Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
“Scared you? I live here.” My gaze raked over her, taking in every detail I’d missed over the last two months. There were no noticeable changes other than the fact that somehow she looked even better. Healthier. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold, the circles under her eyes had disappeared, and her eyes were bright, but she twisted Lina’s ring around her finger nervously as she looked me over too. Hurt to say it, but leaving me looked really good on her.
“Well, yeah.” She pulled her hair over one shoulder as Sadie ran up the stairs, wagging her tail. Allie grabbed the ball and threw it again, earning the same result. “But I’ve been here a couple of hours, so you startled me, that’s all.”
“Hours?” What the hell was going on? “Are you okay? Is everything okay at home?”
“I’m fine,” she assured me with a shaky smile. “And I think everyone’s doing the same as they were when I left a week ago. Hope you don’t mind that Caroline gave me your address.” She twisted Lina’s ring and took a deep breath. “Hudson, my mother isn’t teaching at some exclusive boarding school.”
“She isn’t?” The subject change gave me whiplash, but she had my full attention.
Allie shook her head. “No. She has frontotemporal dementia with primary progressive aphasia. She’s been in the assisted living facility she chose for about two years, and Anne has been in control of all her affairs. No one knows. Just Anne, and Eva, and Eloise, and Kenna, and Caroline . . . I told her so that she could have Juniper tested for the gene. The three of us are clear, but Lina never knew to get tested. And now you know. Anyway, the last time she left was for the Giselle performance, and she’s gone downhill pretty fast since then.”
“Holy shit, Allie.” My heart broke for her. She’d been dealing with that the entire time? “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you.” She twisted the ring again. “It’s fine. I mean, it’s not fine, but it’s just a fact of my life at this point, and I figured telling you was the first step to letting you in. All the way.”
“All the way,” I repeated, my brain spinning to wrap itself around the concept that she was here, that she was telling me things I didn’t have to pry out of her.
“Did you realize it took a week to drive here?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said slowly. “Why did you drive all the way from Massachusetts?”
“Because that’s where I bought the car,” she said equally slowly. “Did you notice? It’s the first car I’ve ever bought. It’s red.” Her smile widened.
“Yeah, I noticed.” I walked two steps closer, then shoved my hands in my pockets to keep from reaching for her. “But why did you drive here? And what are you going to do with a car in Manhattan?”
Her smile slipped. “I didn’t want to put Sadie on a plane.” She looked down at her hands. “And because I was afraid if I called, you would tell me not to come. So, I bought a car, and we drove. And took a ferry.”
This time when Sadie ran back, I threw the ball for her after a quick scratch behind her ears. “The chances of me telling you not to come are zero, and less than zero if you picked up the phone.”
“So, I should have called,” she said softly. “Look, if you’re busy, or if there’s someone you’re expecting—”
“Someone I’m expecting? Like I’ve just moved on in the past couple months? Like there’s anyone on the fucking planet who could possibly take your place?” I tipped her chin up so I could look in her eyes. “Is that what you did? Went back to New York and tried to replace me?”
“Of course not.” Her eyes narrowed, and she jerked her chin out of my grasp. “I just drove here from the East Coast. I hardly think that’s conducive to having a boyfriend.”
“Oh, for fuck.” I ripped my cover off my head and folded the blue cap, sticking it into the back pocket of my pants. “You have to help me out and tell me what you’re doing here, love, because I’m thirty seconds from carrying you into my room and making good on that little plan to keep you in my bed.”
“That sounds great.” She nodded.
I backed up a step. “Don’t screw with me.”
“Do you think I’d drive all the way here to not screw with you?” A corner of her mouth rose, and I was a goner.
Three steps later, I had her back against the wall, my hands in her hair and my tongue in her mouth. I kissed her like I’d been thinking about her every second since she’d left, using every ounce of skill I had to steal her breath.