Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74256 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74256 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
“Coming right up,” she says, already walking away to put in our order.
“So, you’re really not going to tell me where we’re going?”
“How am I ever supposed to surprise you?”
“You did. You gave me that basket in my room. That’s enough. Please?” I say, batting my eyelashes at him.
“Fine.” He playfully rolls his eyes as if he’s irritated with me, but the smile tugging at his lips gives him away. He reaches for his phone and taps at the screen before sliding it across the table to me. “We’re going to rent a side-by-side UTV and go riding in the desert.”
“No!” I say excitedly. “Are we really? Chad! That sounds like so much fun.” I wiggle in my seat as I scroll through their website on his phone. Our server drops off our drinks, and I take a quick sip. “Wait, this says you should call ahead for ticket availability.”
“I already did.”
“Really?” I ask and he nods.
“We have an hour orientation and safety class that we have to take before we can ride, and then they turn us loose in the Mohave Desert.”
“I’m so excited. Can I drive?”
“If you want.”
“I want.” I nod. “This is going to be so much fun.”
“I hoped you would think so. It would have been an even better surprise.” He gives me a pointed look.
“Hey.” I raise my hands in defense. “I can’t help it. I had to know.”
“I think you would have survived,” he tells me as our waitress sets our plates in front of us, grabbing our glasses for refills.
“Then why did you tell me?” I counter.
He scoops up a fork full of mashed potatoes and tilts his head to the side. “Like I could ever say no to you.” He shoves the overloaded fork of creamy potato goodness into his mouth while I sit here in the booth with my heart stuttering in my chest.
My mind goes back to my conversation with Shayne last night. Do I have it all wrong? Does he want to be more than friends? No, I’m letting our conversation and his sweet words alter my perception of what I know is real.
“So, a guy I work with, he’s a newlywed and I told him my friend was in town. He invited us to dinner at their place while you’re here. If you’re up for that.”
My friend. “Sure, it will be good for you to hang with them and form that bond. I can be a buffer.”
“Faith, sweetheart, I’m an Army Corporal in the United States Army. I don’t need a buffer.”
“Fine, I’ll just be the fun friend who also happens to be your best friend’s little sister, and your cousin’s best friend, from Ohio who missed you so much I had to come and see you for two weeks.”
“How about we just tell them you’re mine?” My eyes widen, and he’s quick to keep talking. “My friend. We don’t need to bore them with all the other connections that brought us together.”
“That’s what you do when you’re getting to know someone.”
“How about we just leave that for another time?” He chuckles, taking a bite of his country fried steak.
“Fine. I guess I’ll just have to tell them all the stories I’ve heard from Shayne about the two of you growing up.”
He points at me. “Behave, woman.”
I shove a big bite of mashed potatoes in my mouth so that I don’t have to agree.
“So, tell me about the job search.”
“Ugh. I’m being dramatic. I know I am. I just can’t seem to stop.”
“Kindergarten is your dream. Have you considered the jobs that would require you to relocate?”
“I have, but I don’t know. None of them feel right. I know that makes me sound like I’ve lost my damn mind, but it would feel right, wouldn’t it? Shouldn’t I be nervous and excited? None of the offers I’ve received so far give me either of those feelings.”
“Then you should keep looking.”
“I’m a college graduate living with my brother and his fiancée who are soon to be married, if my brother has his way about things. I can’t keep cramping their style.”
“Did they say you were?”
“No. They would never, but if I were them, I’d want time alone.”
“You know good and well as long as the two of them are together, they couldn’t care less. They spent too much time apart. They don’t give a damn that someone they love is sleeping in their spare room. They’re just happy to be together.”
“I know you’re right. I guess I just thought it would all be different. I’d graduate, find my dream job, get my own place—not paid for by my parents—or a part-time job and a roommate, fall in love, and live happily ever after.”
Something flashes in his eyes that I can’t name before it’s gone. “You can still have all of that. It might not be in Cooper, but you can still have everything you want for your future, Faith.”