Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
“He’s using you to get to that wedding. I’m sure of it,” she insisted, as she sidestepped a trunk and followed me deeper into the large storage unit. “You agreed there was something about it that didn’t add up.”
“But it could be perfectly innocent.” I slid some boxes aside and uncovered a large armoire. “Maybe he read about it in a magazine and decided he wanted to experience an extravagant, high society wedding.”
“Why don’t you ask him point-blank about his interest in the wedding?”
“Because that would make me sound paranoid. And like I said, I don’t really care if he has an ulterior motive. I don’t even care if he’s using me to get there. He’s fun, inspiring, and good company, and I’m glad I asked him to go with me. In fact, an argument could be made that I’m using him, too. Isn’t that what a muse is, when you stop and think about it? Someone you use to fuel your creativity?”
My back was to her, but I could hear Ginny’s eye roll in her tone. “Whatever.”
I got the armoire open and unzipped a few garment bags until I found what I was looking for. Then I gathered up three bags and started to work my way to the front of the unit as I said, “You’re right that I should have done this sooner. I hope the hotel staff has time to send these out to get them cleaned before my flight tomorrow. They’re kind of musty.”
“You should have the staff at the lodge do it, since you’ll need them pressed anyway when you get there. Also, you’re changing the subject.”
“Yes, I am.”
Once I loaded the bags in the trunk of my rental car, beside a box of shoes and another with ties and accessories, I turned to Ginny and said, “Come on, I’ll buy you lunch.”
“Damn right you will.” She shifted her designer handbag and checked her updo with a pat of her hand. “After this boring-ass field trip, you’d better take me someplace good, too.”
I called ahead and got us a table at the window at the Top of the Mark. The restaurant was bright and airy, with great food and panoramic views of the city. But I’d selected it for a more sentimental reason.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about. Cheers, Mal.” Ginny raised her glass of sparkling water in a toast. I’d told her for years that I really didn’t care if she drank a glass of wine in front of me, but she insisted on refraining when we were together, as a show of support for my sobriety.
After I clinked my glass to hers and took a sip of iced tea, I asked, “Do you remember the first time we came here?”
“Like I could forget. It was our junior prom—two little baby gays, deep in the closet, pretending to be each other’s dates.”
“You wore that hideous satin dress, with a huge bow across the chest.” I included a hand gesture to show the way it had wrapped around her cleavage.
“And you had a mullet and were trying to grow the saddest little mustache! Don’t make it sound like I was the train wreck.”
“Let’s face it, we both were. That was a fun night, though.”
“Yeah, it was, because I made out with Susan Meyer in the ladies’ room.” She took a sip of water and gestured with her glass. “Of course, good ol’ Sue tried to act like it never happened after that, but whatever. We both knew the truth.”
“It was fun for other reasons, too. I remember driving around in the limo later that night, belting out the lyrics to ‘I Wanna Sex You Up,’ and laughing our asses off.”
She chuckled at that and told me, “I still have my Color Me Badd T-shirt somewhere.”
“Dork.”
“You had the same shirt.”
“I know.”
As I started to spread butter on a roll, Ginny asked, “So, what’s the plan with the boy toy?” She held up her hand and added, “Sorry, I only meant to think that boy toy bit, not say it out loud.”
“Plan?”
“Yeah, you know. Tomorrow, you’re heading off to bone in the woods for a week. Then there’s the wedding, where we may or may not discover he’s a nut job after all. If it turns out he isn’t, what happens next? I’m curious, because you don’t usually spend all day, every day with men you’ve just met. And I know you said it’s because you’ve both been treating this past week like a writers’ retreat, but there’s obviously more to it than that.”
“Is that a round-about way of asking me if I like him?”
“I know you like him,” Ginny said. “I’m curious what’s going to happen after you two return to San Francisco.”
“I have no idea. We’re still getting to know each other, and while these last few days have been incredible, we’ve basically been living in a bubble. I think taking this trip together will end up revealing a lot about our compatibility, and our chances of starting to build something.”