Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“All right, Mom,” I say into the phone as I turn back to the kitchen. “I’ve got to get going. I’m cooking Noni’s sauce for Reed.”
“Don’t forget to roast the garlic first,” my mom says, and I roll my eyes. She says that every time.
“I won’t forget. Love you,” I say with a fond smile on my face.
“Love you, my darling. Tell Reed good luck with the TV.”
I grin, not able to help the good feelings that produces. That my mom already has an incipient bond with Reed even though she’s never met or talked to him. She only knows him through what I’ve told her, but it’s obviously all been good.
I decided to prepare my grandma’s famous spaghetti sauce today because I’ve got nothing better to do and I wanted to show a different side of myself. Every so often, Reed looks up from his work to sniff and say, “Damn, that smells good,” and, “I didn’t know you could cook.”
It’s a casual, relaxed Saturday and we have no obligations. Just two friends hanging together who will later have some hot, passionate sex.
But even I have to admit, things have changed.
Ever since that night he took me to see the meteor shower two weeks ago, I can’t really say this is just a friendship anymore. Reed’s unbelievably sweet gesture to give me something I would have never thought to give myself made it very clear to me he cares. And because it made me absolutely gooey, lying beside him on that blanket and just watching the stars streak across the sky, I knew that I was developing feelings as well. This alarmed me, but not enough to cool things down.
Instead, we’ve been together every night since. Many times it’s just the two of us chilling with a nice meal and conversation—followed by hot sex. Other nights, we’ll go out with some of his friends—also followed by hot sex. We even had a double date with Sutton and Alex so they could have some away time from the baby while her mother baby-sat. We’ve gone grocery shopping together, seen a few movies, and one day explored downtown Raleigh while eating ourselves sick because they had a food truck rodeo going on. That night we did not have hot sex because we were both too full to even try.
I stir the sauce again, turn the flame down to the lowest setting, then put the spoon on a rest beside the burner. “How much longer do you think you’ll be?” I ask Reed.
“Maybe another ten minutes,” he says, and I translate that to mean at least an hour. I’ll hold on boiling the pasta for a while.
Reaching into the fridge, I pull out a bottle of water and twist the cap loose. I walk into the living room and set it down on the floor near Reed’s knees. He glances at it and says, “Thanks, babe.”
And yeah…that little endearment gets to me.
I tap my fingers on the bill of his hat in response and head back into the kitchen, but a knock on my door stops me. Reed doesn’t even flinch but starts muttering some type of curse at the cable he’s fiddling with.
I keep my laugh to myself and change course toward the front door, figuring it’s an errant salesman or one of Reed’s Barbies snooping around for him. This thought actually amuses me, so my smile is flashing when I open the door.
And then it slides off as my jaw drops open to see Aiden McCune standing there. It’s been two years since I’ve seen him and he looks the same, and yet so different. He’s leaner, overly tan, and scruffy looking. The Aiden I knew in residency was always clean shaven with his hair clipped close.
But he’s not scruffy in a slovenly way. It’s more of an “I’ve been traveling the world” way.
“Hey, Josie,” he says, and I can hear the emotion in his voice and see it swimming in his brown eyes.
As if ignited, I can feel a rise of emotion within me to see him standing on my porch as the realization sets in that he actually came to see me.
Came. To. See. Me.
I can’t explain the response, but a weird combination of joy that he’s alive and safe and trepidation that he’s here fills me up, but I push the fear back and choose to concentrate on the good.
I throw myself at Aiden and he catches me in a big bear hug. “Oh my God…Aiden. What are you doing here?”
His arms squeeze me tight and he presses his cheek to mine briefly before releasing me. I step back, eyeing him up and down, and then lock my gaze to his waiting for an answer.
“I’m on a bit of a break and thought I’d come back to the area, see some friends,” he says casually. “You’re obviously one of the first I looked up.”