Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to have any desire to even date, so for now, I’m in the clear.
Chapter 2
Adalynn
“I thought I knew every one of your smiles,” I tell my closest female friend, Madison, as I point to the happiness on her face. “I’m not sure I’ve seen this one.”
“Chase and I—”
“Let me stop you right there,” I say, holding my hand up to silence her. “I don’t want to hear about it. The last time we chatted in here about what you and Chase were getting up to, it ended up online for the world to read.”
Madison scrunches her nose. Our privacy was invaded a couple of months ago, and a reporter recorded a conversation we had at my bakery about Madison’s relationship with Chase. That article, along with an unhealthy amount of miscommunication, led to a very difficult time for Madison and Chase. They’ve been back together for a little over a month now and are living together with Chase’s twin boys, Cale and Cole, thanks in no small part to the meddling of Madison’s parents and Chase’s father.
“I’m not going to share that kind of stuff here ever again,” Madison whispers, despite the two of us being the only ones currently in the bakery.
“Good,” I say, my lip twitching with humor when her smile doesn’t fade.
“I need you to jump Cash’s bones.”
I stare at her. “We are not talking about that either.”
She rolls her lips between her teeth, but it does nothing to ebb the smile she’s clearly trying to hide.
“I don’t even want to talk about it,” I remind her. “We’re just—”
“Friends,” she interrupts. “Blah, blah, blah. The two of you are so hot for each other, if I wore glasses, they’d fog up every time the two of you were in the same room.”
I pull a cleaning rag from the small bucket of sanitizer water and busy myself, wiping down the already clean back counter.
“You already did that,” Madison says, not one to ever let me off the hook. “But seriously, you need to sleep with him.”
With a deep breath of resignation—knowing short of just walking into the back and waiting until she leaves I’m not going to get out of this conversation—I decide to give in to her rather than waste my time trying to refocus her on something else. Madison has never been the type to get easily distracted once she sets her mind to a certain train of thought.
“And why do I need to jump his bones?” I ask, using her earlier terminology.
“You made me a promise.”
“I can’t recollect a single memory where I promised to jump anyone’s bones for you.”
“We always said that we’d end up with Chase and Cash,” she says, and she doesn’t have to explain further.
We spent countless hours in each other’s childhood rooms, planning our future with the boys we had crushes on, but that was too many years ago to count. By the end of eighth grade, Chase had insulted Madison to the point that she claimed she hated him for over ten years. I was so far encamped in the friend zone with Cash, I knew long ago I’d never have a chance with the man. There are some days I’m strong enough to accept that the relationship we have is the only one we’ll ever have. On occasion, I’m even strong enough to imagine finding someone else who could make me happy.
“Listen,” I tell her, dropping the cloth back into the tub of sanitizer. “I’m very happy that you and Chase worked through all of your issues and have ended up together, but there isn’t the same type of happily ever after between Cash and me. We’re friends, and I’d be foolish to think there could ever be anything more.”
She gives me a sad smile, and I think I hate it more than the hope she’s always had when this subject comes up. I know what comes next. I know exactly the direction she’ll take. She’s not the only one who claims to be able to see the attraction on both our parts. There are many people who claim to be able to cut the chemistry between us with a knife. They’ve said it for years, but they’re blind. I’m right in the middle of it, and I’ve never even felt a minor shift in the way he acts around me. He’s been consistent since middle school. He’s dated other people, and so have I.
He's never pounded on my door and insisted he’s the one for me, and as many times as I’ve wanted to do that to him, I’d never embarrass myself that way. We’re friends and allowing myself to hope for anything different is just a quick way to be even more disappointed. If anyone can claim anything about me, it’s that I avoid pain, confrontation, and despondency like the literal plague.