Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
I don’t wait to see what the others are doing. I climb into my tent, lie back on my air mattress, and pull up her name.
“Hey.” Her voice is soft.
“Hi.”
“Everything okay?”
“I wanted to hear your voice.” It’s not something I would have said to her as my best friend, but she’s more than that.
“Aww, camping brings out sweet Sterling,” she teases.
“Nah, I just miss you.” More honesty. I’ve been going on these trips our entire friendship, and I’ve never made a call like this or said these words to her.
“I miss you too.”
“It’s different this time.” Words keep rolling off my tongue like a runaway train. I can’t stop them.
“How so?”
“I always miss you, but never like this.”
“Sterling, I–” She starts, but I don’t let her finish.
“I should get some sleep.” I don’t want her to tell me this can’t happen. Not over the phone. Not when I can’t see her eyes to know her truth. Not when I can’t pull her into my arms and hold her. “I’ll call you when I get home. See if you’re back yet.”
“Okay. Be safe.”
“You too, baby.” I rush to hit End Call. “Baby” is something I’ve never called her until recently. I’ve had a few slips of the tongue, as if my heart is overruling everything when it comes to her. Tossing my phone to the side, I close my eyes and will sleep to come.
CHAPTER
TWENTY
Alyssa
“I can’t believe we’re finally doing this,” Kristy says to me.
“Right? We’ve only talked about it for years now,” I reply as I open the bag of tortilla chips and dump them into a bowl. This was the weekend I was supposed to confess to Sterling how I really feel about him, but one thing led to another, and I ended up hosting our first ever book club at my place. I’m not stalling; it just happened, and it’s something we’ve been wanting to do forever. When I mentioned it to Ramsey, she ran with the idea, and well, here we are.
“You think everyone will show up?” she asks.
“Who did you invite?”
“I don’t know many people who read like we do. I knew you were inviting the Kincaid ladies. I did run into Mindy and her mom at the store earlier this week, and she was holding the new romance novel we’ve been dying to read, so I mentioned it to her.”
“Ugh,” I groan. “And yes, Ramsey, Palmer, Piper, Jade, and Kennedy will all be there. They’ve been blowing up my phone since Sunday dinner last week.”
“I’m sorry. It just slipped. I know she’s a total pain in the ass. Besides, I doubt she’ll even show.”
“Oh, she’ll be here. She’s been hitting on Sterling since high school. She’s not going to miss a chance to sink her claws in him.” The thought of her being successful has bile rising in my throat.
“Did you invite Sterling to the book club?” she asks, amused.
“No, but his sisters-in-law will be here, and she knows that Sterling and I are best friends. She’s an opportunist, and she’s not going to miss this one. I’m certain of it.”
“So don’t give her one. Tell Sterling to stay away and tell his family not to bring him up.” Kristy shrugs as if the decision is easy.
“How very adult of me,” I say. The sarcasm is oozing from my words. “Whatever will be, will be. Besides, Sterling can see right through her. He’s yet to give her the time of day, and he’s not going to start now. I just want today to be a success.” And he’s mine, but I don’t say that. Kristy already knows how I feel. She can read between the lines.
“Right? We’ll have to choose a book and decide when to meet next.”
“We should have already picked a book so we could talk about it today.”
“Maybe, but this way, we get to chat about our favorites and maybe find some new favorites at the same time.”
“I’m so down with that,” I tell her as there’s a knock at the door. “Come in!” I call out.
“I’m here!” a sweet voice announces.
“Who is that?” Kristy asks.
I smile. “Blakely. She’s Declan and Kennedy’s daughter.” I hear footsteps and Kennedy asking her not to run in the house.
“Alyssa!” Blakely cheers, rushing forward and wrapping her arms around my legs.
“Hey, sweetie. Are you getting taller?” I ask.
She bobs her head up and down. “I’m five and a big sister,” she tells me.
“I know. Are you so excited for your baby brother?”
“Yes!”
“Sorry, she was excited to see you. Declan’s working. Sterling is coming to pick her up. I hope that’s okay. Sterling said it would be fine.”
“Of course,” I tell Kennedy before looking down at Blakely. “Are you excited to spend the day with Uncle Sterling?”
“Yep. We got jobs to do,” she tells me.
“What kind of jobs?” I’m expecting her to tell me about some project she’s doing. I know Sterling has a few that he likes to do with her.