Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 89238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Zane’s eyes pop, and with Eliza behind him, he makes a slashing gesture across his throat, then mouths don’t.
I laugh, then clap his shoulder. “I do know that.” I also know that Elodie’s easy to talk to and easy to flirt with, and that’s all I need and want for one night.
I give Zane instructions on food and bedtime as I head to the door. He turns his big right paw into a hand puppet now. “You say this like my niece hasn’t slept over before,” he remarks.
Eliza grabs her bright yellow sleepover bag from the living room floor. “Dad, I have my own room there.”
And it’s nicer and bigger than the one she has here. “I’m glad you like it,” I say, since I can’t let myself get caught up in those kinds of comparisons. My brother’s a millionaire athlete and I’m not, and that’s just the way it goes.
Before we leave, I hand Zane one of the Melt In Your Mouth boxes. “For Maddox, since I know you don’t eat sugar.”
He grabs it like an alligator snatching dinner. “I’ll make an exception.”
Eliza bats her lashes. “I eat sugar!”
I laugh, then shake my head. “You already had a bar.”
“But I have room for more,” she says hopefully.
“Don’t worry. We can share,” Zane stage whispers to her.
“Yes!”
When we all reach the stoop outside the building, Eliza drops her bag and gives me a hug. I scoop her up and hold her close, sighing contentedly. This kid is my whole entire heart and has been since she was born. “You have fun tonight, but don’t forget tomorrow afternoon we’re doing the beach cleanup by Crissy Field.”
“I know, and I have my work gloves with me so I can pick up all the plastic,” Eliza says, sets a hand on my back, and firmly guides me toward the waiting Lyft I ordered.
“You have fun too,” she calls out as I reach the sedan. “Maybe after the new bar opens, she can be your girlfriend!”
I groan. Zane laughs. I turn back to the troublemakers. “It’s one date. I don’t have time for a girlfriend.”
“Everyone has time for love,” my brother says. “You just have to make the time.”
But tonight is not about love. Love isn’t in the cards for me. It hasn’t been for a good long time. Love has a way of just not working out. But business? Family? Those are the things I can count on.
I pluck at the shirt. “Thanks for the shirt, Zane.”
“Anytime.”
As I slide into the car, my phone pings with a text from Grams.
Grams: Favor!
Gage: Sure. Hit me up.
Grams: I need you to ask your date for a gift recommendation for a friend of mine.
Figuring it’s for chocolate, I reply with a sure.
Grams: Can you ask your date for her absolute favorite toy?
I groan. She’s savage with her burns.
Gage: Well played, Grams. But I will get you next time.
Grams: Doubtful.
Then I set the phone down, but I linger on Eliza’s parting comment. Have I left a hole in her life by avoiding romance? For ten years, it’s been just Eliza and me. Since she was one and her mom died far too young. And a few times over that decade, I’ve tried again. But I flash back to the last time I was serious with a woman—a little over a year ago—and how that turned out for both my daughter and me.
A dark cloud passes over me briefly. I refuse to think of my ex tonight. I refuse to think of the distant past too.
I also vow to set aside my obsession about the future. I’m going to do something I rarely do. I’ll enjoy tonight for what it is—a moment in time. A brief respite from work and reality.
And that’s all.
5
WALL ART
Elodie
As my black skirt swishes around my thighs, I head to the door, where my gaze strays to an unfortunate basket of custom-made bath bombs in all scents of the chocolate rainbow. Toffee, mint, cinnamon, milk.
My nose curls from the cloying smell of the woo-me gift that Sebastian Roberts at The Chocolate Connoisseur sent me this afternoon before I took Amanda to her friend Ally’s house. Cocoa soap is not the way to my heart or into my business. I run a finger along the crinkly paper inside the basket but look the other way. I’ll deal with them tomorrow.
Cute cropped cardigan and lucky ring on, I head out, leaving the bath bombs behind. I send Amanda a quick text as I go, letting her know my phone is on if she needs anything. She replies that Ally’s mom is making homemade veggie burgers. That must be a relief for her. She stresses hard if she thinks her food choices are inconveniencing anyone.
I walk down the street to meet my friend Juliet. She lives nearby and has a dinner meeting with one of her clients near the spot where Gage is meeting me, so we’re walking together most of the way.