Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“I considered it.” He thought for a second. “The season opener is three weeks from today. If it doesn’t interfere with your schedule in any way, maybe you could bring her?”
No doubt about it, the invitation to his game had caught her off guard. “Oh.”
It caught him off guard, too. “You don’t have to answer now.”
“Okay. I’ll think about it.” After a small hesitation, she backed toward the door. “See you tomorrow.”
“Good night, Tallulah.” Watching her disappear into the hallway, he struggled against the protectiveness that started to whip its tail around inside of him. And even though he told himself she was a capable adult that didn’t need babysitting, he lost. “Be careful.”
“I will.”
Leave it there. “If you get stuck or something happens, you can call me. Two a.m. Whatever.”
Halfway out the door, she paused, studying his face intently. “Good night, Burgess.”
Chapter Eight
Tallulah raised her arms up over her head and absorbed the music, frothiness tickling the lining of her stomach, hips swiveling in an infinity pattern. God, she hadn’t been out in so long. Not like this. The kind of out where she lost track of time, every song was the best song and she felt free. Alive. Nothing holding her back. No rules to follow but her own.
A huge part of the reason she was comfortable in the moment was Chloe, who danced a handful of feet away in a sequined rose gold skirt and a white one-shoulder tank top, her blond hair in a riot of waves. They merged on the dance floor just as the next song came on, getting into an excited slap fight when it turned out to be yet another banger. The lighting pulsed blue around them, reminding Tallulah of the exact color the sun made when it rose in Antarctica and struck the ice for the first time in the morning. Just the purest electric blue that seemed almost out of place in nature.
“I miss that,” she murmured to herself, words instantly swallowed up by the pulsing music. Was it odd to be dancing in the middle of a crowd, reminiscing about her time in Antarctica? Thinking about her favorite penguin, Kirk, and missing the monstrous bite of cold that could rush suddenly at sixty miles per hour and eat straight through five layers of clothing? Yeah, it was slightly odd, but didn’t everyone on the dance floor miss something or someone?
That was life, wasn’t it? Making connections, bonding with people and places, then moving forward without them. Missing them. Carrying those influence around, sort of like layers of clothing. Her birthplace was one layer, her family another. Her best friend, Josephine. Antarctica. Now Boston. Sometimes it hurt to collect another layer, to make new friends and have new experiences when she still ached for the layers closest to her skin, but she would keep pursuing nights like this, because she’d made a promise to her sister.
She’d sworn she wouldn’t let the fear of tragedy keep her locked inside. Otherwise, she might as well still be trapped in that closet, watching Brett’s shadow move on the other side. She might have freed herself physically, but mentally? It had taken Tallulah four years to keep the promise she’d made to Lara. But here she was. At least she hadn’t broken it, right?
Tallulah danced, half enjoying herself, half melancholy to be in this unfamiliar place, entering a new phase in such a visceral way, her new grad school friends waving to her from the bar, Chloe taking her hands so they could spin in a laughing circle at the crescendo of the song, finally stumbling to a stop at the edge of the dance floor. The song that came on next was a slow one, an indication the club was probably getting ready for last call, filling Tallulah with a combination of disappointment and relief. She was having a great time with her new friends, but maybe when that inevitable melancholy started to eclipse her enjoyment, it was time to go home.
Home.
Where Burgess lived.
Her hot, single dad boss.
Orgasm Donor.
“You want one more?” Chloe yelled over the noise, pointing to the nearly empty amaretto sour in Tallulah’s hand. “It’s my round.”
“Sure. Last one.”
Chloe did a little shoulder shake and danced her way back through the crowd. Though everyone in the place was swarming the bar to get their last drink of the night, the bartender zeroed in on beaming-ball-of-light Chloe right away, drawn like a moth to a flame, making Tallulah laugh under her breath.
Tallulah approached the high top where the group had stationed themselves for the night, greeted by smiles from Finn, Tisha, and Evan, the final three remaining out of the six grad students who’d met at Down earlier in the night. Tallulah gave an exaggerated wince at the array of empty glasses and beer bottles on the table, making Finn laugh . . . and it was impossible not to notice the once-over he gave her as she added her empty glass to the collection. He straightened from his lean against the table and angled his body toward Tallulah.