Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 34938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
I've been there. We all have. But the one thing I've learned is that you have to be yourself. Period.
You can't be someone else just to please people. And you never should even have to try.
“Come on, let's go grab a coffee and get these errands done.”
We get dressed and make a quick stop at her apartment for some clean clothes. Perri changes and freshens up a little and then we head to the store. She has a small list that she pulls from her pocket as we walk through the double doors.
“All right, so we should grab some food. What do you need?”
Shrugging a shoulder, I smirk. “Nothing really, I just wanted to spend the day with you.”
“Seriously?” she asks with a bright smile.
“Of course I'm serious. There's nowhere else I'd rather be.” Grabbing a cart, I wheel it next to her. “So, let’s shop.”
I follow her through the store as she puts things in the cart. She's talking about her childhood, and as she adds food to the cart, she’s telling me stories. She tells me about a time when she blew up a hot dog in the microwave.
She's giggling hysterically, and I laugh with her. Not just because her story is comical, but because she comes alive as she's talking. Her hands are going all over the place, her facial expressions are hard and soft, and charismatic.
I love listening to her talk.
She's telling me these small stories, they hold no real value to what she's capable of, or who she might be in the future, but it's the excitement of her sharing them that draws me in.
Perri makes me feel different than other women have before. I feel like life is more than just making money and having a big rolodex of customers. Life is about all this little stuff.
No amount of money will ever give me this. No amount of power or wealth will ever give me this level of happiness.
And as I watch her as she tips her head back and laughs, her eyes twinkling with this youthful glow, I'm slowly starting to realize that I'm falling for this girl.
And I'm falling hard.
My phone rings, so I pull it from my pocket, and check the screen.
Shit, it's Bryce.
“I'm sorry, I need to take this,” I say, cutting her off as I press the button and quickly walk away.
I know she's watching me, studying me, but I'm not going to ruin this moment. I won't let her father take this happiness from me.
Glancing back over my shoulder, her eyes are hard, lids thinned, lips stiff. I try to act casual while I speak quietly into the phone, but I don’t think I’m pulling it off. Hanging up the phone, I head back to her.
“Sorry about that.”
“Who was that?” she asks, her tone trying and failing not to sound accusatory.
“No one, just one of the workers down at the convention center. He just had a question about the job, that's all.”
“Hm,” she grunts. “Well, I'm all done.” She turns her cart toward the front of the store and starts walking to the checkout. I can feel her questions, her uncertainty, the doubt in her tone.
And I hate that she's right.
I just lied to her. I lied and I hate that I'm lying to her. But I do it to protect her.
Because she deserves to be put on a pedestal and treated like a queen.
7
Perri
Who was that?
I'm watching him out of the corner of my eye as he puts the bags in the trunk of his car. He's shifting his eyes all over the place, but he's not looking at me. Kent is talking, he's asking me about dinner, and what my favorite food is. But he never makes eye contact.
I mindlessly answer him, still focusing on that phone call. I don't like how he acted when he stepped off to answer the call, and I don't like how's been since he stepped back into our little bubble. Something came over his face when he looked at the screen, and I can’t shake the feeling that he’s lying to me.
You're overreacting, Perri. It's probably nothing. I'm trying to convince myself that I'm making a bigger deal out of this than I should be. But it's hard when my gut is telling me something different.
“I'm going to make you the best meal ever tonight. You just wait and see. You'll never want to go out to eat again.”
“Mm,” I sort of respond to him, not really interested in anything that has to with the future, I'm fixated now on that phone call.
Sneaky phone calls are not a girl's best friend. My mind is running wild with all kinds of ideas about who it could have been, and why he was so cagey about it.
He spoke to the mystery caller with his back turned, his voice low, and his eyes shifting every few seconds to look back at me as if to see if I were listening.