Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
As Dr. Varma made his plans for the summer, he encouraged me to take time off when I needed it. My time off was in my hands. He didn’t want me to burn out.
Maybe there was something in the coffee that was placed in my hands every morning because I felt more invigorated than ever. The doctor laughed at me and called me young.
In time, I’d need more time off.
But plan for it?
I shrugged it off.
After another week, I started meeting Gavin downstairs to go to the coffee shop with him. The place was magic. My regular black coffee was phenomenal, but I tried all the varieties that he recommended. An iced Americano was probably my favorite, but unsurprisingly, I was really into lavender lattes.
We were walking back to the apartment so that he could catch his car for work when he touched my arm and pulled me in the wrong direction.
“Uh, where are we going?” I asked.
“I told my car service to come back tomorrow.”
I blinked at him in surprise. “You did what? How are you getting to work? Oh my god, are you playing hooky?”
He laughed. “When I take off at my own company, it’s not playing hooky, Whit. I’m the boss. I can take off when I want. So can you.”
“Right. Still not used to that. So, what are you doing?”
“I was going to take the subway. With you.”
“What?” I asked in disbelief. “You hate the subway.”
“I don’t hate it,” he said with a laugh. “I’m a New Yorker after all. It’s a way of life. I just prefer the morning to myself in the car.”
“Then, why are you taking the subway with me?”
“I thought I might spend the morning with you instead.”
I eyed him skeptically. “Why?”
“Because we’re friends. That’s what friends do.”
I didn’t believe him, but I scanned my MetroCard and saw that he had one already as well. We passed into the busy underground, taking seats on a train heading north. My office was in a fancy, stuffy part of the Upper East Side. He worked somewhere nearby. Maybe a subway stop or two away from me.
Still, he got out at my stop and laughed when I gave him another curious look.
“I can walk a few blocks, Whit. I promise, my shoes are comfortable, and it’s a beautiful day.”
It was. May was when New York finally left the dreary, wet spring behind, and the world began to bloom with clear skies and bright colors everywhere. It was hard to believe a city of steel would blossom along with the park at its heart, but it did. The world came alive.
I decided not to argue with him. Just headed inside to my building, to the mountain of work on my schedule, and left Gavin King at the door. He’d told me that he had drinks with Court and Sam after work every afternoon, which was why I never saw him around the building when I got home.
Still, he took the subway with me every morning. I was surprised he hadn’t tried to convince me to take the car service instead. He must have still taken it home every afternoon because we never saw each other, except for coffee in the mornings and when we had stuff with our friends.
But the spring was busy for everyone with Lark working on the campaign, Court and English preparing for the wedding, Camden brokering a new international deal for Percy Tower, and Katherine spending more and more time with her children. Summer was usually when things slowed down and we could all get together more. Weekends in the Hamptons and evenings on the rooftops. I was looking forward to it all again.
A knock came on my door.
I checked my phone and saw that it was midnight. I should have been asleep already, but I’d started a new true crime novel. I hadn’t been able to put it down. I wanted to know who had done it before I started the Netflix series based on the book. I had my suspicions, but it was keeping me on the edge of my seat.
Still, none of that explained why someone was knocking on my door.
I peered out the peephole and found Gavin King with his hands in the pockets of his suit pants and his tie undone and loose around his neck.
“What the hell?”
Despite us meeting every morning during the workweek, Gavin had never shown up at my place in the evening. I certainly hadn’t been expecting him.
I yanked the door open. “Hey. What’s up?”
He leaned forward against the doorframe. “Hey, Whit.”
“Everything all right?”
“Can I come in? I need to talk to you.”
Adrenaline coursed through my body. I nodded, pulling the door open wide. “Sure. What’s going on?”
He stumbled forward, catching himself on the kitchen island. He laughed hoarsely and then shot me a winning smile. My heart skipped at that look. Then, he headed into the living room, collapsing onto the couch and lying there.