Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
I forced a deep breath in and sank down onto the kitchen chair closest to me. Placing a hand over my heart, I gave myself a moment to snap out of it. Cam had just left for camp for six weeks. He had worked so hard to help me pay for it. This had been his dream all year, and he was getting it. I should be happy about this. Music camp was all he’d talked about this past year. Last August, his music teacher at school had mentioned that Cam would benefit from it, and Cam had been determined that he’d get there.
“You are more than Cam’s mother, Brielle. You’re a strong, independent woman who has a good job and needs to accept that your son is growing up. You need a life too,” I said aloud to myself. I just wasn’t sure I was listening to me.
Sighing, I stood back up and walked over to the fridge. “You also do not need to eat chocolate ice cream, sit on your butt, and watch Netflix. You need to go for a run. Organize the hall closet. Read one of the books you bought that are piled up, unread, beside your bed,” I told myself while reaching into the freezer for the ice cream.
I wasn’t in the mood to listen to myself tonight. This morning, I had put Cam on a bus, headed for camp two hundred thirty-six miles away from me. I needed this ice cream. And possibly an entire bottle of wine. I had never been away from Cam that long. He had never stayed away from me for more than a night before, and even then, it was just at a friend’s house.
Then, add to it the fact that he had begged me for one thing before he left: to get Dean Finlay’s autograph. Dean Finlay had been his idol from the moment Cam fell in love with the drums. Slacker Demon had once been my favorite band, but life had happened, and I had changed. It would figure my son would idolize Dean Finlay. I’d been prepared to get his autograph for Cam today, but then the arrogant ass had opened his mouth. I’d failed Cam, but he needed a new hero. The one he had sucked.
Slipping off my high heels, I kicked them toward the door and took my ice cream to the living room. There was a new season of Sea Breeze streaming, and I was going to watch it while I ate my feelings. Just before I sank down onto the sofa, my iPhone started ringing. I looked back toward the kitchen. I’d left it on the table. Normally, I would ignore it, but not with Cam gone. There might be an emergency.
The idea that he might need me had me running back to the kitchen to jerk my phone off the faded blue Formica table I’d bought three years ago at a consignment store.
Clara, my best friend’s, name lit up the screen. She knew Cam had left this morning, and this was her check-in call. Unlike me, Clara lived like most twenty-eight-year-old single females that I knew. For example, she got regular manicures, went shopping for clothing, and went on dates.
If I didn’t answer her, she’d be over here in less than twenty minutes, bringing her bubbly personality inside my apartment. I needed to wallow alone, so I decided to answer.
“Hello?” I said, putting the phone to my ear and turning to walk back to the living room.
“Okay, hear me out,” she began, which meant she was about to suggest something I did not want to do. “I can come over and help you get all fixed up, and then we’ll go out to Chandelier tonight. You never go to the clubs with me, and I get it because you want to be home for Cam, even when he is staying the night at a friend’s, but whatever. Tonight, you need to get your sexy ass out of that apartment and go have fun. Meet a guy. Or guys. The sky is the limit!”
I scooped my spoon into the ice cream, waiting to see if she was going to keep talking. After a moment of silence, I knew it was my turn to speak. “It’s been a long day,” I said, and Clara groaned on the other end of the line. “It has been. I’m emotionally spent. Work was …” I paused because telling her about my very negative experience with Dean Finlay would have her freaking out. She was a huge Slacker Demon fan. Her past and mine were not the same. “It sucked, and then of course, Cam is gone. I just need a night to adjust.”
“So, you’re saying, tomorrow night, you’ll go out with me?” She jumped on that quick, and I knew she wasn’t going to let it go.