Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25316 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25316 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 127(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
“Well, well... isn’t that the most hot, steamy, juicy, and spicy entrée I could ever hope to see.” I rub my chin with a smile, meeting her eye to eye. “And the pizza looks really good too.”
“Do you want some?” she offers. “I picked up some premade crusts from the local grocer, and they’re really good. I had thought maybe I’d just put it away for tomorrow's lunch, but I do like sharing. Especially with you, Jack.”
I chuckle, and pull off a slice, sitting down next to her.
Being so close to her makes everything feel so light, after the unbelievable weight I’d been dealing with all day. Such a sweetheart, every little thing I learn about her makes me like her even more.
“Jalapenos on pizza is an odd choice,” I say, taking a bite. No surprise, it’s absolutely delicious.
“I guess you’re not much of a spice person? It should be okay if you pick them off.”
“No, no. I wouldn’t change a thing. I just look at a girl like you and don’t think about someone who goes for the hot options.”
She giggles. “I got started young. The pizza place my parents used to order from came with some extra peppers on the side, and I ate it because no one else did. Mom always went on about how wasting food is bad, so I thought this was the same. Turns out I liked it, and I’ve been pushing my boundaries ever since. I’m always in search of my next bit of burn.”
“Hit me with whatever experimentation you do when you’re here. I don’t think I’m to the point of downing Carolina reapers for fun, but I do enjoy the test.”
We chat during the meal, enjoying one another’s company, and devouring the entire pizza. Given she said she planned to make her lunch for tomorrow, I started thinking about how I could go and make it up to her.
“I’m stuffed,” she says, leaning into me. “Think I ate more than I intended to.”
“Just couldn’t resist, huh?”
“I think I just didn’t want to have to leave, so I kept eating to hang around a bit longer.”
“You can just hang out, you know. I’m not going to force you out of a room just because I’m done. For as long as you’re here, Lily, my home is your home.”
More of that joyous laughter. “I didn’t think you’d mind. There’s just the whole promise we made. That we shouldn’t do such things. So I didn’t want to be too familiar.”
Looking at her, seeing that she’s so damn beautiful. Knowing that we were already doomed. That Sarah would find out. That we couldn’t run from it forever, and the absolute pain that might come from me refusing what’s plain as day in front of me.
I can’t help myself. I lean in. And I break my promise.
I kiss her.
God, it’s everything I could ever want. The passion that has eluded me, the love. It’s wrong, but it’s so right; it’s how the world should be.
“Am I interrupting something?”
I break my kiss. I look at the entrance to our kitchen. Standing there, holding a brown paper bag, is my fiancée.
She’s not angry, as I thought she might be. She’s not saddened by the sight.
She’s just so very confused.
My heart sinks. Lily looks down at her feet, so ashamed to have gotten me caught in my lie so quickly.
I stand up. “Sarah...”
“I should have known by the way you were looking at her.”
“I’m sorry, Sarah. My heart pushes me one way even as my brain pushes me another.”
“Jack, I don’t know anymore. Is this how it’s going to be with our marriage?”
I stare at her, slightly in disbelief. “What, you’re not just calling it off right here and now?”
She paces back and forth, setting her bag down. “I don’t know. What even are we?”
“Engaged, last time I check.”
“Yeah, but, like, that’s just some legal mumbo jumbo. We aren’t in love, Jack. We’re just... business partners. Using marriage as a tool to solidify a business agreement. Just something to help one another out.”
Part of me wanted to speak up and say, then she shouldn’t care. I didn’t betray her love. But I knew it wasn’t that simple.
It was for business. The marriage was all a sham. But it was still a marriage. And up until Lily entered my life, I was trying to convince myself that we could work it into something that resembled love, building off the shared values we did have.
That fantasy had gotten even more impossible when she spotted me cheating on her.
“Well, I’m not making excuses,” I say. “I’m not going to pretend you didn’t see what you saw. I’m not going to pretend like, I don’t know, I was giving her CPR with my tongue.”
Lily is silent through all of this. She feels as guilty as I do, and doesn’t just want to run away from the scene. She has her head in her hands, rubbing her temples, trying to think of the impossible thing to say that would make everything all right.