Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“Where is the wife?” I ask, knowing Eva is probably too nervous to ask him.
“The wife,” he says, smiling, “is at work.”
Eva looks at me with big eyes that sparkle. “Oh, let’s go there.” She looks at Stefano. “We should definitely go there.” We stop when he gets to his car.
“What?” he asks, confused by this as he looks at me and at Eva. “She’s working.” He takes his keys out and pops the trunk for me to put the luggage in. I walk over and place the bags in the trunk before taking off my backpack, adding it to the mix.
“Oh, great,” Eva says and she wrings her hands nervously in front of her. “I would love to see where she works.”
I put my hands in my pockets. “Maybe we should do lunch first.” I look over at Eva. “Then perhaps break the news to him.” It’s with that sentence you can see the patience Stefano had is gone. “Or we can just rip it off like a Band-Aid.”
“Okay, you two,” he starts, his eyes moving between me and Eva. “What the fuck is going on right now?”
“Well.” Eva takes a step toward him. “You see, we came here really because we need to speak to Addison.”
His eyebrows pinch together. “Why?”
Oh, boy, I think in my head. My hands get a touch clammy and I look down nervously, not knowing what to say. I turn my head to look at Eva, who is also wondering what to say at this point. “Well,” she struggles, shrugging her shoulders and smiling big. “There is something we need her to do for us.”
“For us?” Stefano repeats, his eyes shooting to me. “There is an us?”
“Not really,” I admit because it’s the truth, more or less. “But.” I look up. “How do I say this?”
“Like a Band-Aid,” Eva reminds me and I look over at her. “We need to talk to her because…” Her voice trails off and she takes a deep inhale and exhales just as fast. “We need her to plan our wedding.”
Chapter Nine
Eva
“I’m sorry?” Stefano questions as soon as the words “we need her to plan our wedding” come out of my mouth. He laughs and claps. “Jesus.” He chuckles. “I thought you said you needed her to plan your wedding.” He points at Levi, then at me, the laughter on his face fading away as he takes in my face and looks over at Levi, seeing him avoiding his eyes.
“Um.” I start to hum as I move my head back and forth. “It’s a kind-of, sort-of kind of thing.” At this point I’m just putting words that don’t make sense together. I’m trying my best to calm down the situation because I can feel the temperature rising and it’s not from the sun.
“I’m sorry.” Stefano glares first at me, then at Levi, who just stares at him. “What?” he hisses out.
“How about…” I step closer to Stefano and almost in front of Levi. “…we go and see Addison.” I move in front of him to stop him from glaring at Levi and focus on me. I also realize that I’ve stepped in front of Levi to make sure he doesn’t hit him. “Then we can fill you guys both in.”
“Fill us in.” His voice comes out louder than I think he even knows, and with the emptiness of the parking garage, his voice booms and echoes.
“Are you crazy?” He looks at both of us. Levi and I just side-eye each other. “You can’t marry him.” He points at Levi. “He’s—” he says, then he looks back at Levi. This time, Levi’s eyebrows shoot up, waiting to hear what his friend has to say. “He’s—”
“He’s,” Levi says, holding up his hand. “He’s right here.” They share a stare down before Levi puts his hands on his hips. “Also a little bit offended, what’s wrong with me?”
“What’s wrong with you?” Stefano repeats the question, throwing up his hand in the air. “What is wrong with you?” The question is now more shouting than anything else. Levi takes a step forward and I can tell he’s getting pissed, something that isn’t going to help anyone if he does.
I put my hands up toward Stefano to stop him from talking and turn back to Levi to stop him from advancing closer. “Okay, you two.” I try to calm the situation down. “So much for ripping it off like a Band-Aid,” I mumble to myself more than anyone else. “We really don’t have that much time.” Stefano just looks at me. “We have two maybe three days, max.” I look up as I try to remember what freaking day it is. “Maybe four.” Stefano just stares at Levi. “So can we get this show on the road?” I ask and turn to Levi, tapping his chest with my hand. “Shall we?” I slide my hand in his, pulling him to the side of the car. “I’ll sit up front,” I tell him as he reaches for the handle of the door. “Just to make sure.” I try to make a joke. “Stefano,” I call to him as Levi gets in the back seat, “we need to get the show on the road, which means you need to get in the car and move us along.”