Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 105231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105231 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
“Are you staying?” he asked as he gently pushed her into the chair.
She didn’t put up any more of a protest because her feet were killing her by this stage. It had been a stupid idea to wear high shoes tonight. However, she’d thought Oliver would kill her if she wore her favorite orange sneakers with this outfit.
“Yes,” she told him with a grimace. She kind of had to stay.
“Then so am I. I need to find Jace. You need a drink and some food.”
“Oh, I couldn’t eat right now. But a drink of water would be good. I can get it, though.” She attempted to stand and he shot her a look. Okay, then. She sat back. “Or someone else can.”
Jace appeared with Rory and Travis waved them over.
“Hey, everything okay?” Jace asked, shooting her a concerned look.
She didn’t know Jace that well. Even when they were younger, all of her attention had been on Travis. So his concern was surprising but not unwelcome.
“Caren is exhausted. She needs a drink. Can you grab her some water and food?”
“My stomach is in knots,” she said. “I’ll throw up if I eat. Uh, sorry, that was probably too much information.”
“Don’t worry, I get like that too when I’m stressed.” Rory sat in the chair next to her as Jace headed off on his mission. That was after he’d shot Rory a look and told her to stay. “Also, I am not a dog.”
Her lips twitched. “These Andrews guys like barking out orders.”
“Barking out orders?” Travis asked with amusement.
“Yep. Woof-woof.”
He let out a chuckle and she was aware of Rory staring at them both. Then a buzzing noise came from Travis’s pants.
“Shit,” Travis said as he drew his phone from his pocket. “I have to take this. I’m going to stand at the end of this corridor where I can see you both. Do not move.”
“See?” Rory said. “Sit. Stay.”
“They’re intense, aren’t they?” she mused as he moved away. He did fill out a pair of pants very nicely, though.
“Yeah. So is this exhibition. I didn’t expect so many people. And they all want to talk to you, Ms. Popular.” Rory lightly bumped her shoulder against Caren’s.
Caren let out a small laugh. “Believe me, I’ve never been popular.” She had been anything but at school. “They just all think they want to talk to me so they can claim to know me. But I think they’re all secretly disappointed when they find out I’m boring as heck.”
“Well, so are they. Except that guy. He’s a hoot.” Rory gestured toward the guy with the tiara. Whose name was Bob. Yep, actually Bob. He was awesome. Hilarious. And super rich so even though everyone here was giving him strange looks, no one dared say anything about the sparkling jewels in his glorious hair.
“He sure is.” She decided she’d had enough of talking about herself, though. So she turned to Rory. “How are you doing?”
“Ahh, Travis told you about my arrival in New York? And how I had everyone searching for me for two days?” Shame filled the younger woman’s face.
“Um, he didn’t mention that part.”
Rory winced. “I can’t believe Mom. I told her where I was going in the note I left. Plus, I’d talked about coming here with her. But when I left she decided to create this drama. Gray and Lacey were actually going to return from their honeymoon early because they were so worried. I feel terrible.”
“Hey, it’s not your fault. Sounds like your mother is to blame.”
“I know she’s trying her best to look out for me. She’s worried about something happening to me again. All she wants is to keep me safe, but the constant watching me, asking me where I am and what I’m doing, the stories of everything bad that is happening in the world. It’s just too much. It was sucking me down into a dark place. I don’t want to go back there. I fought my way out of there. I can’t go back.” There was panic in Rory’s voice.
Caren placed her hand over the younger woman’s. “I get that. It’s difficult to drag yourself out of a dark place. You need help to do it. I think it would be near impossible on your own.”
“I’m talking to a therapist and she’s helping me a lot.” Rory studied her with knowing eyes “You sound like you’re talking from experience.”
Caren sighed. “I didn’t have the best childhood and it took me a long time to work through all of that with some help from an amazing therapist. I would blame myself. I called myself stupid and worthless. And I had coping mechanisms that weren’t all together healthy. But I got help and I had an amazing grandma who supported me. Things got really good for me. I felt so in control of my life. Turns out, the universe just wanted to mess me around as eight months ago something happened that threatened to throw me back into that dark place. And I’ve just realized I probably shouldn’t have said any of that. I was trying to help and that wasn’t helpful.”