Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 155405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 777(@200wpm)___ 622(@250wpm)___ 518(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 777(@200wpm)___ 622(@250wpm)___ 518(@300wpm)
My gaze snaps to his, searching for some sign he’s messing with me, but there’s no hint of malice or mischief. It seems like… he means it.
Before I can respond, Mom peeks around the corner. “Hey, are you guys going upstairs after you’re done in here, or do you want to stay downstairs with us? Hayden wants to be a couch potato and watch some home improvement shows.”
Swallowing, trying to coax my heart out of my throat, I look back at Mom. “I’m always down for home improvement shows.”
“Great.” She flashes me a smile, then looks to Landon.
“Yeah, sure,” he murmurs, pushing off the counter. “I guess we can keep doing the family thing.”
“Yay,” Mom says, clapping her hands a couple of times. “Do you want to come in and help us pick?”
I’m sure Landon suspects that part of her motivation is to lure him out of the room he’s in alone with me, but rather than the annoyance I expect to see when I look at him, there’s a faint smile tugging at his lips. “Sure.”
“I’m almost done in here anyway,” I say. “I’ll meet you guys in there in just a minute.”
“Sounds good,” Mom says brightly.
Landon follows her out, but before he leaves the room, he glances back at me.
I shoot him a smile to let him know I appreciate his cooperation.
He rolls his eyes, but then he gives me a faint smile, too, before rounding the corner.
___
Over the next couple of days, things go pretty smoothly. It’s easy to pretend I’m in a normal relationship with a normal guy and there’s nothing to worry about.
I even get my period, which is a relief, but a bit annoying when we get to the pet shelter. Like Landon, dogs have no interest in manners, so one shoves its face between my legs to sniff much more aggressively than it did when it greeted Landon.
“Tigger, you rude, rude boy,” says Melissa, the manager of the pet shelter we’re volunteering at, as she grabs the lead and tries to pull her dog away. “I’m sorry about that.”
My face warming, I assure her, “It’s okay. Dogs are gonna dog.”
“Where do you want this?” Landon asks, nodding at the big box he’s carrying. It’s a vacuum cleaner that boasts its ability to handle pet hair without wearing out as quickly as an ordinary vacuum cleaner.
“Oh, you can put that right over there,” she says, pointing to an alcove housing a shelf lined with toys, treats, and assorted pet supplies. “Right by the shelf. Thank you so much for bringing that, by the way. We never expect our volunteers to bring presents as well.”
I watch Landon put the box down, then flash her a smile. “I saw it was on your wish list and figured it was pretty important. It’s brand new, obviously. We just picked it up on our way here.”
“Thank you so much. Our old one broke down and we’ve been in desperate need, as I’m sure you can imagine.”
Now that he’s restrained and not more in my business than my gynecologist was yesterday, I bend down to give Tigger some scratches behind his big, floppy ears. “Happy to help.”
Landon comes back, looking decidedly less happy to help, but I got him here, so I’m calling it a win.
“Well, let me put this guy away and then we’ll get you guys started,” Melissa says, turning to take Tigger back to the row of cages lining the wall.
I lean closer to Landon. “Should I film you for your first LandonLifts episode?” I tease.
“So I can do bicep curls with a puppy in each hand and talk about pet shelter overpopulation and the importance of spaying and neutering?”
“See? You’re a natural.”
He shakes his head. “Too much talking for my liking. Film yourself. You’re the one who likes to lecture, Miss Future Professor.”
“Yeah, but I’d have a likability issue. If you do it, people will be like, ‘aw I love this.’ If I do it, they’ll be like, ‘why don’t you shut your stupid whore mouth and mind your own business, you self-righteous pain in the ass.’”
His eyebrows rise. “Wow. That’s a lot of contempt for someone just trying to slow down animal euthanasia.”
“Yep. Welcome to life as a woman.”
“Eh, fuck the haters. We don’t need ’em, anyway. I’ll always have more than enough money to fund whatever save the world project you’ve got in your head. If I need more, I have all the contacts I’ll ever need to make money without even doing much. When you have a lot of money, it’s easy to make more.”
“Funny, when you don’t have money, it’s hard to make any. Must be nice to come into the world knowing you’ll never have to worry about such things.”
He shrugs. “I guess. Didn’t always love that my dad worked so much, though. After Mom… I didn’t care so much, but when I was younger, I always wished he would care less about work and more about spending time with us. Like he said the other night, in twelve years, he took us to Disney once. We could afford to go on a family vacation every goddamn month if we wanted to, but… we didn’t. He was always too busy.” He shrugs, tucking his hands into his pockets. “If I ever do the family thing, I’m not going to be too busy. I’d rather do shit with the people I love than spend every second of every day making money I’ll never need.”