Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 135522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Somehow, I already know.
Where everyone’s mind seems to be today.
Where my own mind’s been wandering.
Something offhanded Cole said last night about “forever”.
How we’ve been looking at houses lately for fun, except Cole always has this strangely confident gleam in his eyes, like he’s up to something, or knows something.
The strange way he acted this morning. Making me breakfast. Kissing me too much. His overt sweetness.
Then being late coming here today on account of his so-called work at the gym on a day when the gym isn’t even open.
And how he recently compared the size of my fingers to his own, on the guise that he was just being flirty and cute.
As if he was checking for …
“Is Cole about to …” I can barely say the words. I take a step back, my heel hits something, and I drop right onto the bench that TJ was guiding me to. “Is Cole about to … t-to propose …?”
TJ drops his arms, devastated, like I just sucked the air out of his lungs and the soul from his very bones.
It’s all the confirmation I need.
How did I not see this coming?
TJ sits next to me at once. “Okay, so I ruined everything and I feel terrible, and Cole will kill me, but … but isn’t this great? Isn’t this great news? Aren’t you excited? The man of your dreams, he’s going to pop the big question.”
I find myself immediately thinking about my own parents and how they look like they never once left the so-called honeymoon phase in decades since my dad tasted a burnt cookie.
That could be me and Cole.
Then I think about Cole’s parents and the hell they have been trapped in for years, only recently rediscovering their happiness, and even then it’s not a guarantee whether they will stay together and work everything out.
Is that going to be me and Cole someday?
Are we going to be more like my parents, or his?
TJ suddenly hugs me. “I’m so sorry. You were just mentioning Jimmy and Bobby. Now I’m the new Nadine, spoiling the surprise. I was just stupidly rambling about marriages, Billy and Tanner …”
The truth is, I won’t know what Cole and I will be like. I can’t possibly know. The future is a mystery to us all. We can only try to predict it based on our history.
And my history so far with Cole has been only a series of joys.
And a few moments of gut-aching laughter.
And probably way too much heart racing. It’s a wonder mine hasn’t managed to escape the confines of my chest by now, with as many times as he’s made mine gallop with glee.
And no matter what happens, Cole knows what to do.
He knows how to make me smile when I’m feeling down.
Or laugh when I’m on the verge of tears.
He has this strangely accurate sense of when it’s okay to be silly and playful, tackling me to the bed with a tickle attack, and when I need him to be focused and sincere, holding me tightly and asking about my day.
Cole is, in every sense of the word, my Mr. Perfection.
“Uh, what’s going on?” asks TJ, alarmed again.
I look at him. “What?”
“Now you’re smiling.”
“I am?” I bring a hand to my own face, as if to check. “Oh. Yes. I am smiling. I think I just realized …” I sigh with relief. “I think I just realized I preferred knowing ahead of time. I do so badly with surprises and spontaneity. It makes me nauseated when I feel out of the loop, like everyone laughing at an inside joke I don’t get.”
“Really?” TJ lowers his voice. “You’re not just saying that? It’s okay that I just spoiled the big moment? I seriously feel terrible.”
“You didn’t spoil it. In fact, I think you helped me appreciate it even more. And it hasn’t even happened yet.” I rise at once from the bench, TJ’s wide eyes following me. “So where am I supposed to go now? When do you bring me out to see him? Am I still being held as a prisoner back here behind the house?”
TJ’s phone dings right then, as if in answer. He looks. “Uh, that’s the cue.” He frowns at me. “This feels … weird now. Are you going to be able to act surprised? You need to act surprised, Noah.”
“Y’know what? I’ve never been a good actor,” I admit merrily. “Tried auditioning once. Was a total disaster.”
“Noah, I was, like, the only one involved in this plan to keep you back here and away. If Cole finds out that you know …”
“Then you’ll be the only one to blame, I understand.”
TJ frowns. “That doesn’t seem to concern you much.”
“Everything is picture perfect,” I decide then. I feel downright giddy as I imagine Cole’s emotional face and what he might say. “It is the best day of my life. Nothing can go wrong, even if it does.”