Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 135604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
But it had been nine days. Nine. Days.
Nine days called for fancy.
I had parked behind Jamie’s Jeep, so I knew he was here, and being this close to him, this close to possibly fixing things and making things right, was causing my stomach to flip-flop and my heart to batter and the pulse point in my throat to pound.
I was fine back at the house getting ready and on the drive over here, but now, all of a sudden, standing on this porch, I was terrified. What if I couldn’t fix this? What if it was too late? It had been nine days. Nine days of me not going to him. What if Jamie didn’t want to hear me out now? Brian said he was miserable, but what if he was angry, too?
The door swung open just as panic soaked into my bones and settled.
Syd filled the doorway. She tilted her head with a soft smile and reached out her hand.
“Hey, sweetie. Come on in. You’re just in time,” She pulled me inside the house and reached around me to close the door. I looked around.
We were the only ones in the living room. Voices were coming from the kitchen. I assumed dinner had either started already or was just about to start.
Stepping closer, her fingers wrapped around my elbow. “He’s going to be so happy to see you,” Syd leaned in to say.
I felt my stomach clench as a lump formed in my throat. “I don’t know,” I whispered my worry, looking into my best girl’s eyes as I felt that panic sink deeper and deeper until it folded in around my heart and saturated it. “What if he doesn’t want to talk to me? What if it’s too late?”
She gave my elbow a squeeze. Her eyes were gentle.
“It won’t be. He loves you,” she stated. “He’s loved you forever.”
Instantly, in that second, I broke down. My head fell forward and I began quietly sobbing, mindful of the pie in my hands.
It had been nearly a year, not forever, and I knew Jamie hadn’t loved me for the whole thing, but hearing forever got me thinking about how long I’d fought him. How much time I’d wasted and how much of it I’d ruined and those nine stupid days.
Our love felt like a forever’s worth. A lifetime.
And I couldn’t stop overreacting and messing things up.
“Shh, Tori, it’s okay,” Syd tried to sooth me, moving her hand to my back and rubbing there. “That pie looks really good. Is it strawberry rhubarb?”
I nodded as my shoulders quaked, keeping my head down and my eyes shut. “I think Jamie really likes it,” I whimpered. “He ate a lot of it before.”
“Yeah? I think he does, too,” she replied, a smile in her voice. “Right, Jamie? You like strawberry rhubarb, don’t you?”
A sob caught in my throat. I trapped it there along with my breath, then I peeked my eyes open and slowly lifted my head to see everyone standing in the living room now, everyone except Shay, who had to work tonight. Our typical Sunday night crowd was here. They’d heard me and walked in from the kitchen.
Brian and Jenna and her adorable twins, Oliver and Olivia. Kali and Cole, who was holding her son, Cameron, and looking really comfortable doing that, which I wanted to ask about but couldn’t think on at the moment. And Jamie. He was standing in front of me with his too-long hair and bright blue eyes and more shadow on his face than usual. He hadn’t shaved in days. Maybe nine. I wasn’t sure. And he was wearing dark layered Henley thermals and faded jeans, just like the first day I saw him.
They were all looking at me with concern and curiosity, all except Jamie, who held questions in his eyes and that anger I feared, it was there. I could see it. And I was standing in front of him sobbing with a pie in my hand and half of my makeup running down my face.
“Right. Let’s eat before the lasagna gets cold,” Brian suggested, his deep voice giving off a tone that said this wasn’t a suggestion. It needed to happen.
“Momma, why is Ms. Tori crying?” Olivia asked her mother.
“Liv, now. Let’s go,” Brian insisted.
“She almost dropped her pie. Wouldn’t that have been terrible?” Syd threw out as an answer, walking toward the group and leaving me where I stood.
Olivia’s eyes bugged out. She nodded quickly while everyone else wore faces saying they knew that wasn’t the reason. Everyone except Oliver, who had his eyes on the game in his hands, and Cameron, who was too little to pick up on that kind of stuff.
“Come on. Uncle Brian is right. Let’s get started.” Syd held her arms out as if she was trying to herd the group. “Nobody likes reheated lasagna.”