Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 140767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
The urge to ease her embarrassment is too strong to deny. “Oh boy, perfect? Me?” I laugh and flash a wink in her direction. “Can I get you to sign a sworn affidavit to present to my family, stating your exact words?”
Awkwardness gone, she meets my eyes with a grin and quips back, “Oh, Rem, you and I both know your family wouldn’t accept that affidavit. If Jude and Ty are still the same as they used to be, they love busting your balls way too much.” She quirks an amused brow. “But surely your wife wouldn’t need an affidavit to know how amazing you are.”
Her statement makes me realize just how long it’s been since we’ve spoken. “If I had a wife, I’d hope that would be the case.”
“Wait…what do you mean?” she questions and searches my eyes. “You and Charlotte got divorced?”
Well, fuck. After this long, it’s hard to believe that anyone doesn’t know what happened that day.
“Actually, Charlotte and I never got married.”
“But the last time we talked…you were, like, a week away from your wedding…”
“Yep. She left me at the altar.”
Her eyes go wide in shock. “You’re kidding me!”
“No, babe. I can assure you I’m not,” I remark with a laugh.
“Goodness, I’m so sorry, Remy. That’s horrible.”
“It’s fine,” I tell her and truly mean it. “It just wasn’t meant to be, you know? I’m at peace with that.” I shrug. “Plus, it was like a million years ago.”
“Oh God, don’t say that,” she responds on a snort. “You’re making me feel old. Surely it was just last year that we spoke.”
In reality, it was about fifteen years ago that Maria reached out to me unexpectedly via text message. The exchange was sweet and friendly and made me remember how much I’d always still care about her. But it was nothing more than that. Seeing her now makes me wonder how…how I ever thought it was a good idea to walk away from her, honestly.
“Sorry to break the news to you, but it was a long-ass time ago when you sent me that text message. Hell, I don’t even have the same number anymore.”
“Gah. Me either.” She groans. “Are we really in our forties now?”
I nod. “We really are. Though, I’m the only one of us who looks it.”
“You’re right,” she says with a playful roll of her eyes. “You’re practically an old man compared to me.”
“Older by only two years,” I state and point one teasing index finger toward her. “And careful, Ri, or else you’re going to start sounding like my family.”
She giggles. “Are they still as rambunctious as they used to be?”
“No.” I shake my head on a laugh. “I can assure you they are much, much worse.”
She snorts, and the sound is so sweet, I find myself spouting some more Winslow family updates.
“Flynn has a wife and twins. Jude is married, and Ty, as I mentioned, is on his way over the cliff. And Winnie—well, as I’m sure you remember—is the only sane one out of all of us. She’s married to Wes Lancaster and has a brilliant daughter, Lexi, who keeps us all in check.”
“Wes Lancaster? As in, the billionaire owner of the New York Mavericks?”
“The one and only.” I nod, and Maria’s face turns soft with nostalgia.
“I always loved watching you play football.”
I laugh at the irony. Eighty percent of the reason I even played was getting to look over at Maria cheering for me.
“Winnie hated it,” she adds with a knowing grin. “Only two reasons she was there were you and the snacks.”
“I know,” I agree, thinking fondly of all the times my baby sister was sitting in the bleachers, cheering me on at my games with a bored expression on her face. “She eats, sleeps, and breathes it now. Her position as team physician is how she met Wes, the man who is so smitten with my sister he honestly thinks he got the better end of the deal. Which he did, of course. Not many people better than Winnie,” I answer with a doting smile. Winnie might be a grown woman now, but she’ll always be my baby sister to me.
“Holy shit. Winnie is a successful doctor and scored an actual billionaire. I should’ve known that little, adorable, talkative social butterfly would go on to do big things.”
It’s hard to believe, but Winnie was only six years old when Maria and I first met in high school.
“She always was a chatty little thing, wasn’t she?”
“And determined.” Maria grins. “She had a way of getting exactly what she wanted.”
Truth be told, that six-year-old chatterbox was a big reason Maria and I met in the first place.
“Speaking of sisters, how is Isabella? And your mom?”
Back in the day, both Carmen and Isabella were like family to me. I spent a lot of time with both of them. Isabella was only a few years older than my sister, and Maria and I would often let them tag along when we’d go to the movies or to Central Park.