Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107944 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Fall into me, Aiden.
He hovered over me. His blue eyes narrowed, and his chest puffed out. His full lips parted as he whispered, “I am in town for the next few months, and I want to make something extremely clear, okay?”
I swallowed the lump that sat in my throat. “Okay.”
He moved in closer. His hot breaths brushed against my skin as every hair on my body stood straight. “I want nothing to do with you. I don’t need you checking in on me just because you work here, I don’t need you buying me shoes because you can’t hold your liquor, and I don’t want to reconnect and talk about the good ole days with you, Hailee. You are nothing to me, and I am nothing to you. We are strangers, and I am not interested in knowing anything about you at all. Am I clear?”
My lips parted as I tried to keep my composure. “Crystal,” I replied, standing as tall as I could, which somehow still left me feeling so little.
He released a low grumble of annoyance before turning and walking back into his room, leaving me there to gather the small bit of dignity I had left.
When did that happen? When did the sweetest boy I’d ever known turn into such a cold, cold man? The rest of the world would’ve been shocked to see how harsh Aiden could’ve been to a person, to me. But I guessed that was why he had his Oscar. His acting skills truly showed his range.
“It was that bad?” Mama asked during dinner at my parents’ house. Recently, we’d been rewatching I Love Lucy once a week at my parents’ place while Dad was doing some accounting work down at the bakery.
“I threw up on his shoes, and then today he told me he wanted nothing to do with me. In a very mean way.”
“That’s so hard for me to imagine. Aiden was always the sweetest boy.”
“Well, that sweet boy was stung with asshole serum.”
Mama shook her head. “He’s probably not sure how to handle being around you. The same way you don’t know how to be around him.”
“But I wasn’t a jerk to him!”
“Yes, but you were the one who broke his heart all those years ago.”
“It’s not like I wanted to hurt him. Besides, that’s ancient history,” I repeated like the robot I was becoming when it came to talking about Aiden.
“Just because it happened a long time ago doesn’t mean the healing has come full circle, Hailee.”
I pouted. “Whose side are you on?”
“Yours. Always yours.” She laughed and stole one of my french fries. “All I’m saying is, your break-up had to be hard on Aiden. I’m not saying how he’s acting is right, but I’m saying I can understand how he feels. Especially with how you went about the break-up…”
“Okay, can we not relive that?” I asked. I’d already spent long enough feeling guilty about the way I ended things with Aiden all those years ago. Could I have handled the break-up better? Yes. Did it crush me to my core to crush him? Of course, but I was young, stupid, and thought I was doing the best thing for us both. I’d already felt crappy enough for the past twenty-four hours. I didn’t need to feel even worse about my past mistakes.
“Sorry. What is it you want me to say?” Mama asked.
“Men are stupid, and your daughter is the best.”
“Men are stupid, and my daughter is the best,” she echoed.
Loyalty was Mama’s middle name.
Before we could continue, my cell phone rang. Mr. Lee’s name flashed on the screen, and I was quick to answer. “Hey, Mr. Lee. What’s up?”
“Hailee. Hey, how are you? I’d hate to do this to you, especially last minute, but the bar and grill is packed tonight, and Sarah went home sick. Do you think you can come in and cover for her?”
“The bar and grill is never packed on Sundays.”
“It is when an Oscar winner is staying at our inn. I told you Aiden would be great for business!”
At least one of us was thriving from Aiden’s arrival.
“I see. Yeah, sure. I’ll be over in about fifteen minutes.” I hung up the phone and told Mama what was going on.
She grimaced. “I have a feeling it’s going to be very hard for you to keep your distance from that boy with him staying at your inn.”
Who was she telling? I was in a constant state of sweatiness from the situation due to my shot nerves.
When I arrived at the bar and grill, I hopped behind the bar to get to work. I wasn’t the best at making cocktails, and whenever I had to cover for a person back there, my anxiety rose to new heights. I’d never seen the bar and grill that crowded. Leading the crowd was the man of the hour and the man who gave me the dirtiest of looks.