Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 104151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 521(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
I nodded. “Yeah. My dad is a fun spoiler.”
“Or practical.”
“Same difference.” I shrugged.
He smirked, watching Josh peek through the branches inside the hut. “What do you do in that hut anyway?”
“Hide from bears.”
Kyle shook his head. “Eve, you’re … something.”
“Where’s Josh? I can’t find him,” I said.
Josh giggled as I pressed my hand to my brow and inspected the area. “Josh?”
Again, he giggled, and I walked a few feet in one direction and then in another.
“I’m in here!”
I jumped. “Oh! I didn’t see you. Can I come in?”
He pushed on the branches I tied together with rope to make a door. “Daddy, you come in too.”
“Oh, I don’t know, buddy. There might not be enough room for all of us in there.”
“There is,” he insisted as I crawled into the far corner and hugged my knees.
Kyle squeezed into the tiny hut, hugging his knees too, and the sides of our bodies touched at every point.
“Don’t move. I will hunt for food,” Josh said with a big smile.
“Uh, don’t go too far, and stay away from the water,” Kyle said.
Josh climbed over our feet and shut the door behind him. He grabbed a stick and held it like a gun. “Shh, don’t scare the deer,” he whispered, pointing toward an old, dead tree stump.
“Hope you’re not claustrophobic,” Kyle mumbled.
“No. You?”
“No.” He stretched his neck right and then left to keep an eye on Josh through the hut walls. When he tried to adjust his body, it only made him rub against me more. “Seriously. What did you do in this hut? You know, as a full-grown adult over four feet tall?”
I laughed. “This is where I bring guys to make out with them.” It was an obvious lie. And while turning our heads to look at each other was too close for comfort, I couldn’t help it when I felt him looking at me.
“You must be attracted to tiny men.”
I rolled my eyes.
Kyle’s gaze dropped from my eyes to my lips, so I rubbed them together, and it was suddenly too hot to wear a sweatshirt.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
I narrowed my eyes. “For what?”
He leaned in.
“I got it!” Josh yelled, and Kyle sat up straight.
Josh carried a handful of leaves to the hut and served us “venison” for dinner, which lasted thirty seconds before Kyle squeezed his big body through the door.
He leaned in to kiss me. Right? That almost happened. RIGHT?
I exhaled after holding my breath longer than I had ever held it before. When I crawled out and brushed off my backside, Josh grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the water.
“Not too close, buddy,” Kyle said behind us.
When I glanced back at him, he smiled—not an “I almost kissed you smile.” It was a normal smile.
But it happened. Didn’t it?
Suddenly, my song choice seemed irrelevant.
We headed toward the house after throwing a dozen rocks into the creek. Josh alternated between walking and running, keeping ten feet ahead of us the whole way.
I said nothing.
Kyle said nothing.
Nothing was hiding the biggest something ever.
He almost kissed me!
“You need a bath,” Kyle said when we reached the house.
“I want to play with my cars,” Josh protested, climbing the deck stairs.
“Twenty minutes. But then you’re getting a bath.”
“Fine,” Josh grumbled.
“Want something to drink?” Kyle asked me after he reached the top of the stairs.
I stood at the bottom, still in shock.
“Not the kind of drink you’d probably like,” he smirked, “more like 7 Up or Kool-Aid.”
I blinked. “Uh,” I slowly nodded. “Okay.”
He proceeded into the house while I moved like a sloth, which was appropriate because time was different in dreams and illusions, and that’s what I was experiencing.
Right?
“I only have grape Kool-Aid, but if you mix it with 7 Up, it’s pretty good. Can I interest you in Josh’s favorite cocktail?”
“Sure.” I didn’t plan on standing directly behind him, but that’s where I naturally navigated.
So when he turned with two glasses of purple Kool-Aid, I was right there.
He stiffened, eyes wide.
“You almost kissed me,” I whispered.
He squinted. “I did?”
“Yes! You apologized and leaned in to kiss me right before Josh returned to the hut.”
He twisted his lips with a slow nod. “Huh. Well, at least I apologized for it. Here. Tell me what you think.” He handed me the drink and sidestepped to get past me. “You’ll want to insist Josh try going to the bathroom by halftime or before if he grabs his crotch. And if there’s a line, just go behind the bleachers or a tree and let him do his thing. I had hoped he’d be better at holding his bladder by age five, but clearly, he’s not quite there.”
I turned.
Kyle leaned his back against the fridge, legs casually crossed at his ankles while he sipped his drink. “Do you like it?” He nodded toward my glass.
I looked at it as if I was seeing it for the first time before bringing it to my lips for a sip. But I couldn’t taste or feel anything but him.