Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
“So? Have you two finally set aside your differences and decided that you would make better friends than enemies?” Cam asked after the greetings were done and they all made their way to the kitchen.
Reflecting on the awkward silence between her and Gideon on the short Uber ride over, Beth nearly laughed at that question.
“Wuh-we’re not enemies,” she felt compelled to correct Cam, even though it was a bald-faced lie, as evidenced by the tiny stumble at the start of the sentence. “Merely mutually hostile acquaintances. We don’t feel enough for each other to be enemies.”
Gideon snorted. Beth truly hated when he did that. It was so…dismissive.
“Would you word it any differently, Gideon?” she asked.
“Well, since I’m not as eloquent and erudite as you, Elizabeth, I would undoubtedly word it differently…I’d probably use very basic imitative word sounds, interspersed with grunts and chest thumps.”
Beth clenched her teeth and inhaled sharply through her nostrils.
He often intimated that she was an intellectual snob of some kind. It was annoying and simply untrue. Yes, she liked facts, and maybe her vocabulary wasn’t as relaxed as most other people’s. But that was due to years of extensive speech therapy. Well...speech therapy and the fact that Gideon tended to bring out the prim, defensive miss in her. Beth was painfully aware that she was a little tightly-wound around him.
And why did the sound of her full name on his lips grate even more than the much-hated Lizzy?
“Aah, well, I can see that nothing has changed here,” Cam stated with a grimace. He grabbed Cat—who was arranging her famous spicy peri-peri chicken wings onto a platter—around the waist once they got to the kitchen and nuzzled her neck.
“Hi guys,” Cat greeted happily, while she tilted her jaw to give Cam easy access to her skin.
Ugh, these two. Sometimes their PDA could be a little much. Gideon seemed to agree with her, if his long-suffering sigh was any indication. Beth met his eyes and they shared a brief moment of camaraderie when they both made gagging faces at the exact same time.
The unexpectedness of their in-synch reactions seemed to startle Gideon as much as it did Beth and they both looked away awkwardly. Beth allowed herself a quick peek back at his averted profile, but he was focused on their friends now. The moment between them seemingly forgotten.
He reached for a chicken wing and Cat slapped his hand away playfully.
“Uh uh… that’s dinner. Keep your greedy mitts to yourself until then. What did you bring, anyway?”
Beth had been curious about that herself. He didn’t strike her as particularly domesticated—despite his apparent love for cooking shows—and she’d been wondering what was in the brown paper shopping bag he’d been handling so gingerly since they’d climbed into the Uber.
“Dessert,” he told Cat with a grin and lifted the bag triumphantly.
“Oh God, please tell me you didn’t attempt to make another custard flan,” Cat groaned, extricating herself from Cam’s grasp and reaching for the bag.
Both Cam and Gideon grimaced at her words and Beth wondered how bad the flan had been. It must have been on one of Gideon’s evenings with them.
No Beth allowed.
“Nope, lesson learned. I decided to spare you all from my questionable culinary expertise this evening. And besides, I was hungover as fuck. This is store bought. You’re welcome.”
“That’s cheating,” Beth huffed. She was a little indignant that she’d gone through so much stress and anxiety to make the damned potato salad when Gideon had just gone to the shop for the chocolate mousse cake that Cat and Cam were now oohing and aahing over.
Gideon gave her one of his inscrutable looks. His face neutral, eyes distant. She hated it when he stared at her like that, like he was sizing her up and finding her lacking.
“Trust me, Beth, he spared us all a whole lot of grief,” Cam said with a laugh, putting the cake in the fridge at Cat’s behest. “I hear you made potato salad. I’m low key excited about that. I’ve been looking forward to it all day.”
“Aah, I’ve heard a lot about this perfect potato salad,” Gideon muttered. “As light and fluffy as an angel’s wings or whatever, right?”
She levelled a death glare on him. There wasn’t anything particularly hostile or even offensive in his tone of voice, but she could hear the passive aggressive, sarcastic undertones. She hated that he was here tonight when she’d made possibly the worst potato salad of her entire life.
Of course, he’d be here for that. Cat and Cam would think nothing of her little kitchen snafu today. They would understand, knowing how gutted she was about Spock, but Gideon would love that she’d failed so dismally at something that others thought she excelled in.
“I’m afraid the potato salad is a bit of a disaster today,” Beth said. “I was tired and hungover and…well…you know?”