Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 71768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
“Preschool,” I repeated. “Right, school.” I tripped over his backpack in an effort to get my shoes.
“Viera’s been changed.” Colby grabbed her purse and flowery monstrosity of a laptop bag. “Make sure you buckle her into the right car seat. Ben likes to sit in his old one on the passenger side. Don’t let him convince you to swap it with the left seat, because the sun gets in Viera’s eyes. Oh, and you have snack tomorrow, so make sure to get a final head count for the cupcakes we have to make later and get an up-to-date list of the classroom allergies so you don’t make something that sends a kid to the hospital—”
“Make them?” I sputtered. “Why the hell am I making cupcakes when I can just buy them?”
“Good question. Solid one. Asked the same thing. I’ve now been uninvited to mommy happy hour for being so insensitive to the need to provide healthy, tasty food that won’t, you know, kill anyone. Nut-free. Dairy-free. Soy-free—basically you’re going to need to use chickpeas. I looked it up.”
“Chick-what? Isn’t that a bean?” I stepped through a Lego minefield and picked up Viera from the blue chair. “And why was Viera in trouble?”
“She broke two of my Star Wars Lego sets! On purpose!” Ben said in complete outrage. “And they were my favorite.”
“Viera, why did you break his Lego sets?”
Over by the door, Colby started waving her hands like a windmill as Viera’s big blue eyes met mine.
The lower lip trembled.
Oh shit.
“Honey, no, no, no, you’re fine, don’t cry.” I patted her on the back just as the front door closed.
The hell?
“Did Colby just… leave?” I asked the universe and the two children I had to keep alive for the next few hours while starved of caffeine.
“She left a note!” Ben grabbed the yellow sticky note and frowned. “‘Suck-er.’ Hey, isn’t that a lollipop? Are we getting candy for dinner?”
“I like suckers!” Viera stopped crying immediately. “Suckers, suckers, suckers.” And now the kids were basically chanting.
I glared at the door Colby had just used as her exit and found myself slowly smiling.
I was the sucker?
She had to put up with Banks’s constant interruptions. Good luck to her trying to hit her deadlines.
We’ll see who’s the sucker at the end of the day.
I pulled out my phone and typed in chickpea cupcakes.
“Bring it,” I whispered. A challenge to the universe.
NINE
Colby
I was giddy on my way to Rip’s office, which was surprising, really, since the last and only other time I’d been there I’d ended up in tears. I’d gone there to meet Monica and ended up eavesdropping on her and Rip discussing our one and only disastrous date.
I got there just in time to hear him tell her that I needed to grow the hell up rather than complain about the stress of my job. And that I needed to act like an actual adult rather than traveling all over the world. He said a few more hurtful things—private things I’d told him in confidence since he’d asked, and while it didn’t matter that Monica knew, it hurt that he had such venom behind his words.
I pulled Rip’s Mercedes into the first parking spot I could find and grinned. He’d never given me permission to take his car, but he needed the minivan to cart the kids around.
I cut the engine and grabbed my stuff. The office building was nestled right between a bagel shop, yay, and a coffee shop, double yay. Somehow, knowing that I had coffee and he was out added extra pep to my step as I opened the door to Rip’s office building.
My joy was short lived. The woman who shall not be named greeted me with a cold stare. “Can I help you?”
I hesitated a bit, taking in yet another gorgeous pantsuit, this time black. Her earrings were gorgeous gold dangly things that would look ridiculous on me but kissed her shoulders in a way that screamed rich.
Which had always been the problem growing up. I was the kid who had zero parent involvement, who wore hand-me-downs until Monica finally took pity on me and gave me some of her clothes so I wouldn’t get made fun of.
And it had just sucked.
All of it had sucked.
There had been no reason for Heather to pick on me apart from the fact that I was Monica’s best friend and that meant I got to hang out with Rip, who was everyone’s dream guy. Captain of basically everything, total heartthrob, straight-A-student Rip whose house I got to have sleepovers at.
I still remember the day Heather tripped me in gym, forcing me to land right at Rip’s feet. I had a purple eye for a week.
I shot her a fake smile that I hoped looked at least a little genuine and bypassed her tidy mahogany desk like a woman on a mission. “I’m good, thanks.”