Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
I chuckled. “A splinter is worse than drowning?”
“Depending on who you ask,” she said, steadying herself. She took a step away from me, removing her touch from my chest. I missed her warmth the moment she stole it away from me. She combed her hair behind her ears and smiled even more prominent than before.
I shifted in my boots, almost forgetting how to speak. Why did her looking at me with those big doe eyes make my mind feel as if it was shutting down? “So, uh, what got you out here almost killing yourself, or worse—getting splinters.”
“Oh, that’s easy.” She looked up to the sky. “I was counting the stars. We came from a big city. I never saw stars like this before.”
I glanced at the star-covered sky. The stars always looked more glorious when one was up north. The light pollution in cities made nature not shine as much as it should’ve. She smiled up at the sky as if she’d just met God. I swore, stars were almost sparkling in her irises, too.
“How many did you count so far?” I asked.
“Forty-two,” she told me. She tapped her finger against her bottom lip. “But I fear I lost count.”
“Figures.” I stared at her, and she stared at me. I couldn’t look away for some reason, and it seemed she couldn’t either.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Harry.”
“Short for?”
“Harold.”
“Named after?”
“My father.”
“And he was named after?”
“His father.”
“Ah yes,” she swooned, “We love a good tradition.” She returned to dancing on her tiptoes, and I grumped, worried about her toes on that uneven surface.
“Hey, stop moving for a moment,” I said, bending down as I unlaced my boots.
“Can’t stop moving, too much happiness,” she replied, swaying her hips from side to side.
I snickered to myself. This woman was an oddball in the best of ways.
I stepped out of my boots and then tapped her shoulders. “Here.”
Her brows lowered. “But what about splinters for you?”
“I work in construction. My middle name is splinter.”
She laughed, and I swore it echoed off the moon. I didn’t know laughter could sound so freeing.
She placed a hand against my shoulder and slid her foot into the left boot and right.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Molly.”
“Short for?”
She giggled again. “Molly.”
That giggle brought me to life for the first time ever. Who knew that I hadn’t been alive for the past twenty-some years?
She tilted her head. “Thanks for the boots, Harry.”
“Anytime, Molly.”
“So, Harry…” She held a hand out toward me. “Do you want to dance with me?”
I was almost sure I couldn’t say no, so I took her hand and danced.
I wasn’t even afraid of getting a splinter or two.
She repeatedly said how great of a night it had been, and I couldn’t stop laughing at how free she felt to me. I never knew freedom could be a person.
She was right about one thing—it was a good night.
CHAPTER 6
Theo
Present Day
Willow Kingsley was a fucking fairy.
I hated fucking fairies. Her over-the-top, bubbly spirit made me want to take a sharpened pencil to my eyeball. I hated how fake her personality seemed whenever she came into a room. No one was that happy. There was nothing in life to be that joyful about. I’d watched her interact with Grandma and PaPa over the past day, and it made my stomach turn in irritation. What was even worse was I had to be her chauffeur around town because Grandma asked me to show her the basics. The problem with driving around Little Miss Sunshine? She made friends everywhere we went.
Not only was Willow Kingsley a fairy, she was damn likable at that.
She’d only been in Westin Lake for twenty-four hours, and somehow, she’d found a handful of new friends within the small town. We started the morning at the restaurant, where she managed to mess up a dozen sourdough loaves.
“How hard could it be to make sourdough?” she stated with a large amount of confidence.
Then, when she baked them, they came out looking wonky as hell. She placed her hands on her hips, with a smile on those full lips, and said, “Oh. It could be that hard.”
She laughed as if she didn’t just waste my time and money.
The oddest part was that my whole body heated when she laughed. I didn’t know a person’s laughter could make me feel…warm.
I hated the feeling because it confused me. I hadn’t felt that kind of warmth since…
I shook my head, sending the thoughts flying far, far away. There were many things in my life I didn’t talk about. And even more things that I tried my best not to think about, too.
Per Grandma’s request, I gave Willow a tour of the small downtown area, which didn’t include much outside of a few restaurants, antique stores, and our grocery store, and somehow along the way, the social butterfly Willow exchanged numbers with at least ten people.