Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Sometimes, love wasn’t for you. It wasn’t your happily ever after.
Sometimes, love came into your life to teach you a lesson. About who you were; how to treat people; how to be a better person in general.
Maybe that was who were we to one another.
We were brought together to teach the other more about who we were, how to be better in ourselves, how to live the way we were supposed to.
I uncrossed my legs and swung them up onto the sofa, over his lap, and gently pulled his hand away from my face so I could rest my head on his shoulder. He obliged, wrapping his arm around me and holding me against him.
I didn’t miss how natural this was. How easily I fit against his larger frame. How neither of us said a word as we slipped into this embrace as if we’d done it a thousand times before.
My unsaid words rattled around my head like a bird trying to escape a cage, but I closed my eyes and desperately begged my heart not to force them out.
They weren’t words that needed to be said.
“Max?”
“Mm?” he replied, rubbing his hand up and down my arm. His fingers danced a tender little rhythm over my skin, the kind that made goosebumps erupt here and there.
“Can we stay friends?”
“What do you mean?”
“When I go back to London next week.”
He tensed. The pleasing sensation of his fingertips trailing across the skin of my arm dissipated with the stilling of his hand, and my stomach did a little somersault that ended on an underwhelming finale.
“Can we stay friends?” I repeated quietly, staring at the ornately carved, circular coffee table. “I’d hate to think that I’d leave and never speak to you again.”
“Oh, Ellie.” He rested his cheek on top of my head, drawing me even closer into him, but the tension never quite left his body. “There’s no chance of that at all. I will always be your friend.”
And just like that, like the snapping of fingers, my heart broke.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
ELLIE
The Last Chapter
KEVIN: I’M GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!
I blinked at my phone, drawing my brows together in a frown. It’d been about three weeks since he’d gone home to fix his relationship, and I hadn’t heard a thing from him since he’d texted to tell me he was safe.
ME: I’m confused.
KEVIN: I’M GETTING MARRIED WHAT’S CONFUSING ABOUT THAT Ellie
ME: The whole thing, actually.
Either it’d taken them a really long time to sort their relationship out, or he and Aaron had made a whole new choice.
KEVIN: I’m getting married!!!! You’re supposed to say congratulations, you heathen!!!!!!!
ME: Kevin! It’s been three weeks since you left here. You have to understand that I’m slightly confused.
KEVIN: Oh.
ME: Yes. Last I heard, you were going to sort out your relationship, then you never text me back!
KEVIN: Huh. I meant to text you. Sorry. We had a litter of abandoned puppies come in and it’s been a lot of work.
Whoa.
ME: Just the puppies? No mum?
KEVIN: No mum. They were about two weeks old and found in a box on the side of the road. An old couple found them and brought them in. We’ve been taking shifts and had to beg for volunteers to help us just so we could sleep. It’s a bit easier now they’re starting to wean and have some independence.
ME: Oh, my God. I’m sorry. That’s so difficult!
KEVIN: It was the day after I got back. We didn’t get much of a chance to talk until yesterday when Aaron’s parents arrived and insisted on giving us a break. We went for dinner and talked it all over.
KEVIN: Aaron said he was sorry for springing it on me the way he did, and I apologised for running away and not speaking to him about it. We had an actual conversation and decided that it was what we wanted, so I proposed.
Oh, my God.
I burst into laughter. That was the most Kevin thing ever. Of course he’d run away from a proposal only to turn around and actually propose himself.
ME: Well, congrats!! Have you told Mum and Dad yet?
KEVIN: No. They’re coming back in a couple of weeks. I thought we’d tell them in person. Will you be back when they are?
Shit.
I’d forgotten they were coming back. My mother would be furious if I was here and not closer to home. She’d be even angrier if she had any idea I’d forgotten about it, which meant I was going to have bust my arse to finish this book if I wanted to take the few days’ break I was originally planning on.
Sigh.
ME: Of course.
KEVIN: You forgot they were coming home, didn’t you?
ME: Me? Forget? Nooooo. Never.
KEVIN: You’re full of shit. Are you bringing your boyfriend with you?
ME: He’s not my boyfriend.
KEVIN: He’s your boyfriend.
ME: He is not my boyfriend. We’re just friends.