Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“You don’t owe me your loyalty or anything. We aren’t friends. Just because I don’t like my cousin doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.”
“I do play favorites when it comes to the man who saved me from drowning, though,” she said.
I smiled.
It slipped out.
She smiled, too.
I accidentally liked it.
“I like when you do that. I like your smile, Theo,” she softly stated.
“I don’t do it much.” I knew I had a resting bitch face. The whole damn town knew.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “I think that’s why it’s special.” She wiggled around in her seat and fiddled with her hands. I swore that woman couldn’t stand still if her life depended on it. “I think you and me started off on the wrong foot.”
“You started off on no feet. You were floating.”
“Still…rocky beginning. Since we’ll be spending a lot of time together, I was thinking maybe we can work toward being more…friendly with one another.”
“I’m not that kind of person.”
“Friendly?”
“Yeah.”
“Molly and Harry say differently. They said you have a heart of gold.”
“That’s grandparents for you. Delusional fools.”
She laughed, and her nose wrinkled up in a cute sort of way.
“You know, people in town talk about you,” she said, shifting the conversation. I didn’t appreciate the subject change because the topic was still me.
“Of course they do. All people do in this town is talk.”
“A few told me they felt bad I had to stay with you. They said you’re an asshole.”
“I am an asshole.”
She tilted her head questionably. “Is that so?”
“That is so.”
She crossed her arms. “Oh, Theo…” she whispered. “I’m sorry.”
I glanced over at her. “For what?”
She shrugged her shoulders with a slight shake of her head. “For whatever it was that made you…you.”
She said it with so much gentleness that it made my skin crawl.
She kept staring at me with her smile, and I couldn’t help but grumble some more.
“Willow, you’re being weird,” I said.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “It’s kind of my thing.” That smile stretched. “What do you think you were in a past life, Theo?”
For fuck’s sake.
“Willow,” I muttered.
“I was an oak tree,” she continued as if she didn’t just say the most bizarre thing. “I think I was based in Montana, but it’s hard to say. You know trees, they don’t really know states, just dirt.”
Fucking hell, I was talking to the oddest human being to ever exist.
I blinked a few times at her but didn’t say a word.
Unfortunately, she continued to say many things. “I only say that because I believe in reincarnation, and with that, I believe we get to pick how we come back into the world because, as spirits, it’s like a buffet of opportunities and lifestyles we can partake in. I chose to be a big, giant oak tree because I wanted to see what it felt like to be grounded for hundreds of years. And this go-round, I decided to come in and be a free spirit because I wanted to see what it felt like to be free and floaty. So I guess I’m just wondering why you chose to be”—she waved her hands in my direction—“this.”
“This?” I echoed.
“Yeah, this. You know.” She leaned in and whispered, “Grumpy.”
I huffed. “I don’t believe in reincarnation.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “I had a feeling you’d say that.” Her voice dropped more. “Do you want to know a secret?”
“No. I don’t.”
She smiled.
I frowned.
“I think you and I were friends in another lifetime,” she said so knowingly. “Maybe even lovers for a short time.”
“Hmph,” I replied. I leaned in closer. “Willow?”
“Yes?” she breathed.
“Are you high right now?”
“No. Of course not.”
I arched an eyebrow. “I saw you get brownies from Matt Turner in town earlier.”
“Yeah. He said only eat one at a time, but I ate three because they were delicious.”
Oh, hell.
Willow was stoned.
“You ate three brownies from Matt Turner?” I asked, a bit stunned that she was still awake at all. As I looked her way, her eyes were definitely fading quickly, though. “Willow. Those were weed brownies.”
“Weed brownies?” She gasped, sitting up straighter. “No way.” She narrowed her eyes even more. “Is that why I believe in reincarnation?”
“I don’t know why you believe what you believe, but if you ate that many brownies from Matt Turner, then you’ll believe in unicorns soon, too.”
“I already believe in unicorns.” She giggled. It sounded like heaven soaked in joy. Disgusting. She then tossed her hands over her face as if realization just set in. “Oh my gosh, I’m high!”
I chuckled a little. “Yes, you are.”
“Oh my gosh.” She glanced around. “Don’t let people know that I’m high, Theo. That’s so embarrassing.”
“Just ride it out.”
“Ride it out?!” Her voice boomed, filling the space of my truck. “I ate four brownies!”
“You said three.”
“I know, but I didn’t want you to think I was greedy, so I said three, but really, it was four.”
Oh.
Damn.
“That’s a lot of weed brownies,” I said.