Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
“I wish you luck, Ms. Farraday. With everything.”
I gave Lewis a tight smile. “Thank you.”
I left his office and walked down to the classroom. Bryce was already sitting in his usual seat. He flashed me a wide smile when I climbed the two steps to join him. My stomach flipped, but not in nervousness or excitement. I knew it was because I had agreed to go out with him, finally. I really shouldn’t have. I was reacting to that night. To Cromwell and Kacey. But seeing Cromwell living life exactly on his terms made me determined to start doing things I had never experienced while I still could.
I simply couldn’t let myself or Bryce get too invested.
“You look beautiful,” Bryce said shyly as I took my seat next to him.
“I look tired,” I said and laughed. The dark circles under my eyes were getting worse. No amount of sleep would help with that. But he didn’t need to know it.
Bryce’s attention went to the front of the class. His smile slipped from his mouth and his face flushed with red. I knew who had walked in, just by Bryce’s reaction. I kept my eyes on my notepad. I was doodling around the margins, meaningless swirls. When Cromwell passed me, I smelled the spice of his cologne or whatever it was that made him smell that way. My heart leaped to my throat when I realized he’d stopped. My breathing increased in rhythm and my hand worked faster on my meaningless drawings.
I didn’t want to look up. I couldn’t, then… “Bonnie.”
I closed my eyes as Cromwell’s voice hit my ears. His voice was laced with sadness again, like it had been so many times when he’d briefly let me inside a little. When some of his armor had cracked.
But right now, I couldn’t let his rough voice in. Seeing him with Kacey had hurt. So I kept my eyes downcast. This, and the tiredness that was sapping me of my energy, was too much.
My shoulders were tense, cold shivers darting down my back. Finally, Cromwell walked up the remaining steps to his seat.
“Dick,” Bryce muttered under his breath. I pretended I didn’t hear that either.
Lewis walked into the room. “Turn to page two hundred and ten. Today we learn about concerto form.”
I did as instructed and managed to block Cromwell out completely. That was, until Lewis called his name at the end of the class. “Cromwell, I need to see you tomorrow at the end of the day.”
I gathered my things and got out of the classroom as quickly as I could. I knew what that meeting was about. “Bonnie!” Bryce caught up with me.
“Hey.”
“So tomorrow?” Bryce rubbed his neck again. I realized this was his nervous tell.
“Tomorrow,” I echoed.
“How’s eight at Jefferson Coffee?”
“Perfect.” I relaxed a bit. I knew the coffee place inside out. It would make the date easier for me to go on. I would be there on Saturday too, but the Saturday crowd was never made up of students. Saturday was for the Barn around here. It made going to the coffee house two nights in a row more bearable. No one knew me.
He laid his hand on my arm and squeezed. “See you then.”
“You too.” I watched him go. He was nice. Kind. And that’s exactly what I needed to tick this experience off my list. Someone who didn’t make me feel worse than I already did. Instead, they’d show me what a real date was.
I reached into my purse for my chewing gum. It wasn’t until I looked up that I saw Cromwell leaning against the wall across the hall, outside Lewis’s office. He was close enough that he would have heard me and Bryce talking.
He was glaring at me, a pinched, almost angered expression on his face. I didn’t care. Because all I could see when I looked at him was Kacey half naked in his bed and his unkempt state as he answered the door.
Shoulders straight, I walked past him and into the fall air. The cool breeze was no comfort to my starved lungs. I wasn’t sure there was any remedy for the way my body always reacted to Cromwell. Distance was the only thing that would help.
So I planned to keep far, far away. As I looked behind me, I saw him smoking beside the door, eyes locked on me. Only in this light, I saw the sadness shining through like a beacon. It made me lose a breath.
So I put my head down and walked to my next class.
And I didn’t look back again.
Chapter Twelve
Cromwell
“What?” I wasn’t sure I’d heard that right.
“You’ll be working alone from now on,” Lewis said. “I’ve decided to separate you and Ms. Farraday. The pairing wasn’t working. You weren’t producing anything that could be submitted.” He shrugged. “Some people just aren’t suited creatively. I made an executive decision to allow you to work on your compositions alone.”