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)
And he wasn’t ready to get his hopes up yet, not after so many past disappointments.
He put it out of his mind. He refused to get excited about it. Not yet. Until they had everything on paper, signed and sealed, it simply wasn’t real.
His phone pinged again nearly an hour later and Gideon’s lips kicked up at the corners. Maybe Beth couldn’t sleep and—
The text was from his brother Nox on the sibling group chat that they rarely used.
Gideon’s teeth gritted at the brusque message and he glared at the screen for a long moment, not sure he even wanted to reply.
Gideon stared at Niall’s ridiculous non-sequitur. With anyone else, the question could be considered a tension breaker, but Niall was just self-absorbed enough to truly not give a fuck about anybody else’s concerns but his own.
God, Nox was such a fucking self-important dickhead.
Gideon stared at that text for a long time. He had so many things to say in response to it. Mainly that he—Gideon—wasn’t the one who’d distanced himself from the family. Instead, his brothers—well, mostly Nox—and father had ostracized him. They’d stopped communicating with him when it became clear that he truly wasn’t interested in joining the company. The only times they bothered contacting him was once or twice a year to check if he’d “come to his senses” yet.
When Gideon called or texted, he was ignored or brushed off. His attempts at communication and connection had been constantly rebuffed over the years. And while he’d learned to roll with those punches, he’d never given up hope for some type of reconciliation.
Nox not even bothering to personally inform Gideon of his engagement had hit him hard.
In the end, he chose not to respond to Nox’s last text. Instead he put his phone on silent and went back to work on the graphic novel. Soon, the engrossing task had his brain almost fully engaged but a small part of his mind couldn’t fully detach from the sting of hurt that had resulted from his brother’s words.
Gideon truly dreaded seeing them again. Only the knowledge that Beth would be by his side made the prospect the slightest bit bearable.
Chapter Sixteen
They had nothing in common. That was becoming increasingly clear to both Beth and Adam Reece and they were rapidly running out of things to talk about. Usually, Beth would blame herself for the awkward lapses in conversation, but that wasn’t the case this time. She wasn’t nervous with this man, she liked him well enough, she spoke with ease, and hadn’t stuttered once. It should have been a dream date.
The evening had started off alright. They’d rehashed the crazy events of the paintballing excursion. Discussed Kylie and Kyle’s dramatic break up again. Something he’d witnessed firsthand, and hearing his take on it had been entertaining. They talked about Cat and Cam, Zane and Cynthia, the unseasonably warm weather, and his job as an IT Consultant—all before the entrée. But once the main course was served, they ran into the conversational equivalent of a brick wall.
He asked her about her job and clearly thought it was boring as hell. His eyes had glazed over a little when she’d explained what she did.
“So you write instructional booklets?” He asked for the third time.
Beth took a sip of wine in an attempt to hide her irritation.
“Among other things.”
“Do you ever find yourself wanting to write something else? Something creative? Or fun?” Well, that was exactly the wrong question to ask.
“I enjoy technical writing. I think it’s challenging and fun. It does take some creative and abstract thinking to find a way to take the dry technical facts and make them consumable to the general public. So I wouldn’t say my work lacks creativity. It’s just a different type of creativity than you’re used to.”
“What’s your most well-known work, do you think?”
“I’ve heard that one of my medical pamphlets at a reproductive health clinic in the City Bowl is quite popular. I doubt you’d be familiar with it. It’s called My first Period. A Girl’s Guide to Puberty.”
He choked on his wine and she pretended not to notice.
“The companion piece for boys is pretty popular as well—What’s This Sticky Mess in My Bed? Boys and Puberty.”
He was actively coughing now, his eyes streaming as he fought to get his breathing back under control.
Beth made soft, sympathetic sounds and offered him a glass of water, which he grabbed up thankfully and poured down his throat.
He eventually got the choking under control and peered at her through watery, red eyes.
“You’re joking, right?” he wheezed. “You made those titles up?”
“Nope.”
The two pamphlets had been among her first independent assignments after graduating and entering the work force as a professional technical writer. And they would always hold a sentimental place in her heart. She had loved writing them and once they’d been printed, she’d actually gone to the clinic and grabbed up a couple for her scrapbook. They’d obviously gone onto her website and into her digital portfolio, but she liked to keep a scrapbook of all her pamphlets and instruction manuals and booklets. She was proud of all of them.