Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
My lip curved. “Good call.”
“What about you? Do you have a type?”
“Yeah. Simple.”
She laughed. “What does that mean, simple? Like a simpleton? Someone who is gullible?”
“No, not a simpleton. Just simple. As in, the opposite of complicated.”
“So a no-strings-attached type deal? That’s your type?”
“I’m not against strings. Just don’t like the kind that tie me up in knots. And so we’re clear, I mean figurative knots. Not the literal ones. Those I wouldn’t mind.”
Josie smiled. “Thanks for the clarification.”
“You’re welcome.”
She looked out at the lake. I watched her face. She’d been enjoying the view but then seemed to think about something else, something less enjoyable.
“What do you want to know?” I asked.
Her brows tugged together. “How did you know I was going to ask you something?”
“You’re not exactly a hard read.”
“Oh really?”
I tilted the neck of my beer to her. “Really.”
She pinched her eyes closed. “What am I thinking about now?”
“Didn’t say I was a damn mind reader. Said I could see on your face when you’re overanalyzing something.”
“I do do that. It can be debilitating at times. In fact, my therapist gave me some tricks to try to stop doing it.”
“What were you overanalyzing right now?”
She pointed to my chair. “Why you’re sitting there.”
“Number one: It’s my house. Number two: I think most people sit when they’re eating.”
“Yes, but why you picked that particular seat. You were out here before me, so you could have sat in this chair or that chair. This chair has a beautiful view of the water. Yet you didn’t sit in it. I was wondering if it’s because that was your regular spot or if you were thoughtful and left me the seat with the best view.”
I stared at her. She was damn beautiful, especially framed by the lake. But the word complicated didn’t begin to describe Josie Preston. The woman had analyzed why I picked a damn chair.
“Well…” she said. “Which is it? Is that your regular chair or did you leave me this one so I’d have the nicer view?”
There was a third possibility she’d failed to consider—that it didn’t matter where I sat because my view was going to be pretty damn great with her across from me. But I wouldn’t be sharing that tidbit.
I shook my head. “Stop overthinking and finish your sandwich.”
We ate the rest in blissful silence, Josie enjoying her view and me stealing glances at mine. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t me who spoke first.
“Do you ever swim in the lake?”
And there went the peace I’d been feeling. “No.”
“Is the water contaminated?”
“Water is fine.”
“Do you not know how to swim?”
“I know how to swim, Josie.”
“Jeez.” Her forehead and nose scrunched up in tandem. “You don’t have to get so cranky. It was just a question.”
“And I gave you an answer. Problem with you is, that’s never enough.”
“Sheesh. I didn’t realize there was a problem with me. Thanks for letting me know.”
She stood and folded her now-empty paper plate. “I can take a hint. Thank you again for all of your help today. And I’m sorry if I’m too chatty for your liking.” She took a few steps away and turned back. “We can keep our friendship limited to you dragging my garbage cans to the curb when I forget. Thank you for doing that again yesterday. Oh, and I guess you watching me from the window while I do yoga. You seem to enjoy that more than talking to me.”
CHAPTER 13
* * *
Small Town—Big Parties
Josie
Did I walk into the wrong backyard?
There were balloons, music, a half-dozen Yeti coolers, and a gaggle of men congregating by a smoking grill. This must be a birthday party. Or maybe a graduation celebration. I hadn’t been able to find a number on the house when I pulled up, but to the left was six twelve and to the right six sixteen, so it had seemed only logical that this one was six fourteen.
I turned around to sneak out before someone realized I’d just crashed their party, when I heard my name.
“Josie! There you are!” Bernadette Macon pushed up on her tippy toes, flailing her arm around as she waved from the other side of the yard.
Oh Lord. I’m in the right place. But this was definitely not a small get-together…
I hesitated before walking to meet her in the middle of the yard. Bernadette swamped me in a hug like we were long-lost friends, rather than people who’d met at the coffee shop last week.
I smiled. “I thought I was at the wrong house. I didn’t realize you were having a party today. For some reason, I thought it was just going to be us and Tommy Miller, maybe a few other friends.”
She waved her hand around at the packed backyard and laughed. “This is a few other friends.”
There had to be fifty people milling around. “I’m not sure I even know this many people,” I said.