Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
I instantly wrapped my arms around her and held her close.
“What am I going to do?” she whimpered into my shirt. “What am I going to do?” she echoed repeatedly. “What am I going to do?”
“We’ll be okay. We’ll make this work. We’re in this together. I love you,” I told her as my voice cracked and I began to cry with my daughter. As I held her in my arms, it was as if she was my tiny baby again. She was my gift, my angel, my greatest blessing, and I could not protect her from the cruelest harm. I failed. I failed myself. I failed our family. I failed her.
My sweet, sweet girl.
She cried into me for what felt like hours. I didn’t for a second consider letting her go.
I love you, I love you, I love you, I thought when words were too hard to produce.
That was when Christina squeezed my hand as if she could hear me, then I’d kissed her forehead and she said she loved me, too.
Still…she was scared.
I wondered how long the trauma would last until she began to heal again.
CHAPTER 24
Willow
Present Day
Iwould’ve liked to say that Theo and I took the friendship make-out sessions slowly, but that was the opposite of what we did. We dove in and became masters at making out. We’d find random reasons to kiss, too.
Oh, you unloaded the dishwasher? Way to go, friend—kiss!
Oh, you switched the toilet paper roll? Woohoo—kiss-kiss!
Oh, you showered today? Yay!—kiss-kiss in the shower!
Yeah, we were in the shower together. Naked. But not because we were into each other. We were friends. Simply friends who showered together because we cared about saving water and the planet. Friendship showers were definitely a thing. There was no sex involved, though! Just heavy petting, if you asked me. We clearly both wanted to make sure we were as clean as possible. Just two friends looking out for one another.
The verdict was still out when it came to friendship cuddling. If anything, Theo and I were playing a dangerous game as he sat on the couch, and I sat between his spread legs on the floor, where he massaged my shoulders for me. He dug his fingers deep into my exposed shoulders, seeing how I was wearing a white tube top. My eyes were pinned to the television, watching Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth fall in love for the umpteenth time. I’d seen the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice a million times over, and I still had full-on body chills when Mr. Darcy clenched his hand. And the way he said words throughout the movie made my body fill with chills:
I love you.
Most ardently.
You bewitched me, body and soul.
“This is so corny,” Theo mentioned as he kept working out the knots in my upper back.
“No,” I disagreed, “it’s comforting. You know, when I’m sick, I always, always, always watch this movie on repeat until I’m better. It’s my comfort movie.”
“A corny comfort movie.”
I laughed and turned my body to face him. “Okay, Mr. Grump. What movies do you find comfort in?”
“That’s easy. Only the best holiday movie ever—Die Hard.”
“Uh, Die Hard is not a Christmas movie.”
Theo stared at me as if I’d grown three heads, but he went back to massaging my shoulders, this time with me facing him. “Die Hard is definitely a Christmas movie. Most ardently,” he mocked.
“Okay. Name three reasons it’s a Christmas movie.”
“Fine, one—it takes place in December. Two, it talks about gifts at some point. Three—it’s a Christmas movie!” he exclaimed, making me break out into laughter.
“Those are awful reasons.”
“You didn’t say my reasons had to be soaked in logic.” His fingers kept massaging my upper chest, and I let out a slight moan when he hit a good spot. He arched an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”
I closed my eyes and smiled. “Ooh yeah. Keep going.” He kept massaging, and I melted into the warmth of his fingers. This was so friendship of us. “What’s another movie you love?” I asked.
“The Truman Show.”
“Okay, we’re getting somewhere,” I murmured, somehow losing a bit of focus as his fingers seemed to move lower and lower down my chest. “What else?”
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
I placed my hand over my chest. “That’s one of my favorite movies of all time. It makes me sob.”
“Shocking, something makes you sob? I would’ve never imagined,” he teased, still massaging my shoulders. His fingers moved a little lower, and I swore his thumb brushed against my nipple through the thin fabric of my tube top. His finger brushed against it once more, only this time, his hands stayed on top of my breasts as he massaged. “Can I tell you a secret?” he whispered with a hoarse voice.
“What’s that?” I quietly said back.
“I cry during that movie, too.”
I arched an eyebrow, almost too comfortable for my friend to be massaging my breasts. “Mr. Grump has cried before?”