dating Cory Keller.”
“Nope. I didn’t ever date Cory. We just went to homecoming together.”
Ha! I use this slip-up as proof he wasn’t paying attention to me back then, at least not like he’s claiming. Does he really think I’m that gullible?
“My mistake,” he says good-naturedly. “I could never keep it straight which guy liked you which week…”
“Because there were so many.” I roll my eyes.
Believe me, if I’d been Ms. Popular at Oak Hill High, I would have known it and exploited it!
“Oh come on. You were everyone’s dream date,” he insists. “Weren’t you voted that in the yearbook or something?”
How embarrassing.
“Yes, because Kendra and Jessica thought it’d be funny to fudge the votes. I also won Most Likely to Succeed and well…” I toss out my arms. “Look at me now.”
“Doesn’t seem like you’re doing too bad for yourself.”
My jaw drops. He can’t be serious. “I almost married a cheater. A liar. A-A despicable human being.”
“You tell him all those things?”
I rear back, confused by the question.
He doesn’t take his eyes off me. “Just the way you said it…it’s like you were needing to get that off your chest.”
I sniff in annoyance. “He’s not worth the effort.”
“So you didn’t.”
I pick up my wine glass. “There’s always tomorrow! What does it matter to you how my engagement ended? Whether or not I ripped him a new one?”
“I’m just a little curious about how it all went down.”
“Don’t act like David didn’t tell you all the sordid details.”
“He didn’t, actually. He’s not that kind of guy.”
I know that. I’m being nasty for no reason.
I sigh and let the worst of my anger burn off. Another sip of wine won’t hurt, so I go back for one more. God, it’s good.
“Matthew was having an affair for at least a few months, if not longer. It was his secretary, which is just…trite is what it is. And now”—I perk up, getting to the juiciest bits—“the two of them are getting married in a few weeks. Matthew never wanted to set a date for our wedding but apparently he’s all in with this girl. Is there more wine?”
He pours and listens as I detail everything I already told Kendra over the phone, about the stolen wedding plans and the absurdity of using all the same vendors.
“Well how do we sabotage it?” he asks with a playful twinkle in his eyes. “Obviously, we can’t let them use your wedding.”
“Well the florist can’t create the bouquets and centerpieces without flowers…so we’ll buy up every peony in the state.”
He grins, understanding the game right away. “We’ll slip Matthew’s tailor a hundred and have him hem his tuxedo pants to midcalf.”
“A buzz cut on the morning of the ceremony ought to do. For the bride.”
Neither of us stops coming up with ridiculous suggestions until I have an ache in my side from laughing so hard. I’m about to topple out of my chair when Sawyer reaches over to catch my shoulder. His face is so close to mine. He laughs and I giggle.