Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
I nodded.
“We were swimming, and you went under the water. Then you burst out of it, the setting sun behind you, the biggest smile on your face, and I thought to myself…this moment right here, I’m gonna remember it forever. You were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. You still are. I got a million little moments like that inside me, and I remember every one.”
“Christ, Jasp.” I leaned down and kissed him. “I remember every moment too.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Jasper
“You’re lookin’ at that menu as if it hasn’t been the exact same for at least four years,” I said, sitting across from Sutton at Iris’s. We’d been coming here again at least once a week ever since we’d gone to Kendra’s house, well over a month now. It wasn’t like we were holding hands and showing folks we were together, but damn, did it feel good to start going out around Ryland again. I’d been so freaked out that people would take one look at us and know we were a couple that I’d denied us both.
“Sorry if I don’t eat the same thing every time I come. Also, you know exactly how long the menu has been the same?”
“I don’t have the same thing every time,” I countered. “And no, smart-ass. It was sarcasm.”
“Okay, one of three, and you rotate ’em. Your sarcasm could use some work,” Sutton teased.
“Can’t help it if I know what I like.” I winked, and Sutton’s nostrils flared in this way they did when I turned him on real good. “None of that here,” I said softly.
“You started it.”
“That’s cuz you make it easy.” He rubbed his foot against my ankle, which made me smile.
Sutton was the one to look away first when our waitress, Ms. Dana, approached and said, “Molly’s on break, so I figured I’d grab the two of you real quick. How you boys doin’?”
Ms. Dana was in her sixties and had been working at Iris’s my whole life. Her husband had died when they were young, and she’d never remarried, just spent her time working and volunteering with her church.
“We can’t complain,” I said. “How are you, Ms. Dana?”
“Takin’ each day as they come. That’s all anyone can ever do. I meant to ask you guys, I was thinkin’ of gettin’ some stone work done in my backyard. My patio is cracked, and I wanna put in a new one with a path through the yard.”
“We can do that for ya,” Sutton replied, then asked her a few questions.
I sat back and let him do his thing. Sometimes I just liked to watch him with people. That might sound creepy, but he was good with them. Sutton made everyone feel at ease and as if they had all his attention all the time. I didn’t know if he knew what a good quality that was.
When they were finished, she said, “I gotta say, I always smile when I see the two of you in here or out workin’ together around town. You boys have somethin’ real special, and I hope you know that.”
She could’ve been talking about friendship. It fit, but something about how she’d said it told me she wasn’t. I waited for it to bother me, for the nerves to kick in, but they just…didn’t. I was so damn tired of caring. Of spending every day in fear or only showing parts of myself. It was like a whole side of me had to always stay hidden, and because of what? Because people were assholes and bigots? Because my dad who hadn’t spoken to me in months was ashamed and I was trying to win him back by respecting his wishes? Because I thought if I kept trying to talk to him or helping Mama at the house, he would realize how much family meant to me and wouldn’t be hateful anymore? It was exhausting.
“Thank you, ma’am,” I answered. “I’m lucky he puts up with me.”
Sutton’s gaze snapped to mine, likely because this conversation sounded like we were together.
“I’d say you’re both pretty lucky. My Norman, he was my best friend. You never saw one of us without the other. I still miss him.”
“I’m so sorry,” Sutton said.
“Me too. But I’m just blessed I had him. Anyway, you don’t want to chat with me all evenin’. What can I get you boys?”
Sutton got a Philly cheesesteak, and I got a pulled-pork sandwich. When she was out of sight, Sutton said, “That was a surprise.”
“Just don’t know how much longer I’ll have the energy to keep pretendin’, is all. Was that okay with you?”
“It was more than okay.”
I nodded, his foot still rubbing against my ankle. I leaned back in the booth, and we talked about our upcoming workweek and fitting Ms. Dana in so we could go give her an estimate.