Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
I told her that while she was in Vegas, she needed to experience a buffet and so we walked to the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace. She got a plate and a half of food and then sat back with a look on her face like she had gorged herself. “I guess I didn’t really get your money’s worth, did I?”
I laughed. “Well, considering that your first plate was all dessert, I’m not surprised.”
“I just didn’t want to get full and then miss out on all those cakes.” She grinned but it slipped into thoughtfulness. “I can’t even remember the last time I ate cake, much less… eight!”
“Then it was worth every penny.”
She waved her hand toward my lunch, the plate piled high with ten different items from four different food stations. “You must work out to keep that physique of yours. Because you sure don’t diet.”
I laughed around a mouthful. “I don’t work out at the gym, but I surf and snowboard anytime I’m not traveling for work—any extreme sport and I’m there.”
“Snowboarding? In California?” She wrinkled her brow.
“Yeah! Mammoth Mountain is less than five hours from LA and Tahoe is about seven. The snowboarding is great. I go with my buddies all the time.”
“Really? Hmm. Sounds fun.”
“Where are you from originally, Grace?”
“Ohio,” she answered.
“I’m gonna assume you’ve never surfed. Have you ever snowboarded?”
She shook her head. “No, I’ve never done either. After my parents divorced, money was kinda tight. We never traveled.”
“When did your parents divorce?”
“A couple years after my brother, Andrew, died. My mom just never really pulled herself out of the depression she sunk into,” she said quietly. “My dad tried everything to help her move forward, but nothing worked. Eventually, she asked my dad for a divorce. I think just being around him, watching us all try to get back to life, it was too hard for her. She resented us and thought we were the reason she couldn’t ever feel okay.” She shrugged, but I saw the grief flash in her eyes. It still hurt her to think about what had happened to her family.
“So your dad raised you. Where did your mom go?”
“She moved across town. We went to her house on the weekends for a while, but eventually those visits stopped. It was miserable for us to be there. And confusing. She would just start crying in the middle of dinner, and if any of us ever raised our voice for any reason, she couldn’t handle it. She checked into a hospital to try to have her depression treated when I was fourteen and she seemed to get a little better. But she’s never completely come back. My sisters and I see her once a year or so, usually around the holidays. She’s living with a boyfriend now who’s pretty nice. She seems to be doing okay. Better anyway.” She fiddled with her napkin.
Jesus, no wonder she was such a control freak. Her whole fucking world had fallen apart when she was just a kid.
“Hey,” I said, reaching for her hand across the table. “Thanks for sharing that with me.”
She gave me a smile, but it still held the sadness of what she’d just told me. “I didn’t even make you sink a basket for that one.”
I smiled back. “We’re too good at that game anyway—let’s just skip the formalities from now on and move straight to the secret.” I held up a finger. “But fair is fair. I owe you one.”
She grinned and tapped her chin. “Hmmm. Okay, tell me about why you traveled around Europe—and where you went.” Her eyes shined. It must sound cool to someone who had never been out of Ohio her whole life.
“Well, like I said, when my granny died, I got a little bit of money. I had lived in Massachusetts with her briefly, but other than that, I hadn’t ever lived outside of California, and so I decided to bum around Europe for a little while, just go wherever I wanted, see where the wind took me.”
Her eyes widened. “That sounds terrifying.”
I laughed. “No, it was awesome. I loved traveling. Just me and my backpack—no itinerary, no specific destination. I went to Rome, Barcelona, Florence, Venice, Paris…the most incredible places in the world. Then I ran out of money and came home.”
She considered me for a few beats. “You’re a really brave person, Carson.”
A felt a warm flush inside and looked away. “Nah, not brave, just open-minded.”
“Don’t sell yourself short,” she said softly.
I looked back at her and for a few seconds our eyes held before I smiled and dug back into my food.
When we got back to the hotel, it was about three o’clock and so we decided to enjoy the pool for a little bit. We parted ways at her floor and planned to meet in the lobby in twenty minutes.