Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85593 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
What was wrong with me?
27
DOMINIC
I didn’t usually eat greasy pizza, drink boxed wine, watch rom coms, or do any combination of the three in my bed. But there I was with a pizza box on my lap and a bendy slice of Darcy’s request–caramalized onions and ground beef–dangling from one hand. The acrid aftertaste of the boxed wine was in the back of my throat, and my TV screen was lit up with an attractive couple looking dreamily into each other ’s eyes in the middle of a snowstorm.
“What is this one called again?” I asked.
“Snowy With A Chance of Love,” Darcy said around a mouthful of food.
“Charming.” We were about halfway through the movie and it was everything I expected a rom com to be in the worst ways. The guy ran his family’s inn. It was a small mountain town and the girl was driving through to get to a wedding venue to marry a guy she had doubts about marrying. She stayed the night at the inn, got snowed in, and wound up having nobody for company except the handsome innkeeper and their fireside chats. We were at the part of the movie now where the snow storm was projected to clear the next day and her old life was calling.”
“I hate this part,” Darcy said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because she’s going to be stupid and leave Salem behind at his inn. But she knows she loves him, not Harrison.”
“Hmm,” I said.
“What? You think she should go back to him? He was an absolute prick.”
“No. I don’t think she should. But I’m guessing this gives Salem a chance to make some grand gesture to win her back, right?”
“Of course it does, but she should’ve just stayed. They both know it’s right.”
“People are stupid,” I said with a shrug. “And from my experience, they are the dumbest when something good is staring them right in the face.”
Darcy had been about to take a bite of her pizza, but she gave me a funny look, hesitating with it in her hand.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.” She wolfed down the rest of the pizza and sat back, dusting the crumbs from her hands over my comforter.
As predicted, the movie ended with an over-the-top race to stop the wedding from Harrison and somehow managed to make Darcy tear up, even though she claimed to have seen it half a dozen times already.
I took our trash to the kitchen and left Darcy on the bed with a balled up tissue and a longing look in her eyes. What was it about women wanting tragedy to preceed their happiness? Would it be so bad to simply find the right person and skip all the drama?
I shoved the remains of our pizza in the fridge.
People didn’t work like that, though, did they? People were messy and stupid and short-sighted. Maybe tragedy always came before the best love stories because if the feelings were strong enough, it was impossible to be smart. People in love did stupid things, I guessed.
I caught a glimpse of Darcy on my bed from the kitchen. The white light of the screen was flickering across her features and the wall behind her. She saw me and gave a tearful smile and double thumbs up. I smiled back and something inside me felt like it moved–something in a place where I hadn’t felt anything move in a very long time. I wanted to go over there and put my arms around her–to tell her I’d never make her cry like that movie did. I wanted to protect her from everything that might ever hurt her feelings.
I desperately wanted to cling to whatever was growing between us, but I wanted to promise myself I wouldn’t sacrifice everything I’d worked for, also.
Tomorrow, I had to go back to work. Tomorrow, we both went back to the real world. We went back to The Squawker. But this time, my father was going to be there.
If I knew the man at all, he was going to fuck everything up.
28
DARCY
I was still riding the high of my weekend with Dominic when I got back to work. There was a pleasant buzz at the back of my mind and smiles were coming easier than they should’ve. Elizabeth picked up on it almost immediately when we ran into each other coming in the lobby of the building. The building was still used as apartments on the first floor, even though I’d heard rumors that Dominic, Marcus, and Tristan were making plans to buy the whole place out and expand the space. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. It would be like my little family turning into some kind of circus act.
“How many?” Elizabeth asked casually as we waited for the elevator.
“How many what?” I asked.
“Orgasms. How many orgasms did he give you this weekend?”