Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 123579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 494(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 494(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
“Miraculously, I don’t think we’ve been followed,” I reassure her. “And even if we have, I can manage the ten steps between the sidewalk and the front door without being attacked.”
“Get in there and close the deal with Kerris.” Stil glances back to the brownstone where Walsh grew up and now lives with his family. “We all really love her stuff and want it on Haven’s site.”
“And you’re afraid I’ll what?” I’ve smiled so little the last few days, my lips barely remember how to do it, but they manage. “Claw her eyes out?”
“No, you two have some history, I know,” Stil says. “But your head’s in the game, and she’s a sweetheart.”
“Must be nice for people to think you’re a sweetheart.” I twist my lips and sigh. “Something I definitely won’t be mistaken for anytime soon.”
Stil sniffs the air.
“Is that self-pity I smell?” She wrinkles her nose. “I wouldn’t think a woman with her own fragrance would abide a scent so foul.”
“It’s not my fragrance. It’s François’s, and it’s not self-pity.” I slump into the backseat. “I’m just feeling a little sorry for myself.”
“Ahhhh.” Stil nods her little black-and-pink head sagely. “I see the subtle difference between the two. Look, nobody said this would be easy, but do you think it will be worth it?”
“I know it will.”
Her tough-love face softens.
“Then just endure.” She reaches over to tuck a chunk of hair behind my ear. “And just think. Your new man will be back soon. Bet that’ll make things better, right?”
Or worse. The only thing worse than all this public tarring and feathering from Kyle’s supporters and his crafty team would be Trevor having a front-row seat for it. Or even worse than that worse, him being tainted by it.
“He’ll be home in, like, four days.”
An eternity.
“You guys talk every day?”
“For a little bit.” I swipe through screens on my iPad looking for Kerris’s designs. “There’s a six-hour time difference, and his schedule there trying to sort out that Collective mess is even crazier.”
“Well, once he’s back in your bed, you’ll feel better for sure.” Stil sneaks a look at me under her falsies. “I mean, you guys have…you know. Sealed the deal. Dipped the stick, right?”
Now I do out-and-out grin.
“I’m not talking about this with you.”
I’ve always been extremely forthcoming with Stil about my sex life. Once I even sketched a guy’s junk for her when I realized he was uncircumcised. So, yeah. No holds have ever been barred until now. With Trevor…I just can’t. It’s so different with him. So intimate. So clean. So right. Talking about it like we’re in a locker room would defile it somehow.
“You know I live vicariously through your vagina.” Stil grimaces, and rightfully so. “That came out wrong, but you know what I mean. Just tell me if he’s as hung as he seems to be. I mean, a guy that big has gotta be hanging pretty low, right?”
I gather my things, shaking my head the whole time. I reach for the door and step out onto the sidewalk, drawing my cashmere coat a little closer against the wind. I lean into the car for a parting shot.
“I’ll only say that he delivers on the promise his body makes.”
As I slam the door, I hear her screeching.
“I knew it!”
I’m still grinning when the door opens to Kerris standing there. There was a time when I pretended not to see what Walsh saw in this girl, but I do. She’s petite and beautiful, with dark hair and a sweet nature. The opposite of me in every way, inside and out.
She’s also very pregnant. That belly looks much too large for her small frame.
“Are you having twins again?” I blurt out, regretting it immediately. I can’t believe I’m one of those people who says insensitive things to pregnant women. Next I’ll be feeling up her belly in the grocery store.
She laughs good-naturedly, stepping back to allow me into their home.
“Um, no. Just one this time.” She passes her hand over that mound of baby, a small smile on her mouth. “One little boy due any day now, but maybe he’s just a big guy like his daddy.”
She searches my eyes, looking contrite. At first I can’t figure out why, but then I realize she must think this was my dream. To be home with two of Walsh’s kids and another on the way in the brownstone where he grew up. No, this wasn’t what I envisioned for Walsh and me. I certainly wouldn’t have answered my own door. I’d have help for that. I wouldn’t have dinner going, the house fragrant with my domesticity. I’d have some version of Millie for that. As for the kids…who knows how having children would have affected me?
“It’s okay, Kerris.” I walk deeper into the house, stopping by the bannister that leads upstairs. “I’m good and over Walsh. I realize now that if we had gotten married, we would have basically become our parents. He would have become his father, working around the clock and neglecting his family. I would have become my mother, glad to see the back of him and probably living a separate life.”