Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
But the words had poured out of me. I was so tired of hiding everything, and if I had to tell only one person, it was going to be Perry.
He set his wine glass down with a clatter. “No kidding?”
I shook my head. “No kidding.”
“Is he cute? Is it a guy from online?”
“No. Well, kind of. It’s—” I swallowed hard, lowering my voice to a whisper even though nobody else was here in the room with us. “I went on a date with Luke.”
The smile that spread over Perry’s face was infectious. He wasn’t disappointed. If anything, Perry seemed excited by the news.
I quickly slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t tell anyone. I’m obviously not ready to let the whole world know, and Luke definitely isn’t, either.”
“You’ve got a crush,” Perry said, clearly still delighted by the news.
“Shh,” I quieted him. “Nothing is serious. We just went on one date. He’s sure as hell not ready for anything more. He can barely even say the B-word.”
“Bitch? I mean, I respect that.”
“Not bitch,” I said. “...Boyfriend.”
“Oh, you’ve got plenty of time for that,” Perry assured me. “Trust me when I tell you, I never thought anything would happen between me and Rock, but now…”
“You guys are like two peas in a pod,” I said.
“It’s gross, isn’t it?”
“I think it’s amazing,” I said.
Perry’s phone buzzed, and the caller ID said Rock. “Speak of the sexy devil,” Perry said, answering. “You’re out front? Be there in a sec.”
I took over chopping the carrots even though Perry was about a thousand times faster at it. I knew the two of them would spend at least a minute or two out front being all lovey-dovey, smooching each other, doing all of the things that seemed to come so easy for them.
Meanwhile, I was nervous as hell for Luke to arrive, knowing that he’d been a little spooked at the end of the date last week.
He’d been talking to me ever since, though. First over the app as Phlox, but then something amazing had happened. Two nights ago, he’d seamlessly ditched the app, and just started texting me from his real number, instead.
It was such a small change. But seeing his actual name beside all of the same silly, beautiful, endearing messages felt like some huge step in a new direction for us.
A real direction. One I already loved so much.
“Oh my God!” Dayna’s excited voice shrieked through the house. She came bounding through the back doors, a huge smile on her face. “Dad! Come here! Right now!”
“Jeez, Dayn, give me a sec to wash my hands,” I said.
“Chloe found their nest!” she shouted, bolting back outside just as quickly.
“What kind of nest?” I mumbled under my breath. I was always ten steps behind my kids these days. I tried to be a good dad, but I sure as hell wasn’t ready to see a spider, snake, or ants’ nest.
I went out into the yard and saw the kids gathered around a branch on one of the trees. I walked up closer.
“Look! They’re babies,” Chloe said, smiling at me as I approached.
When I looked, I saw a ridiculously tiny nest with two baby hummingbirds inside.
“Well, that is ridiculously cute,” I said, gazing at the impossibly small creatures.
“It’s so cool,” Chloe said, snapping picture after picture with her phone.
“We need to make sure they don’t get stolen by a hawk,” Cooper said.
“You think hawks are waltzing through our yard?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe Luke will have advice.”
“I’m sure Luke will know exactly what to do.”
“We can keep watch on it tonight,” Dayna said.
“We’ll be close enough to protect it, out here,” I agreed.
We were in the process of setting up a big, new tent I’d bought in the backyard. Dayna hadn’t stopped talking about how much she loved Luke’s backyard tent ever since she’d been there, and I finally broke down and bought one.
Currently it was more of a big pile of poles and fabric sitting on the ground. That was another thing we were waiting for Luke’s help on.
“Maybe I’ll give them a piece of pasta,” Dayna said, looking at the baby birds.
“You can’t give them pasta, dude,” Cooper said, rolling his eyes.
“Unfortunately I think your brother’s right on that one,” I said. “I don’t think hummingbirds like slurping up spaghetti as much as we do.”
“I don’t want them to go hungry,” she said.
“I’m sure their mama has it figured out,” I told her. “All right, guys, I need to go back in and keep setting up dinner. No human foods for the birds.”
When I headed back in, I found Rock and Perry standing at the front door, peeking out of the long, glass window beside it.
“Are you guys the new Peeping Toms of the neighborhood?”
Rock turned back to me, smiling. “If this was what I got to see, hell yeah, I’d be a Peeping Tom.”