Total pages in book: 163
Estimated words: 164828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Her eyes hold mine before they go back to the swallow. She’s deep in thought, miles away.
“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” I ask.
“Nothing,” she lies and climbs back up into my arms. I hold her tightly, and our lips meet, our bodies a naked tangle. The sex we had is still smeared on our skin. “How long have you wanted children?” she asks.
I frown, where is this coming from? “What?”
“You said that you were open to anything.”
“I am and I know that you want them, so I’ve actually started to look forward to it one day.” I smile softly as imagine Eliza with a baby—my baby. “Why do you ask?”
“I wondered how long you wanted them, that’s all.”
“I hadn’t ever put any thought into it before.” I rub my whiskers back and forth across her cheek. “But the world is full of possibilities with you by my side.”
I feel her smile against my chest.
I kiss her forehead and hold her tightly in my arms.
“You know you will always be my best friend,” she murmurs sadly.
I frown, that sounded……off. “What does that mean?” I ask.
“Nothing. I just wanted you to know that.” She kisses my chest. “I love you. I really do love you, Nathan. More than anything.”
“I love you, too.”
“Goodnight, Nathe,” she whispers as her eyes flutter closed.
“Night.”
An uneasy feeling washes over me. It’s like she’s reassuring me of our friendship.
Why?
Why would she say that unless she was pre-empting an end to our relationship?
What the fuck is going on?
Eliza
I wake to the sound of the shower, and I drag my hand down my face. It feels late. The sun is up.
“What time is it?” I reach over and grab the phone from the side table. “Oh, it’s Nathan’s phone, not mine.” I swipe it on, put in his code, and look at the time. It’s 7:00 a.m.
Huh, Nathan has usually left over an hour ago.
His phone flashes silently with a notification.
Missed call: Robert.
Hmm, I click out of it in disgust. What, does he call him when he gets to work every morning?
I frown at the thought and click through to his call register.
Mom outgoing
Eliza outgoing
Eliza incoming
Robert outgoing
Robert outgoing
Eliza outgoing
Eliza incoming
Robert incoming
Alex outgoing
Eliza incoming
Robert outgoing
Dad incoming
Office incoming
Robert outgoing
“What?” I sit up, and, suddenly interested in the call history. I look at the times and dates of when he spoke to Robert. I scroll down and go back over a long period of time.
Sometimes Robert calls him, other times Nathan calls Robert.
They speak nearly every day, I look through the call times. Sometimes for five minutes, sometimes up to nearly an hour.
On the second day that I was away, they spoke four times. What the fuck?
I hear the shower turn off. I turn the phone off and put it on the side table, and I pretend to be asleep.
Nathan comes out and gets his clothes out of the walk-in closet. He takes them out into the living room to dress to be less noisy.
I stare at the ceiling. Wow.
There are so many things that are fucked up about this relationship, I don’t even know where to start. I have every right to feel insecure. This isn’t in my fucking head.
Anger begins to bubble deep in my stomach. So, he can get crazy jealous whenever he wants, but it’s okay for him to speak to his ex every day? They’re friends, I remind myself.
Ugh…whatever. I don’t want him to know I snooped in his phone so I can’t even say anything.
I get up and shower as I mouth angry, fighting words to the shampoo bottles.
I can’t say them to him, so I’ll let them have it.
Don’t be the insecure girlfriend.
That isn’t who I am, and I’m not lowering myself. When the time is right, I’ll address the Robert issue. Until then, I’ll carry on as if normal.
Calm, calm. Keep fucking calm.
After many deep breathes and a huge pep talk to myself, I get out of the shower and dress for work. I put on a fitted black dress and high-heeled pumps with sheer stockings. I make an extra effort and put my long dark hair into a high ponytail. I apply a full face of makeup to make myself feel confident.
I look at my lipstick selections all lined up in my makeup drawer.
Red. It’s a red lipstick day. I put it on as if it’s war paint and I’m preparing to battle. Don’t mess with me today, anyone, or you will go down, and it will fucking hurt.
I walk out into the kitchen to find Nathan dressed in a dark charcoal suit. He has a light blue shirt on and a navy tie. His hair is longer on top with that just-fucked messy perfection. He looks fucking edible. Ugh, it’s so annoying.
“Morning.” I fake a smile as I kiss his cheek.
His eyes drop down to my toes and then back up to my face. His eyebrow rises as if angered. “Red lipstick for work?”