Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
When I reach the bottom, I stare at the rocks I was going to use to break my phone.
They seem so silly now. As if I was ever going to do that.
As I stride across the island, I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I walk opposite our lodging as if I can outrun the texts and the look on my woman’s face.
Running from problems isn’t something I enjoy doing.
I’ve always tried to fight where I can and face things in the way a man should. Choosing a spot and sticking to it immovably, no matter what interference or outside forces try to mess with me.
But I’ve never experienced nerves like this, buzzing around my brain, hissing at me, taunting me.
I break into a jog without thinking, the roaring in my mind too loud, too difficult to ignore.
It’s all the things Brooke and I could’ve been, all the joy and happiness we could’ve shared.
It’s walking down the stairs on a Saturday morning to find her in the kitchen, a smile on her face, wearing her PJs, and children’s laughter coming from the living room. We’ll joke and kiss, and I’ll fry some bacon as she cuts some fresh bread.
It’ll be a regular scene, the kind so many people experience without thinking too deeply about it.
But it will be so special to me…or it would have been if it had happened.
I jog to the opposite beach, standing alone at the edge of the water.
My phone vibrates again.
As I stand, looking out at the water, I can pretend. I can imagine that this life – the one I want so badly – wasn’t already a ruin from the start.
I can ignore the fact that, even if Brooke said she feels the same, we’d still have the issue with Gil.
We’d still have the betrayal.
Finally, I take out my phone, forcing myself to swipe the screen open and read her message.
Her most recent message, the second one, reads, Are you there?
And then, the one before it, the answer to my question…
I feel the same. I want that too, a life together with you.
CHAPTER 19
Brooke
“What did he say?” Mila asks, looking at me across my balcony.
She came to find me a few minutes ago, saying she was feeling much better. She looks it, too, though she’s sitting in the shade and has been sipping from her glass of water often, rolling her eyes every time I refill it and put fresh ice in.
“Nothing yet,” I murmur, wrapping my arms across my middle and trying to stop the thud-thud-thud in my chest.
But I can’t do that anymore than I can stop thinking about his text, all the things he said, the dream life brought to reality.
“If he wasn’t Dad’s best man, his best friend….”
“I know,” Mila says quietly. “That’s the only reason I’m not hugging you right now, why I’m not celebrating with you. It’s the only sour point.”
I sigh, thankful she’s being honest about it. Another friend might lie and tell me everything’s going to be okay. She might twist the truth and tell me dad has to accept some invented nonsense for some reason.
But no, Mila’s being real.
“If you both want this….”
“If he’s not lying, you mean,” I cut in.
Mila nods, looking at me unflinchingly. “Yes, if he’s not lying. If he wants the same life as you, how will you ever stop?”
I mentioned that to Mila soon after I told her what had happened, him saying what he said, running out of my room.
I told her we have to stop…for dad.
“I don’t know,” I say quietly. “I guess we’ll have to try. Or tell Dad, and hope he gives us his blessing.”
Mila smiles tightly. I’ve seen her look this way before when there are lots of things she wants to say, but she’s holding it back for my benefit.
I wave my hand, and she knows that gesture as well as I know hers.
She can tell me anything.
“You have to get ready, Brooke. Your dad might not feel that way about it. Especially not if he found out it started here.”
“I know,” I murmur. “I’m trying to be realistic about it.”
My phone buzzes from the table. Mila and I snap our gazes to it, then our eyes meet, laughing. It’s more of a way to burn the tension, an effort to make whatever happens next more tolerable.
Picking up the phone, I read.
Do you mean it, Brooke? Remember when we talked about your crush? Do you REALLY feel the same? What I mean is if your dad gave us his blessing, and I wanted to marry you, have children with you, soon, straight away, you’d want that?
It doesn’t take me long to fire back the response.
Yes.
“What did he say?” Mila whispers.
“He’s asking if I feel the same.”
Mila snorts. “I can tell him that. It’s obvious. This is way more than the crush ever was. And it’s definitely not a fling.”