Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 90448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
I cleared my throat. “Why aren’t you intimate?”
She paused for a few seconds and looked away. “Some things happened to me when I was young. Not to darken our great day, but I’ll just say that Chase saved me when we were young. I don’t feel safe around any man but him.”
“He saved you?”
“He stopped some bad things from continuing.” A weak smile appeared on her face. “I don’t have sex. I can’t stand to be touched in an intimate way. When it’s Chase’s and my date night, we just do fun stuff.”
My interest in the situation was so piqued I barely realized we had moved up in line. “So, give me an example of what you do.”
“He’s a part of my chick-lit reading group. He comes to the meetings and discusses the required reading for the month.”
“Hilarious.” I covered my mouth with my hand. “Please snap a picture next time you do a meeting.”
“It’s rather adorable to watch him with his legs crossed on the carpet, eating little pink cookies and sipping raspberry tea as he breaks down the heroine’s motivations in a story.” She leaned my way and whispered, “But between you and me, I think he pays someone to read the books and type up answers to the discussion questions. Every time our group leader asks him a question he always just looks down at his sheet of answers and reads it out word for word.”
“Oh my god.” I grinned.
“But it’s the thought that counts, right?”
“Definitely.”
We made it to the head of the line. Lucy spoke in a foreign language to the woman. I was pretty impressed. The woman stopped stirring the fry oil, cupped two of the orange balls with a copper spoon, and dropped them in a paper bag. A sweet aroma drifted from the treats. It took all of my restraint not to wrench it away from Lucy’s hands. After Lucy paid her, we walked off.
“She said to wait a minute because they’re hot,” Lucy said.
“Did she say what they were?”
“Doughnuts.”
I sucked my teeth. “Cool, but I wanted to try something different.” I scanned the market, clasped her wrist, and dragged her to a new stand. “We need to find something freaky looking. Something with crazy eyes or a wild color.”
“Why?”
“Why not?” I scanned the area.
Lucy chuckled. “No wonder Chase is crazy about you. It’ll be a breath of fresh air having you at Willow Park. It gets real boring sometimes.”
“That’s shocking, but I must let you know something. Even if I do try this, I won’t be living with you.”
“Dawn won’t allow that.”
Then Dawn won’t like me. I’m not living in Chase’s harem dormitories.
I could never invite Vivian, Benny, or Troy to my place.
It would be so embarrassing.
“At least think about it,” Lucy offered.
“Sure,” I said. “On another topic, tell me about Dawn and Wendy.”
“Dawn is a stickler for rules. She goes insane about the scheduled times for our dates and she just created a sort of fine system for when we break any of the rules.”
“Fines?”
“Yeah. She takes money from the bank accounts Chase has for us and gives us a budget on our living expenses. Dawn’s an accountant for Benson & Smith. Her dad’s firm.” Lucy pulled out a doughnut and gave it to me. “She gets delirious with numbers, always counting the hours we’ve been on dates. Calculating how much we spend on the dates or when we’re by ourselves. Every detail is scrutinized. She logs everything.”
The warm, fried dough warmed my fingers. I tossed it in my mouth. Sweet, honeyed bread captured my taste buds and heated my tongue. Its sugary perfume lingered in the air well after it slid down my throat.
“Perfect.” I licked my fingers. “The outside has a nice crisp, but the inside is warm and mushy. Very good blend of textures and packed with flavor. It goes on my top ten list for doughnuts.”
She smiled at me. “Are you a foodie?”
“Yeah.” I rubbed my hands together and searched the rest of the market with my eyes. “So Dawn is a sadistic rule maker. What else?”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. Dawn is sweet, but only if you follow the rules.”
“And Wendy?”
“Not much trouble when she’s sober, but toxic when she’s drunk.” Lucy popped her doughnut in her mouth. “I’ve gone to Chase and Dawn and told them I think she’s an alcoholic. We’ll probably do an intervention with her if things continue.”
“You’re being real truthful.”
“Dawn wanted you to be prepared and I really want you to join. Dawn and Wendy pretty much always hang out together,” Lucy said. “Sometimes they invite me to do things with them, but I always feel like a third wheel. They’re more like lovers than friends.”
“Aww.” I nodded my head.
This whole situation is mind-blowing!
“Well, we can hang together if I do this arrangement and if I don’t then we’re kicking it.” I spotted some dead animals hanging from a wire where a guy was throwing things onto a grill. “So is there any other stuff I should know?”