Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 85342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“We should get going,” I say, not wanting to push our luck.
Julia looks at Penelope. “I’ll come back and see you,” she tells her and Penelope just points at the Goldfish holder. Julia bends and kisses Penelope’s head and then Abigail’s. “Be safe.”
Julia gets up and walks toward me, shaking her head. “It’s okay,” I say when we walk down the hallway to the elevator.
She presses the down button. “It’s not okay,” she says softly, “it’s fucked up.” She crosses her arms over her chest, stepping into the elevator when the doors open. There are four other people in there, so I stand next to her without saying anything.
We walk from the elevator toward the car and only when we are close to it does she turn on me. “It’s fucked up,” she says angrily. “This whole thing is fucked up to like the nth degree.” She throws up her hand in the air. “Like it’s kids having kids.” I lean against the trunk of the car watching her pace now. “Fucking kids have kids,” she repeats.
“The good news,” I say and she looks up at me, stopping mid step. “Tristan comes from a great family.” She cocks her hip at me. “And he has a good head on his shoulders.”
She looks at me with her mouth hanging open. “Oh, yeah, he really has a great head on his shoulders, he couldn’t even wear a condom.”
“Okay, that was a lapse of judgment on his part,” I admit. “But now that he knows, he’s stepping up to the plate.”
“He better,” she huffs and walks over to the passenger door. “I need a drink,” she declares and all I do is nod my head. I get in and look over at her.
“Where to?” I ask her, hating we have two places. Hating we don’t just have one place where all of our stuff is.
“I have my bag in the trunk,” she huffs, “so we might as well just go to yours.” I nod my head, pulling out and making my way over to my house. I grab her bag from the trunk as we both walk into the elevator. My head is still on the fact I hate that we live in separate places.
I walk in and toss my keys on the table in the hallway. “I’ll go put your bag away,” I mumble. “You go get your drink.” I walk away from her, going into the bedroom.
Making my way to the closet, I put her bag next to mine I use to travel. I look up, seeing just my clothes hanging up. Turning around, I walk out and go to sit on the bench in front of the bed. I’m looking at my hands, trying to think of the words to bring up her moving in with me.
“Hey.” I hear her soft voice and see her standing there in the doorway. Everything hits me like a ton of bricks. I’m one thousand percent in love with this woman. I get flashes of our lives in the future and it shocks me. I knew what I felt for her was love, but holy shit, it’s so much fucking more than that. “What’s wrong with you?” she asks, and all I can do is shake my head, not sure how I can say it. Not sure what words would do justice for what I feel. “You’ve been quiet.” She takes a couple of steps into the room. “Listen,” she says, her voice tighter, and my body goes tight with the tone. “I know this is a lot to take in.” She puts one hand on her head. “We can just pretend the last two weeks never happened and just be Chase and Julia again.” She smiles but I can tell the smile isn’t real. “Good friends.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” The words just come from my mouth so fast I can’t stop them.
“I have no idea.” She puts her hands on her hips. “I mean, depending on who you ask, it’s probably going to be a yes.” She throws up her hands. “I have no idea. You’ve been really quiet since the hospital, so I kind of put two and two together.”
I look at her. “And came up with five?” I ask her and she glares at me.
“I’ve never done this before, Chase, so what the hell was I supposed to think?” She stares at me.
“You are supposed to come to me and ask me.” My eyes stare into hers. “Ask me why I was quiet.” My voice goes even lower at the end. “Ask me, Julia.”
“Why were you quiet?” I swallow down the lump in my throat.
“There were two reasons.” I hold up one finger. “The first one is because I hate we each have our own place.” She opens her mouth to say something and then I hold my hand up. “After a long day out, I want us to have one place to go home to.”