Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
“You down for shuttin’ the fuck up the rest of the day?”
“Normally I’d say no, but since you’re so chatty, I’ll give you the floor.” He slapped my back, grinning big before turning away and stepping up to the rack of dishes.
Chatty? I wasn’t fucking chatty.
I got back to work on the crab cakes, and the next time Shayla planted her ass on that counter again, I listened. I did not fucking chat.
That much.
Chapter Seven
SHAYLA
I had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Twice I’d checked to see if there was going to be a full moon tonight. There wasn’t. I’d also Googled weird weather occurrences that caused extreme atmospheric shifts, like The Day After Tomorrow kind of stuff, convinced something of biblical proportions was about to go down, and that was the explanation for Sean’s sudden change of heart.
No dice on that either.
I had zero explanation for why Sean was offering to help me out. I just knew he was, and I was grateful.
I also had zero explanation for why I was falling back into old habits I’d quit cold turkey when Sean made it clear how not interested he was in me.
Sitting up on that counter wasn’t something I did anymore. Neither was speaking to him, and I was doing both. Really well. Like we hadn’t had months of distance, and this was just what we did during our day-to-day.
We didn’t. We didn’t even have a day-to-day. There was nothing routine about us. Not anymore.
But seeing as Sean was offering to help me out, had actually engaged me in conversation when he walked up to my car, and had said more words to me in one day than he’d ever spoken total in all of our past interactions, I thought, what the hell? The least I can do to show my appreciation is be friendly with the man.
I’d just ignore how good it felt showing that appreciation. Or I’d at least acknowledge how I should be ignoring it.
Maybe it was easier letting go and letting things happen. I wasn’t fighting Sean on his offer and forcing distance again. I was accepting it. Just like I was accepting the routine of us. Hopping up on that counter and speaking to Sean felt…natural. It was easy and comfortable when, at the moment, nothing else in my life was.
But if I kept wondering, if I kept trying to pick this apart, all of that could change.
Sean probably wasn’t struggling for understanding with all of this. So why should I? If he wanted to help me out, awesome. If I wanted to sit up on that counter and talk his ear off, great.
I wasn’t going to pick this apart anymore.
I was going with the flow.
“Woo! Go, Eli!” I cheered from the top of the bleachers, getting looks from both my brother and the parents surrounding me.
From Eli because he hadn’t done anything to warrant a cheer, unless you counted looking cute covering third base as cheer worthy, which I absolutely counted.
The looks from the other parents had to do with the same thing, I was sure, but I also had a feeling it was because I’d been cheering a lot during this practice, not needing an actual reason to, obviously, and I was standing out doing it, considering none of them had been rooting on their kids at all.
I was surrounded by crickets. It was weird.
Crickets who paid more attention to their phones.
Aside from taking a few pics of Eli and sending them to my mom, plus one short video of him up at bat, I hadn’t looked at my phone at all until it started ringing halfway through the practice.
Typically, I would’ve excused myself and stepped away so I wouldn’t disturb anyone, but since no one seemed engrossed in anything important, I stayed where I was after digging the device out of my pocket.
Sean’s name flashed across the screen.
I noted the time before accepting the call. It was nearly four-thirty. He should’ve been at the school by now.
“Hey,” I answered. “Any problems?”
“Yeah. Do me a solid and confirm I’m not lookin’ to kidnap anyone and make a fuckin’ dress out of their skin.”
“What?”
“Here,” Sean grumbled, then not a breath later…
“Did you send some stranger to pick me up?” Dominic’s voice was hurried and high-pitched. “Some guy I’ve never even seen before? You actually want me to leave with him?”
“Dominic, calm down,” I said. “He’s not a stranger. I work with Sean.”
“He’s a hair stylist?”
“Do I look like a fuckin’ hair stylist?” Sean griped, sounding close by.
“You look like you want to make a dress out of my skin.”
“Okay. Nobody is making a dress out of anyone’s skin.” Two parents whirled around to look back at me. My eyes narrowed. “Do you mind? Watch your kids,” I snapped, gesturing for them to turn around.