Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 468(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 468(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“It’s what we agreed to, Hutton.” Her voice broke on my name. “It’s how this was always going to end.”
That night, when I got ready for bed, I found the small plastic bottle of lotion she’d tucked into my toiletry bag. At first, I thought she’d done it by mistake, but then I noticed she’d written on it—in one of those eyeliner pencils?—using our code.
Breathe, it said. You got this.
I unscrewed the top and held the lotion to my nose, inhaling. The lavender and vanilla scent hit me like a tidal wave.
Allie was right. Felicity was so good for me.
Was it possible I could be good enough for her?
TWENTY-ONE
FELICITY
I stood out on Hutton’s deck for a few minutes, allowing myself a good cry. Eventually, Millie came out with two glasses of wine.
She handed one to me. “Hey. Thought maybe you could use this. Hope Hutton doesn’t mind I opened a bottle of wine.”
“He won’t. I probably bought it anyway. But what I really need is a tissue.”
“Be right back.”
She went into the house and returned a minute later with a box of Kleenex, setting it on the wooden rail. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” I set my glass next to the box, plucked a tissue, and blew my nose.
“God, it’s beautiful here.” Millie breathed in the fresh, woodsy air. “I wouldn’t want to leave either.”
“It’s not the view I’m going to miss most.”
She glanced at me. “I know. I loaded the last bag in the car.”
“Thanks. I promise I won’t stay with you too long—just until after the party, when it will make more sense that I had to move out of here.”
“You can stay with me as long as you need to.” She sipped her wine. “So what did he say?”
“He said he was sorry for offering me a place to live when he leaves.”
“That’s it?”
“He also said he would do anything for me, if I asked.”
Millie sighed. “But you can’t ask him to love you.”
“Nope,” I said, my voice breaking again. “I can’t.”
All day Thursday, I kept checking the news online, hoping to hear how the hearing was going. It was live-streamed, but I couldn’t bring myself to watch it, scared that I would either jinx him or fall apart.
Finally, my search results turned up a nine-minute video of hearing highlights with key takeaways by a few talking heads. I watched the entire thing, gasping when they showed a clip of Hutton speaking. I could tell he was nervous, and he kept his eyes on his notes, but his voice was strong, he sounded smart and confident, and the talking heads commented that of all the crypto CEO’s who spoke today, “Hutton French was the most articulate, and gave measured, thoughtful answers to all questions, admitting when something was uncertain and offering solutions that addressed major concerns.”
I nearly wept with relief.
I was watching it a second time, sitting at Millie’s table having an early dinner before going into work, when Winnie walked in.
“Oh, hey,” she said, clearly surprised to see me. “I need to borrow Millie’s hand mixer, and she said I should just come get it. Mine broke. What are you doing here?”
“Um . . .” My mind searched frantically for an excuse before I gave up. “Actually, I’m staying here right now.”
Winnie’s eyes widened. “What? Why? Did you and Hutton have a fight?”
“Not exactly.” Tears filled my eyes, and I tried to blink them away. “We’re just taking a little time-out.”
“A time-out? But you just got engaged! Your party is in two days!” Her eyes narrowed. “Is that why you cut those bangs?”
I pushed my salad around on the plate. “Yeah.”
Winnie sat down at the table. “Need to talk?”
“There’s really not much to talk about. We’re just—thinking things over. Taking a step back.” I tried to smile, but it was pretty pathetic. “We did move kind of fast.”
Winnie was distressed. “I guess, but . . . but you’ve been so close for so many years! You had these feelings buried deep inside you! He was pining for you from afar, and you were locked in a tower of longing, knowing you were meant to be, and suddenly there he was!”
I raised my eyebrows. “Wow. A tower of longing?”
She waved a hand in the air. “I’m a romantic, okay? Sue me.”
“Look, it’s just not that simple.” I picked up my plate and went over to the sink. “Hutton and I both have some baggage that makes it difficult to trust.”
“Everyone has baggage! Dex’s baggage could sink a ship! His parents’ marriage was awful, his dad was absent and emotionally abusive, his divorce was difficult, he’s a single dad . . . believe me, it was not easy to work through. But if you love each other, you do the work.”
“I get it.” I stared out the window over the sink. “And maybe we’ll figure it out.”