Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
He frowns, eyes shining. He nods, tight, hard, and true. He wraps his arms around me. “Me too, kiddo. Me too.”
I stay like that for a while. Safe in his arms. Safe to give another admission. “I missed her for a long, long time,” I say.
He strokes my hair. “I did too.”
“But I’m glad you didn’t leave.”
I can feel him smile even as he chokes up. “I’d never leave you or your brother.”
I let out a long, overdue breath, and some of the ache inside me starts to fade. Soon I let go of him because he’d never break a hug. We both clear our throats, like we’re clearing away emotions that we aren’t really used to showing. But maybe we need to.
“So how is my Frances Furbottom?” I ask, cheery and bright.
He sets a hand on my upper back and rubs it affectionately. “We had a good visit. I can cat-sit anytime.”
With Donut at my feet, I follow Dad into the place I grew up, where he offers me an apple and an ear. As I eat the Cosmic Crisp, I tell him all the details about the festival, how it went, how I’m doing, and where I’m going to live. I tell him that Ivy got me into her old place, and she actually said I can move in right away.
“If you need any help let me know,” he says.
There is something I need since I have zero furniture. “Actually, do you have an air mattress?”
“That I do.” He’s always been glad to be useful.
After he brings me the air mattress in a box, he retrieves his grandcat, carrying her in his arms, stroking her tabby head and cooing to her. It’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. “Now you be a good girl with my daughter, okay? Don’t knock mugs off the counter like you did here. And don’t eat all the toilet paper.”
He’s fighting a losing battle.
Gently, he tucks her into her cat carrier, adding a little pink blanket. He walks me to the door, pauses, then says, “Those boys seemed…nice enough.”
“They really are.”
It’s not a blessing for a romance. But it doesn’t have to be. It’s enough that he likes my friends.
I head down the steps with my little pet family when something strikes me. I turn back to him. “Dad, you should really ask Clara out on a date.”
His lips twitch. He tries to rearrange his expression. Maybe to hide his feelings. “We’re just friends.”
I shake my head, standing my ground. “No, you’re not. And I’m pretty sure she’d say yes.”
He’s quiet for several seconds, then he gives a nod. “Maybe I will.”
“You’d better.”
I hop in my car with my fur babies, put on my shades, and blast my road-trip music.
I’m not that girl who’s singing at the top of her lungs because she’s exuberant. I’m singing at the top of my lungs so I don’t cry as I drive.
That night I lie down in a too quiet apartment, in a too small bed in my new home, wishing I weren’t so alone.
But at least there’s a cat draped over my head and a dog curled up against me.
In the morning, I do something about all this aloneness. I pick up my phone and send a text.
57
ALL HAIL THE QUEEN
Briar
I didn’t expect this reaction.
I’m at Doctor Insomnia’s on Fillmore Street, at a table in the back, finishing my story, when Trina makes the first move.
She pushes back in her chair. Stands, then bows down before me, we are not worthy style. Ivy abandons her vanilla latte to join her, like a supplicant. Aubrey goes next, setting down her mango smoothie with panache.
“All hail the queen,” Aubrey says.
I laugh. “Stop! Just stop!”
But they keep going, bowing and hailing to me. I flap my hands, urging them to their feet. “Get up. You’re in the middle of a coffee shop.”
Finally, they rise as Trina purses her lips, then says, like the words are candy in her mouth, “I guess it’s a good thing that you’re so…flexible.”
I roll my eyes. “Why did I tell all of you?”
I just gave my friends the overview of the last week or so. I had to. I didn’t want to feel all these feelings alone. And really, who would better understand than the women who know what it’s like to fall for more than one guy at once?
“So what happens next?” Trina asks, lifting her coffee cup. “I mean, besides you getting a day-long massage after the pounding you took?”
“I guess we’re just friends?”
Trina frowns. Ivy furrows her brow.
Aubrey hums then asks, “Is that what you want?”
“It’s what we all agreed to,” I say, a non-answer.
Aubrey fixes me with an intense stare in her brown eyes. “But is that what you want?”
It’s a fair question. But I don’t know if I can have what I want. But maybe I can have enough. “I want…them in my life. And I know they all have so much going on. Their careers, the team, the game,” I say, and that barely covers the complication.