Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 142728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 714(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
The smell of the pizza’s killing me. “What’d you get?” I ask Emily, nodding to the boxes.
“Well, we were feeling fancy tonight,” she announces. “We went with a white broccoli pizza, a meat lovers, and wings.”
“Sounds good,” I say.
Libby gathers plates, utensils, little dipping cups, and a large bottle of blue cheese dressing. “They never send enough dressing and it’s always warm when it gets here,” she explains with a shudder. “So gross.”
“You’ve thought of everything.”
The three of us sit at the larger table by the window. Libby shares the highlights of her trip with us—including her suspicion that a friend had been served a roach as a pizza topping.
I set my slice down.
“You’ll notice the lack of olives on our pizzas tonight,” Emily says with a wry laugh.
When we’re finished, I help Emily clear the table while she wraps the leftovers and stores everything in the fridge.
Libby pulls three small bowls from one of the cabinets. M&Ms hit the glass with a crisp ting, ting, ting as she pours an equal amount for each of us.
“I feel so special,” I whisper to Emily.
She presses one hand against my shoulder and leans up to kiss my cheek. “You are.”
“I’m really beat,” Libby says, popping an M&M in her mouth.
“Sounds like you had an exhausting weekend,” I say.
“And you have school tomorrow,” Emily reminds her.
“I know. You’d think they’d give us the day off or let us come in late or something.”
“What an injustice,” Emily scoffs.
I chuckle and pop a candy in my mouth. Not my business.
Libby huffs, grabs her bowl, and waves over her shoulder. “Night, Dex.”
“Night, kiddo.”
“Why did the school bring them back late when her classes start so early?” I ask Emily after Libby’s gone.
She shrugs. “Timing, I guess. She’ll be fine. She’s up way later than this most nights.”
I reach over and take her hand. “And what about you. How late are you usually up?”
“Probably not as late as you.” She taps my chest. “Ugh, I’m so glad I didn’t have to be at the school any longer. Her friend’s dad was trying to invite me on a trip to—”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“No, not like that. He framed it as taking the girls back to the city for another weekend. It just felt…odd. But he’s always weird with me.”
“Weird, how?”
“Same thing most middle-aged guys do when they’re sprinting toward a midlife crisis. Check out women half their age and stare inappropriately.”
“Yeah, trust me, I make a living off those kinds of dudes. So what’d you tell him?”
She fists her hand in my shirt and pulls me closer. “I said I’d check with my boyfriend and see if he could take the time off work.”
“Yeah, and did he ask you what your boyfriend does for work?”
Her gaze snaps to mine, like she can’t believe I guessed how the conversation went. Or she doesn’t want to tell me how she answered.
“I was only trying to work into the conversation that I had a boyfriend,” she says.
I’m sure she was. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
She folds her arms over her chest. “How’d you know he asked me that?”
“Like I said, I make a living off those types. He was testing you. To see if you really had a boyfriend or if you were using it as an excuse. I’ve watched and listened to enough creeps to know how they operate.”
“How’d you know he’s a creep?”
“He’s a forty-something dad hitting on his daughter’s friend’s sister?” I shrug. “And also, you basically said so.”
“Well, I took care of it.”
“I’m sure you did. I’ll still go with you to the next school event.” Like hell am I letting some dude make my girl uncomfortable. Not when my presence alone should be enough to scare him off.
She rolls her eyes. “You don’t have to do that. I think he’s seeing one of the other moms, anyway.”
“And yet, he felt comfortable suggesting a weekend away. Together,” I point out.
“With the girls.”
“Yeaaah, okay.”
“I didn’t tell you so you’d be jealous and go all caveman.”
“I’m not talking about showing up to beat on my chest and hump your leg in front of everyone.” I thump my fists against my chest a few times. “Emily. Mine.”
She giggles at my territorial Tarzan impression.
I curl an arm around her shoulders and pull her closer. “I just mean, you don’t have to do everything alone.”
“It’s been that way for a long time.”
I hold her for a few minutes thinking of how to put my thoughts into words, then decide the easiest answer is the simplest. “But it’s not that way anymore.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Emily
A warm, heavy presence surrounds me when I wake the next morning. Dex spent the night again. I blink my eyes open. It must still be early. A contented sigh slips out of my mouth. I shift and stretch my back. Hard steel presses against my butt and I inch backward.