Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63100 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63100 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
“I would love to go.” I lie not wanting to hurt her feelings.
“Hey, Rhonda.” I turn my head, coming face-to-face with a beautiful, willowy blonde, and it registers she’s the woman I saw wrapped around Austin as he held the door open for her at the bar. I can see what Austin would find appealing about her. She’s almost as tall as he is, where I’m at least a foot shorter. Her body is shaped to perfection, where mine is full of curves from eating a little too much chocolate.
“Hi, Anna,” Rhonda says, but I can hear a slight annoyance in her tone, and I wonder what that’s about.
“You must be Lea,” the woman named Anna says, and her eyes sweep over me from head to toe, making me thankful I took a little extra time in getting ready and didn’t just put on the first pair of jeans I found. I had on a pair of black corduroy pants that flared at the ankle, a cream scoop-neck sweater, cream boots that were casual but still sexy, and my puffy black vest that was just perfect for the Alaskan spring weather.
“I didn’t know you were in town,” Rhonda says, and Anna’s gaze moves to her.
“Austin asked me to come for a few days.” She shrugs casually.
“Anna’s a flight attendant. She lives in Anchorage,” Rhonda informs me, and I look from Anna to her then back again and smile, because there is nothing else for me to do. I have no right to feel jealous that this woman is spending time with Austin. He hasn’t been mine for a very long time. Not that it does anything to stop the feeling from creeping up on me.
“It must be nice to travel all the time,” I say then look around to see where my mom disappeared to praying that she will come save me.
“It is, but I’m thinking about moving here and making this my home base. You know, the things we do for love,” she says, and my heart sinks a little at the thought of her and Austin in love, moving in together, and eventually starting a family. “Well, I better go. Austin’s waiting for me. See you around.”
“Bye,” I murmur, watching her walk away.
“God, I hate her,” Rhonda says, pulling my attention to her. “Just so you know, she and Austin are not as serious as she makes them out to be. They see each other when she’s in town, and from what Ben told me, Austin doesn’t even want to see her even then, half the time.” I have no response. I have no idea what to do with the feelings that are swirling around inside of me at the moment.
“Let’s find your mom.”
“Yeah,” I agree then follow her down one of the aisles, where my mom is standing, looking at stickers for scrapbooking. “Did you find anything you like?” I ask, coming to her side.
“I’m not sure I have the patience to do a scrapbook, but they have so many cute things that it almost makes me want to.”
“I’ll help you. We can make one together,” I suggest.
“Maybe we can do one with all the pictures I have of you and your dad,” she says quietly, picking up a packet of stickers of boats and waves.
“I would like that.” Although my dad has been gone for years, I feel like the wounds from his loss are still wide open. When he first passed away, we didn’t really talk about him much. I don’t think either of us really got any closure.
“It would be good for us,” she says, pulling her eyes from the items in her hands to look at me. “I think it’s time we let him go. Maybe we can see if Ben will take us out on his boat, and we can go to the place he was lost, to say goodbye?”
“I would like that,” I tell her watching as tears fill her eyes, she nods once whispering.
“It’s long overdue,”
Wrapping my arm around her shoulder and leaning my head against hers I nod. She was right; it was well past time we said our goodbyes to him. Over the next hour we picked out scrapbooking stickers. It felt good to laugh and talk about the good times we shared before he passed.
“I’m starving,” Rhonda says as we put our bags into the back of my mom’s SUV.
“How about we stop for tacos?” Mom suggests as I climb behind the wheel, and she and Rhonda buckle in.
“Yes,” Rhonda groans, making me laugh. She wasn’t lying about eating for three. Since we left the house this morning, I have seen her eat three cereal bars that she had tucked away inside her bag.
“Is that okay with you, honey?”
“Sounds good.” I say putting the car in drive. Today’s been one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. Mom has always been like my best friend, so spending time with her is always nice, and Rhonda is funny and easy to be around. I’d forgotten what it was like to have girlfriends to talk to. My friends from back home had been Ken’s friends as well. After I found out about his affair, I found out most of them knew about his relationship with Courtney. No one wanted to be the one to tell me what was going on so I was left to find out on my own while my friends went on like they didn’t know my husband was a cheating asshole.