Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
He sent back the cute smiley with the big, sad-looking eyes along with the words: Pity party of one.
“Idiot,” she whispered, wanting desperately to talk to him. Are you allowed calls?
Her phone rang in her hand a moment later. “Why are you awake?” Danny whispered.
She took what felt like her first breath of air in months. “Why are you whispering?”
“Nurse was very strict, told me to rest. I fear her wrath.”
Cheeks aching from her smile, she said, “You’re feeling better.”
“Yeah.”
“Did they pull the tooth?”
“No, the old repair was good, just got cracked—maybe in a recent game. Docs say I can have it redone after they spring me. Area’s still a little tender, but I’ve done worse with overenthusiastic brushing of my teeth.”
He was downplaying things so she wouldn’t worry. Pure Danny. “You have to message your parents and brothers. They’re worried and probably not asleep either.” Danny might be an adult, but he was also in the hospital in a country halfway around the world.
“I’ll do it now,” he said. “We can keep talking.”
So they did, and toward the end, he said, “Sorry to stand you up, princess. We good?”
“Yes,” she said but sat there staring at her phone long after he’d hung up.
Danny was literally in the hospital, and he was worried about her reaction to the fact he’d missed their call.
Her entire face went hot, then cold.
He shouldn’t have to worry that she’d freak out because of an unavoidable emergency on his end. Yet he did… because Catie had done nothing in this relationship to make him think otherwise. She’d kept him at a distance, never quite committing.
I just worry that because Danny’s so even-tempered and easygoing, we forgot to watch out for him as much as we should have…
Alison’s words from that barbeque what felt like a lifetime ago came back to haunt her. Danny, calm and laid-back and funny. Danny, who could be relied on by family and friends. Danny, who never demanded anything from the people he loved.
Catie understood Alison’s worry at last.
It wasn’t that Danny was consciously self-sacrificing or a pushover. That type of personality would’ve never meshed with Catie’s. No, Danny had his dreams and he knew how to aim for them. He could be incredibly stubborn when he felt like it. But he was also generous by nature, generous enough to always be the one to reach out to Catie… because he knew she couldn’t.
Swallowing the big lump in her throat, her back braced against the headboard of her bed, she clenched her hand around her phone. Was this the person she wanted to be? A woman who never committed, never allowed a man—never allowed Danny—to depend on her commitment? Didn’t that make her just like Clive?
She spun away from the horrific thought, but minute after minute, hour after hour, it haunted her. Clive was terrible at commitment because he was constantly distracted by the new and shiny. Catie was nothing like that… but did the reason matter when it led to the same end result?
She felt sick to her stomach.
Yes, Danny was young and hot and currently far from her, but he was also a man who knew how to commit. To his family. To his sport. To his friendships. When Danny Esera said he was going to do something, he did it.
And still panic gnawed at her. Because if she put herself out there and he let her down, it would hurt a hell of a lot. Regardless of what she’d told herself, she’d fallen for him… fallen far harder than she’d ever intended.
Now she had to decide if she had the courage to open herself up… or if she should shut it all down before he could do the breaking up.
Because even the most generous heart couldn’t give forever.
31
LOVE SOUP
Danny was just walking out of the hospital when he received an emoji text from Catie: an orange and a glass.
Orange juice for the invalid, he deciphered with a grin.
He sent back a nurse emoji. She sent the smiley rolling its eyes.
Grinning, he slid into the passenger seat of Takuro’s car.
“You’re in a good mood for a man who was just in the hospital,” his friend said.
“Catie.” Danny’s grin deepened. “She sent me a funny message.” Other people wouldn’t get it, might even consider it a juvenile way to communicate, but it worked for the two of them. They got it, got each other.
“You know,” Takuro said, “when you first came to Tokyo, I thought for sure you’d be single again in a month tops. I’ve seen it happen many times. But you two are the real deal.” He shot Danny a quiet look when they stopped at the lights. “She was so worried about you.”
“I’m madly in love with her.” It was somehow easier to admit it to Takuro than to anyone else—maybe because the other man didn’t know Catie or his family and had no stake in the game.