Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
“For now,” she jokes.
My friend scoffs, she makes a face at him, and he grabs her around the waist and hauls her in for a kiss. I smile to myself, wishing that was my life for a moment.
One little decision. That was the only difference between him and me. One decision charted very different courses for us.
She inches away, walking backward toward the pool and winking at her husband.
We watch her sit down next to a friend and sink her feet in the water.
“I’m happy for you,” I tell him.
But he doesn’t reply, just looks down, takes a drink, his brow troubled.
“You okay?”
His chest rises with a big breath. “I keep feeling like the shoe’s going to drop, you know?” He gives me a nervous smile. “Like something will creep up and take her from me or she’ll just wise up.”
I see the pulse in his neck throb, and I flex my jaw, completely fucking jealous. He doesn’t think he deserves to be this lucky, but he does.
“I guess that means I’m fucking in love with her, doesn’t it?” He lets out a small laugh.
“It’s nice to have a life you’re afraid of losing.”
Maybe I should tell him everything. Everything that happened all those years ago that he never knew about because he was gone from Green Street by then. Maybe then he would know how lucky he is and be present in every moment possible.
“You made some good choices,” I tell him.
But his face falls anyway. “I keep feeling like if I hadn’t taken all of us to that building in Weston, you’d still live here.”
“No,” I tell him, forcing my tone to stay even. “It went to shit, but that wasn’t the reason I left.”
Why don’t I just tell him? Tell someone?
But if I don’t talk about it, then I can pretend it’s not the reason for nearly every decision since.
His lips twitch. “I know something’s wrong, and I don’t know what else it could’ve been.”
I swallow the rest of my drink. I need to change the subject. “Well, I’m a little lonely,” I tease. “Should I stick around? I can scoop up your girl when she finally leaves your ass.”
He laughs, moving toward her. “Well, then I better have my fun with her while I can.” And he flips me the middle finger with a smile.
I watch him go, feeling like we’re twenty-two again for a split second.
He sidles up to her side, dropping his hand to her hair, and I set the glass down, moving around the deck, past Madoc. “I’ll go get another one of your bottles,” I tell him. And I veer for the side of the house.
Heading down the small hill, I make my way toward the basement entrance, but I catch sight of something massive and colorful and utterly ridiculous far out on the lawn.
It moves as people jump in and out of it, and I narrow my eyes, trying to remember if it’s someone’s birthday or something.
Is that a bounce house? Or eight of them, maybe? It’s huge.
What the fuck?
A collection of inflatable jumpers sit attached like a small city out on the grass, every single one in motion as kids—and teenagers—bounce around. There’s a long, interactive one with a slide and climbing walls, as well as two castles, a couple of obstacle courses, and ones with tunnels. Kade springs down a slide, doing somersaults.
And the scent of pizza hits my nose, goosebumps spreading across my arms.
Slowly, I turn and see Quinn behind the counter of the outdoor kitchen, the pizza oven behind her. My heart leaps in my chest.
She wears a canvas-colored apron, her swimsuit strings tied around her neck.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she says before I say anything.
“Yeah?” I ask, playing along.
She nods. “What the fuck is that?” she recites, jerking her chin at the inflatable city.
I just laugh, walking over and taking a seat on a stool at the counter as she places pepperoni on a pie. “That’s Madoc,” I explain. “You forget. I’ve known him longer.”
With her brother, no one is too old for toys.
“Do you think he knows he just invented a whole other meaning for ‘bounce house’ once his son gets Dylan in there?” she jokes.
I shake my head, amused. Yeah, the party will be going long after the parents have gone to bed. That’s for sure.
Madoc had told me the whole story of Dylan and Hunter, and how he almost lost his life to his best friend.
But he was laughing his ass off the whole time explaining it to me too. Apparently, I missed a good fight.
Still, though, it’s hard to think of Dylan and Hunter as old enough for love when they were like eleven the last time I saw them. And Quinn’s older. I can imagine being surrounded by couples will have her dying for someone of her own. I trail my eyes over her bare shoulders, her slender neck…