Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“Hey, little one. What’s up?” I asked. “Hi to you too.” I winked at Dane.
“Nothin’. We’re ’bout to see a mobie.”
“I know. I totes can’t wait!”
“I totes can’t either. Unca Dame, can we get popcorn?”
He darted a look at me, and I fluttered my lashes at him. “Please, can we, Uncle Dame!”
Dane rolled his eyes and snickered. “I guess. You guys are spoiled, you know?”
I reached into the back seat and held my hand up for Hailey to give me a high five, which she did. “Teamwork. And we totes deserve to be spoiled.”
“Totes,” Hailey added. It was her new word, and I used it often myself.
The three of us chatted as Dane drove to the theater. My eyes kept darting to him, which was ridiculous. I was thinking about Seth and the boyfriend thing and blah, blah, blah, blah—all these stupid, annoying thoughts. It was so strange, liking someone. It made me feel all…I don’t know, shmoopy if that was even a word.
The rain had slowed down a bit by the time we got there. Dane unbuckled Hailey from the seat, and she grabbed both our hands as we started for inside.
“Swing me!” she shouted. It was this thing we’d started doing, like all the other things we’d started doing.
“I don’t know if I can. I’m so tired,” Dane teased.
“Please, Unca Dame!” Hailey begged.
“Do you think you can?” Dane asked.
“Well…we can try. Why don’t you give us that superjump?” I asked her, and she nodded her head happily. “One…”
“Two,” Dane added.
“Three,” I finished. Hailey jumped as Dane and I lifted her and swung her in the air. She giggled like we were at Disneyland or something as a woman looked at us and grinned.
“Oh, what a precious family,” she said.
My cheeks heated, damn it. “We’re not…”
“She’s my niece. Thank you,” Dane replied.
“Still family,” she answered, and she was right; well, about the Dane and Hailey part.
We used our coupons to get the tickets, then headed inside for snacks. “You get the popcorn and I’ll get the drinks?” I asked.
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to. It works for both of us.” We were quite the pair, weren’t we? But movies weren’t cheap, and it was nice having him to split it with.
Hailey insisted on sitting between us. As we walked down the row, I quietly teased, “Does that mean we can’t make out during the movie?”
Dane chuckled. “Well, I know that’s what I was looking forward to.”
“What was?” Hailey asked.
“Nothing, kiddo,” he replied.
We sat down and watched the new family Christmas movie that had just come out. Hailey giggled a lot, and had to pee a lot, and wiggled around a lot, but Dane was really good with her.
When it ended and we were back in the car, Hailey asked, “Can you come ober?”
My eyes found Dane’s.
“You should come,” he said. “I can bring you home later. Unless you have homework or something.”
“I have some time,” I told him because I was a shmoopy mess and wanted to go over to their place.
Bree was home when we got there, and Hailey, Dane, and I played dolls for a bit before she started to color. We sat at the bar while Bree was making dinner, Dane and Hailey having a coloring contest Dane was obviously trying to lose.
“What are you doing for Thanksgiving, Jesse?” Bree asked.
“I have to go home. My bus leaves at like four in the morning on Thanksgiving, and I come home on Sunday.” I wasn’t looking forward to it, which made me feel like an asshole. No matter what, they were my parents, but it was hard. When I was home I always felt like I was wrong, or like something was wrong with me. Or like I was a disappointment to them.
“Nooooo!” Hailey replied. “I was gonna ask you to come here!”
Dane nudged her playfully. “Oh, you were, huh? Are you cooking?” He looked up at me. “Not that you’re not welcome here. I just thought it was funny.”
But I wondered if it was weird for him since we weren’t boyfriends.
“We can do something early,” Bree said. “Mark will be home on Monday, and then he has to leave Thursday afternoon, so we could have a Thanksgiving here on Wednesday. Then we could all be here.”
My eyes darted to Dane, trying to feel him out. That was…well, it was a big step, doing the family holiday thing. “You guys don’t have to do that.”
“No,” Dane said. “You should come.” He shrugged like it was nothing, but it was. I was a little giddy.
“Aww, Dane wants me to come for Thanksgiving!” I teased. “He likes me! He really likes me!”
Bree and Hailey giggled, but Dane and I just looked at each other. We were on unfamiliar ground, and I think we both knew it.
“So, will you come?” Bree asked.