Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Beth couldn’t decide if he was being pushy or sweet, but because she was starving, exhausted, and eager to get this long, weird day behind her, she let the matter go.
If he wanted to cook, why not let him? It was that, or get take out.
“Fine,” she conceded. “Give me ten minutes to get showered and changed.”
“Let me know if you need any help,” he offered, and her head swung toward him.
His lips spread into a wry grin when he noticed her double take and he added, “Help removing the brace.”
“I think I’ll be fine,” she said, and his grin widened.
Once she was in her room, she put her dead phone on charge and gingerly removed the brace before slowly stripping out of the dusty, stained clothing she’d been wearing for way too long. She didn’t even care that she was naked while Gideon was lurking somewhere in her house. He’d seen her naked before, so she wasn’t going to allow this to mess with her mind right now. She was too exhausted to fret over trivial things.
The shower was wonderful, but necessarily quick. Her various aches and pains and lack of mobility in her left arm ensured expediency.
Now she sat slumped on the side of her bed, wrapped in a thick, fluffy towel, too tired to move.
Instead, she was scrolling through her phone, which had died soon after she and Gideon arrived at the hospital. So many messages and missed calls. She wasn’t in the mood to talk, but Cat and the others were concerned. It would be easier to have a quick chat to alleviate her friend’s concern. Cat would get the news to the rest of the group.
“Beth? Oh my God, are you okay? You and Gideon both not answering your phones all afternoon wasn’t on. We were all worried sick.”
“I’m sorry, Cat. My phone died. We got back about half-an-hour ago and I took a quick shower to wash off the grime of the day,” Beth explained, stifling a yawn with the back of her free hand, and then wincing when her wrist protested the movement. Crap, she was going to have to be more careful. Best to get the brace back on ASAP. That would remind her to be cautious. “I’m not sure why Gideon wasn’t answering. Could be his died too.”
“Never mind that, tell me how you are.”
“Bumps and bruises. My wrist is sprained, I have to wear a brace for a week or so and then have it reassessed. I wrenched my elbow and it’ll need to be iced but it’s nothing serious. I’m fine.”
“Crap, Beth, I’m so sorry.”
“Come on, man, you and Gideon are both making me feel like a kid who isn’t responsible for her own decisions. I chose to do this and I just had some bad luck.”
“Kyle was a total dick, though.”
“Yep.”
“He was very publicly dumped,” Cat told Beth, her voice dropping to a whisper that didn’t quite contain her humor.
“It seemed to be going that way,” Beth said, unsurprised by the news.
“It was bound to happen sooner or later.”
“Yes, she didn’t seem that into him, despite the whole meant to be spiel.”
“Anyway, enough about them, I can tell you that quite a few speculative brows rose when Gideon so unceremoniously announced that he would be taking you to the hospital. What was that about? I mean, I gave him an out and so did Adam—who seems really interested in you, by the way.”
“Gideon felt guilty too. He thought I’d only decided to come paintballing because he goaded me into it.”
“Weeeeell…” The way Cat dragged out the word told Beth that she’d had a similar thought.
“I d-didn’t.” Beth sighed. “Okay maybe, I did. A little. But it was still my decision. Like I told Gideon; I allowed myself to be goaded. If I was less reactive around him, and had just reined in my ego, I would have stayed in my lane and never ventured into his.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m the knitting circle friend. Book club. Wine tasting. Low risk, predictable stuff… that’s what we do together. Gideon is the one you guys do all the fun stuff with.”
“Hey, I happen to think knitting is fun,” Cat chastised. “So is the book club. And you know how much I freaking love wine… I miss it with every fiber of my being. So don’t you hate on it. And you have the wrong idea about Gideon, yes, we do stuff like paintballing and ziplining and camping with him, but honestly? He’d be equally as happy in the book club, or joining us on the occasional wine tasting. We could do these things with both of you, but you guys made the dumb rules years ago, when you started this ridiculous feud. So we had to split our activities between you.”
“I would love to try ziplining,” Beth whispered, aware that she sounded wistful. “Gideon and I are trying to figure things out. We want to be the best auntie and uncle we can be for that kid of yours. And that means not fighting every chance we get. So perhaps…”