Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 89674 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89674 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
“She put the shoes wrapped in tissue paper inside the shoeboxes. They’ll be on the floorboard stacked on top of each other to reach the ceilin’.” I felt the wind on my face while, rooted in my spot, I chose my words carefully. If I didn’t say exactly the right thing, I’d be in for a ten-minute instructional one-sided chat.
“Hush. I don’t have that many shoes,” he corrected, but he did, and we both knew it.
“I decided to pack your cologne collection. We had room for it,” I said and started inside to gather two more boxes off the stack.
“Good. I tried to be an adult about leaving those at home, but I’m all for mixing it up. Everything smells good on you.” As he rambled on, my eyes did a dramatic somersault into the back of my head. Luckily, I stopped just shy of labeling his words as the horseshit they were. I had to admit, way back when we first met, Dash was a primper in training. Now, he was determined to be a runway model every time he left the house. I found those fragrances had become his mood ring, and I was learning to crack those codes too.
“He gonna be on the phone until we get there?” Scott asked, shimming past to avoid my slow pace.
“Yes,” Dash called out in my ear. “I’ve got to go to class in about twenty-minutes, then I’ll be on the phone with you the whole way here. Tell him.”
I stared at Scott, nodding him back inside the house. “We’d most likely be on the road if I could concentrate and pick up the pace. Call us when you leave class.”
“The laptop comes with an internet stick…” Dash reiterated.
“Babe, you’ve gotta rein in the spendin’. Our cash is gonna run out too fast if you don’t,” I urged, plopping my load of boxes on the bed then hoisting myself up to carefully stack them alongside the others.
“I’ve been brainstorming some pet names for us. I like Bobo for you, what do you think?”
I couldn’t hold back my sudden howl of laughter, drawing both Amelia and Scott’s attention.
“I’ll never be called Bobo. Got it? You’ve called me handsome, babe, and cowboy, I believe. Pick from those.” This time, I went to the edge and jumped over the side. Before I heard Dash’s answer, the earbud dislodged and fell from my ear. “Hang on.” I worked the hard ear bud back into my now sensitive ear. “Before you repeat what you said, I feel like I like the word baby. Baby. It feels right on my tongue. What do you think?”
“I think it’s perfect. I like it a lot,” Dash said quietly. “I’m going to keep thinking about it. I want a special name. Something that rolls off my lips too. I’ll hang up so you can finish, but there’s no more breaks until you sleep on the ride. Then I still want to be on the phone.”
I stopped dead in my tracks in the middle of the yard and closed my eyes at all the effort it took to have Dash with us in this way. But no matter my irritation, I did like his willingness to spend his free time with me. Falling asleep with his face next to me meant the world to me. “We’ll see.”
“I guess we will.”
“Cocky, aren’t you?”
“Confident in my ability to persuade my guy.”
I laughed a crazy sounding chuckle, knowing no truer words had ever been spoken, and started for the house. “Be safe,” I murmured.
“That’s you. I’ve seen how the FedEx truck bounces around the road when you drive,” Dash teased. He probably wasn’t wrong, but he also hadn’t seen me drive.
“Ha, ha. I’m a better driver than you,” I teased.
“All right, hot stuff.” Dash stopped speaking, then changed the subject. “What about that name?”
“Nope,” I said, grinning. Hot stuff. Oh, lord. “Keep thinkin’.”
“I’ve got you six to two. I’m almost finished,” Scott said, edging past me where I had stopped in the middle of the walkway.
“Go to school. Make good grades. Call me when you get home,” I said.
“Tell him goodbye,” Amelia said, also passing me with an attempt to stay on the sidewalk. She held several coat hangers in her hands.
“You hear that?” I asked and started back inside the house.
“I did. I’ll call her on my way home,” Dash said. “I love you. I can’t wait for you to arrive. It truly feels like a new start.”
“Dude,” Scott confronted me in the foyer. “I didn’t know I was coming here to do all the work. I appreciate the money y’all sent, but being the bitch isn’t my way.”
“What money?” I immediately asked Dash, not Scott who had an instant chuckle and muttered I win.
“I always wondered if you knew. You’re pretty damned cheap to be so generous,” Scott said, lifting two more moving boxes, only four left to carry out.