Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
And, sure, life would have been a hell of a lot easier.
But everything that had happened in my childhood made me the man I was, had pushed me onto the path to meet my club brothers, and, of course, Tessa.
It was hard to wish for a different life when it led to such a beautiful one eventually.
“I can see that,” I agreed. “Need any help with that?”
“Both our hands don’t need to get sticky. What are you doing here? Don’t you have a wife you should be celebrating right now?”
“I’m on my way there. I had to stop in a town out this way to pick up part of her gift. Figured I’d stop by and see you.”
“While I love it here, and will miss nosey Mrs. Winters, I am really looking forward to being closer to you all.”
It would mean a lot of change for her again. New work, new places, new people. But if she was excited about it, I was going to be too.
“We’re looking forward to that too. Are you still coming by later?”
“There’s no way I am missing out on that cake that I’ve been hearing Tessa rave about for months.”
“It really is that good. Alright, I gotta go pick up some pizza dough before heading back.”
That’s right.
Tessa was getting her own long-overdue personal pan pizza and her pin.
But because she was now a grown-ass woman, not a little girl, she was going to get several little personal pan pizzas with all her favorite toppings.
The girls were helping me out by taking her shopping for the day, so I could get everything all cooked up.
I’d just pulled the last little pizza out of the oven when I heard rushed footsteps outside.
“I got the coolest—” Tessa said, her voice excited, but trailing off when she saw the whole setup. Which was a mix of bookish and birthday decor.
“What is this?” she asked, eyes wide.
“Your personal pan pizza birthday party,” I told her, moving close to put the pin I’d ordered online—that she’d claimed she’d always wanted—on her shirt.
“Oh my God. You didn’t,” she said, shooting me a wonder-filled smile.
“According to my records,” I said, going back to grab the record sheet printout I’d found online, then spent months diligently filling out anytime I saw her reading a book. “You have read fifteen books. Which qualifies you for five personal pan pizzas,” I said, waving toward the selections.
Tessa’s eyes went watery for a second. They always did when I—or anyone else—did or bought her something that she’d mentioned she liked. She did it on our first Christmas morning when she had wrapped boxes under the tree with her name on them. She did it on her last birthday, when everyone had gifts for her, despite only knowing her for a few months at that point. Even on Valentine’s Day when I got her her favorite flowers and candy.
As much as I loved her wonder, I hoped for one day when she wasn’t still so surprised by love and kindness.
She walked toward me, pressing her forehead to my chest, then wrapping her arms around me.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
And I did. More than I even knew was possible.
“But I hope you’re not hungry. Because I am going to eat every bit of those pizzas.”
Tessa - 3.5 years
“I never realized how much Shady Valley needed this,” Nyx said as she grabbed another notebook off a shelf. “But when your kid tells you last-minute that they doodled all over their entire notebook that they need for a class trip, it’s really convenient to just be able to walk down the street and grab it instead of heading out of town.”
I’d opened a small office supply store in town, just a few doors down from Nyx’s studio.
I’d been nervous that it was too niche of an idea. Especially for such a small town. But foot traffic had been surprisingly steady.
I imagined it helped that it wasn’t just pens and notebooks that we sold, but headphones, charging cords, keyboards, and even tablets. Because, well, office supplies had evolved. As it turned out, nowhere in town carried even a basic phone charger. And most people weren’t willing to wait two days for one to be delivered, and were too busy to drive half an hour out of town to buy one.
We’d filled a little hole that, in a very small way, helped the community.
The store had only been open for a few months. And those damn developers had been breathing down our necks since, apparently, they’d been planning to buy the building.
But that was just too damn bad.
I never knew that my dream job was owning an office supply store—despite my love of cubicle decorating videos—but now that I had it, I was never going to let it go.
“Hey, you have a little Picasso on your hands. You can’t be too mad,” I said, shrugging as I rang up Nyx’s order. Which included one notebook for the school trip and another one for doodling. Because she was a smart mom.