Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
“You were amazing with those second graders,” I told him.
“I like kids.” He turned out of the school lot. “So what now, Sugar? Am I taking you home? Or do you want to hang out?”
“I want to hang out, but I should get some work done at the house. I have to work the rest of the week.”
“What kind of work at the house?”
“I need more storage for my pots and pans. I only have the one little piece of wall free right next to the door, so I thought maybe I could mount some pegboard and use hooks.”
“Pegboard?” Dash frowned. “What about something nicer? Like wood planks or something. You know what? Let’s ask Austin. We’re right by his house, and I bet he can tell us where to get some cool reclaimed wood. He might even have some scrap that will work.”
“Dash, you don’t have to spend all your time at home working on my house.”
“I don’t mind. I like a project.” He made a U-turn and headed for Austin’s house, which was just up the block. “And it’s distracting me from the fact that I haven’t heard back from my agent yet.”
“Still no word?”
“Nope. She texted me yesterday to remind me she’ll be out of town next week, but her assistant will be around if anything comes up.”
“But the part you want hasn’t been cast yet, has it?”
“Not that I’ve heard,” he said, pulling into Austin’s driveway. “So keep your fingers crossed.”
Austin thought old fence pickets might be cool on my wall, and he did have some lying around. “They need to be sanded and stained, but that’s not too big a job.”
“Does Dad have a sander in the basement?” Dash asked.
“I think he does, but you can also do the sanding and staining here if you want.” He gestured to the garage behind him, which functioned as his workshop. “Do you have measurements? You’ll need to cut them.”
I shook my head guiltily. “Nope. I’ll have to run home.”
“Go do that and come back. We’ll get them cut, and you can sand and stain them this evening.”
“Sounds good, although I might have to miss dance class tonight.” I laughed. “Think the teacher will forgive me?”
“You don’t have to miss it,” Dash said. “I’ll sand and stain them for you while you’re at class.”
I turned to face him. “Dash.”
“I told you—I need a project to take my mind off things,” he insisted, taking me by the shoulder and nudging me down the driveway. “Now let’s go measure your wall.”
Later that night, Veronica sat down at our high-top table at Lush and studied my face at close range. “You’re glowing.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m just flushed from class.”
She rolled her eyes. “That is not a sweaty dance class flush. That is an I’ve-been-banging-my-best-friend’s-older-brother-all-night radiance.”
I inhaled and held my breath for a moment, then gave up and let it out. “Okay. We banged. But you can’t tell anybody!”
“Eeeep!” She clapped her hands. “Tell me everything.”
“There’s not much to tell. Things sort of heated up over the phone last Friday night, and then when I got home from the pub Saturday night he was parked across the street from my house.”
“Obsessed much?” she teased, picking up the glass of wine I’d ordered her.
“He’s not obsessed,” I argued, my face tingling with pleasure.
“Oh no? He barely talked about anything other than you last Thursday night when we all went out for pizza.”
“Really?”
“Yes. He went on and on about how talented you are, all the things you’ve been cooking for him, how you’re fixing up your house and he helped you paint.”
“He also fixed my car and won’t let me pay him back for it. And right now he’s sanding and staining wooden planks for my kitchen.”
“I know. I ran into him before I left the house.” She smiled coyly. “So is this a serious thing?”
“No.” I took a sip of my pinot. “It’s just for fun while he’s in town.”
“I guess the geography would be a bit of a problem,” she said with a sigh. “But what a bummer. You guys are so cute together.”
“Dash isn’t interested in a relationship anyway.”
“He said that?”
“Not in those exact words, but he said something about wanting to avoid attachments.”
She nodded slowly. “Ah.”
“But it’s fine. At least he was honest about it. I know up front what this is. And he’s so good to me, Roni,” I said, shaking my head. “The last guy I was with did nothing but tear me down. When I moved back home, I couldn’t get out of bed for a month.”
“Oh my God, that’s awful. I never knew that.”
“It was before you came here. And I don’t ever talk about it. But Dash is the complete opposite from that guy. He could not be sweeter or more helpful or encouraging. And the sex . . .”