Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
He came back in a few minutes later and told me what I’d known would happen the whole time.
“I got it,” he said, incredulous. “I got it.”
I let out the loudest whoop, clapping, making everyone in the saloon turn my way.
And then I pulled Ori into my arms and kissed him, right there in the bar.
“Whoa there! Hey! What the hell?” Max called out.
“Oh, I see,” Kane said, less emphatic but definitely still surprised to see us kissing.
It was the first time we’d been at the bar since the day by the tree—and I’d quite literally forgotten that Kane and Max didn’t know about us yet.
“You two are fucking,” Max said, a big smile on his face as we pulled apart. “This makes so much sense. The cat ghost knocked off a little heart-shaped decoration we had in the back, leftover from Valentine’s Day, and I was wondering why.”
Kane snorted. “Or I bumped into the shelving unit, like I always do. But, uh, congrats on finally admitting you’re into each other, guys.”
I furrowed my brow at Kane. “Even you thought we were in love?”
Kane and Max both stared at us. I felt heat creep up to my cheeks, but for once, I was also enjoying the sudden attention.
I felt… proud to be with Ori. Proud to be seen with him, and proud that anyone would have assumed I was in love with him, too.
“I would have put my life savings on it,” Kane admitted.
“Yeah,” Max said. “If you guys didn’t eventually fuck it out, I would have thought something was very wrong with you both.”
Ori leaned against me, and I hugged him from behind. “Seems like we were the only clueless ones,” I told him.
“There was definitely something in the air when you took a body shot of tequila off of him,” Kane said. “Know what I mean?”
Ori and I laughed.
“Tell me about the job,” I said as we sat back down on the barstools. I kept a hand on his thigh because lately it seemed like I really did have to be touching him somehow, at all times.
He looked at me like he still couldn’t believe he’d gotten the job.
I’d known he would. Call it fate or intuition, but somehow, I’d felt it, when we visited that museum together.
“It’s a minimum 3-year fellowship,” he explained. “I don’t get paid gangbusters or anything, but it’s blocked out for 3 years by the university, guaranteed.”
Little fireworks were going off inside me.
Three years?
Three years, guaranteed, that Ori would be here in Tennessee.
Finally it all crystallized, becoming real in my mind. He actually meant it. He wasn’t just trying to keep me happy, saying he “might” want to stay here.
He was really going to do it.
I nodded, trying my damndest to act composed on the outside when all I wanted to do was jump for joy. I was pretty sure there’s never been anything in my life as guaranteed as that—as knowing, for three years, that my favorite person would be here.
“I hope you like it,” I told him simply. “I want you to be happy. You deserve that, you know.”
I leaned in to kiss him, hoping it would stop me from showering him with too many compliments.
Kane came around our side of the bar again as we leaned back.
“This is a cause for celebration,” he said.
“The fact that they’re finally dating?” Max asked from behind him.
“No, Ori’s job,” Kane protested. “Round on the house from me, guys?”
“I’ll never say no to that,” I told him.
Max’s words danced around inside me as I watched Kane prepare two whiskey shots for us.
Dating. Is that what Ori and I were doing?
“Finn’s making millions from his videos now anyway,” Max said. “I saw how popular that new one is. Can I be in one of them?”
“I am hardly making millions,” I told him. “But you can absolutely be in one, if you want.”
Kane pushed our shots across the bar.
The only reason I gave a damn about making some extra cash from my videos was so that I could have what I never had as a kid. Stability. I didn’t want riches or flashy cars, and if I kept making good money, the only real thing I’d spend on would be some land and some horses, one day.
And maybe, someday, a house big enough for two.
“I’ll take a shot with you guys,” Max said.
“Hell, I will, too,” Kane said.
We all lifted our whiskey shots a minute later, clinking them together.
“To Ori and Finn!” Max said before we all tossed them back. In the background, I heard Loretta Lynn come over the speakers, and all across the place I saw people bobbing their heads.
Fuck.
Ori was going to hate this.
But I couldn’t hear “You’re Lookin’ at Country” without singing and dancing, and tonight was no exception.
“I can’t help it,” I told him, giving him a sympathetic look. “You probably hate this song, but it gets me, you know?”