Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 162369 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 812(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162369 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 812(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
The truth of her words slowly sinks in as I stare into her eyes. Today, they remind me of the grass after a summer rain. My anger fades, shifting to more of a confused disappointment.
“True…” I reply, chewing the inside of my cheek. “But that doesn’t fix things.”
“Of course it doesn’t, but hopefully you guys can move past it. Everyone makes mistakes. You can’t forget he’s been a really good friend to you.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Has he? Or was it all out of guilt?”
“Alex, I seriously doubt he pretended to be your friend for eighteen years. Who has time for that kind of dedicated deception?”
“Who knows? Maybe he needed a hobby.”
“Stop it.” She shakes her head with a little laugh. “You know him better than that.”
“I don’t want to talk about him anymore.” I grab her hand and thread our fingers together. “Let’s go have our picnic.”
“What about this little tumbleweed?” She holds up the leash.
I look at the puppy sitting patiently at our feet. “I guess he’s crashing our date.”
I take the leash from her and we walk to the lake, laughing at his silly, bouncy bunny hops through the dandelions.
“Wow! Look how amazing this all is!” Penny exclaims when she sees my picnic setup. She launches herself into my arms, almost knocking me off the pier and into the lake. The puppy barks and wags his tail at us.
“It’s just a blanket and pillows,” I say, relieved I didn’t screw up the aesthetic. “And lettuce that checked out about half an hour ago.”
“The flowers and the vase are beautiful. I’m so sorry I was late. Kelley put all the puppy stuff in the car and then he really needed to talk—”
Every time I hear Kelley’s name, I feel sick to my stomach.
“Don’t apologize. We can pick out the wilted parts.” I kneel on the blanket and tug her down with me.
Her eyes light up like fireworks when she pulls the cloth napkin from over the food. “Heart-shaped sandwiches?” She flashes a smile that sends my heart into a backflip. “I can’t believe you did all this. It’s so romantic.”
“Not bad for my first time, huh?”
She opens her mouth to reply but pauses, staring at me, lips parted in a way that’s so cute, it makes me want to kiss her.
“You got a new patch.” Her dreamy expression nearly melts me.
“I thought I’d switch it up so you have something different to look at.”
“I love it,” she whispers. “It looks really hot.”
She leans across the spread and touches her lips to mine. I capture the back of her neck with my hand and kiss her deeper, coaxing her lips open with my tongue. She tastes faintly of cinnamon. She once told me she watched a movie where someone got trapped in their car for two days and the only thing they survived on was a bottle of water and a pack of candy. Now, she leaves water and a tin of cinnamon mints in the console of my car.
“I’m glad you like it.” I move my hand to her cheek and touch my nose to hers. Our lips meet again. Soft, infused with a longing that's getting harder and harder to resist.
But I do, as much as it fucking sucks.
Reluctantly, we pull away and reach for sandwiches.
“Have you picked a name yet?” Penny asks, reaching for another half-heart turkey and Swiss.
Between us, the puppy is falling asleep with his head up. His little stub nose nods down every few seconds, then jerks up, only to nod down again.
“Not yet. I have to spend a few days with him and see his personality.”
“He’s very sweet and well behaved. Me, Kelley, and Lily visited him when he was six weeks old. He was so tiny. I took pictures. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, I can send them to you.”
“I can’t believe you guys kept this a secret from me for weeks.”
She swallows and studies me. “Are you happy? The timing with Kelley is awful, but you’re happy about the puppy, right?”
I’ve been devoured by regret since the moment I told Kelley to take the dog back.
“I am,” I reply. “When I saw him with you, it turned my whole day around.”
“I’m glad. We were a little worried it might be too soon after Cherry.”
I stroke my fingers across the puppy’s forehead. He’s so deep in sleep he doesn’t stir. I wonder if he’ll sleep at the foot of the bed with me like Cherry did when she was young. I wait for that thought to immediately awaken guilt, for it to wade from the shadows like a monster to mar my happiness, to whisper in my ear, accusing me of betraying—replacing—Brianna and Cherry.
But I realize I no longer believe those things.
There are no replacements. There is only moving on and taking our memories along for the ride like hitchhikers.