Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 138526 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138526 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Below the surface.
Below the surface.
NO!
I blow my hair out of my face and watch Erika take her turn.
She gets a community card and lifts the top one from the pile, the pile goes askew, and I automatically reach for it and crush it all back in place with the tips of my fingers.
Something stringy and pink hits my glasses. Maria falls down laughing and her dad wields a can of silly string, pointing it directly at my face.
Using the tips of my fingers, I peel the pink stuff from my glasses and glare at him.
He looks far too pleased with himself. “You were warned.”
“Oh you absolute——” I’m about to call him an asshole but then I remember Maria and just narrow my eyes on him. “No fair.”
“What are you doing?” Mrs. Conti hisses at her husband as the rest of them laugh at the hilarity of it.
“Keep playing, guys,” he tells them, ignoring his wife’s question, still looking really proud of himself.
He loves to throw things at me when I succumb to my urges. Like when he calls me into his office and I neaten whatever is on his desk, he’ll flick water at me or slap my hand with a plastic ruler or whatever is in reach that won’t do any genuine harm. If I’m too far from him he’ll throw pens at me or paperclips, again whatever he has that doesn’t do harm.
It’s become a little game of his or ours. He just laughs and ducks when I get frustrated and throw things back at him. Usually heavier things than what he throws at me.
Three rounds later, with me constantly twitching during conversation I absentmindedly move a couple of houses on the board and more silly string hits me in the face.
“Will you stop that?” I growl, rolling up the string into a ball and throwing it at him.
“Don’t be rude to our guest,” Mario defends me, I love him even more now.
Mr. C squirts him in the face too and Mario just gives him a deadpan look as he pulls the pink from his cheek and shoulder.
Maria and her father fall around giggling like little children and I can forgive him for picking on me purely because I get to see how much love they have for each other. I don’t mind being the butt of the joke for the night, not when the reaction is so heartwarming. I love seeing families playing, especially because I never had one.
Izabella places her hand on mine as though hearing my thoughts and squeezes. She doesn’t say anything; we just sit like that for a while until it’s my turn to roll.
“Fair warning,” I say the next time he squirts me. “I will rain hell on you in the office when we go back.”
“Bring. It. On.”
Chapter Sixteen
He is so much fun.
New Year’s Eve is almost over before I know it, and what a night it has been. Laurie has particularly bad tics tonight and threw two drinks by mistake in the last place we frequented. We ended up getting her a plastic bottle with a pull top for her to use instead. It has been a lot better since that genius idea, thank you, me, despite the fact we had to run from three girls whose dresses she ruined.
We are incredibly drunk, have been dancing all night, and Pax has called me constantly. So constantly I have had to block his number. Laurie talked me into it, said his behavior is alarming. She might be right about that, but I still feel I should allow him to explain himself. Just not tonight. Not on a night meant for fun.
I stopped calling him on Christmas Day after a talk with Izabella. She gave me her wisdom on how he’s an ass and I have to agree. Whatever I did, I didn’t deserve him ghosting me like that.
Yet, surprisingly, since this morning he has called me a lot. I wasn’t expecting him to. I genuinely believed we were done and have been getting myself in the right frame of mind to accept that.
I don’t know if he’s back because I stopped calling, or if he’s only now calming down. Whatever the reason, I’m not interested… not right now anyway. I’m mad and hurt which is to be expected.
I genuinely did love him, I still do too. He was a fucking whirlwind, so fun and charming and he made me feel sexy, until recently when he made me feel like I wasn’t enough in the same night he left me because I embarrassed him… by not being enough.
I try not to think about it. It makes me angry and I’m too drunk to be angry.
Laurie and I scream the countdown, although she mostly just screams random words instead of numbers and I am now realizing I only have a handful of people I want to send a HAPPY NEW YEAR to. I make it my resolution to be friendlier this year and expand my group of people.