Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 114011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
But Palmer did.
My heart squeezes in my chest so tight that I squirm. “I’m okay.”
“Do you want me to take that at face value, or do you want me to push?”
I laugh. “I told you I’m okay.”
“‘Okay’ is such a nondescript word. It’s what I would say if someone asked me about my relationship with Jared and I didn’t want to spew the truth. ‘It’s okay.’ That’s what I’d say.”
“Let’s go there. What’s he like?”
She rolls her eyes and sighs. “He’s not okay.”
“I sense a little anger.”
“You’re wrong.” She levels her gaze with mine. “There’s a lot of anger there. He moved to Cleveland today. Didn’t even say goodbye to Ethan. Just called me and dropped the news—managing to toss some blame my way for his failures in life, per usual—while driving.”
My jaw hangs open. “He just left your kid?”
She nods.
“Wow,” I say, running a hand down my thigh. “That’s . . . yeah.”
“Yeah. Which brings me back to what I was saying earlier about you getting to create something new for yourself. There’s an excitement about that.”
I don’t know if I’d say “excitement.”
I sit up and take a drink of my Coke. “It’s a lot to figure out. Don’t get me wrong—I’m very, very lucky to be in the situation that I’m in. I don’t take it for granted for a second. But figuring out the rest of your life . . . it makes me feel like a teenager again. So many choices and not sure what path is the right one. The fear of choosing the wrong one.”
Especially with all the unknowns.
“You must have some idea about what you want to do, right?” she asks.
I wrap my hand around my glass. “It’s not as easy as you think.”
She grins. “Oh, I disagree.”
“Fine, Miss Clark. You get to reinvent your life today. Right now. What are you doing?”
She sits up and folds her hands on her lap. “What are the parameters?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like, how much money do I get? Do I have to consider Jared in this fake world? Do I have a passport?”
“You don’t have a passport?”
She laughs. “Don’t judge me!”
“Not judging,” I say, my lips parting right along with hers. “Sorry. Carry on.”
“Can’t. I don’t have the parameters.”
“Oh. Right. Sorry. You have infinite money, forget Jared, and you definitely have a passport.”
She squeals, then shifts her weight around until her legs are pulled up beneath her. The carefree, relaxed look that’s painted on her face makes her look even prettier than before.
I wish I could keep it there.
“What would I do?” She looks at the ceiling. “Damn. This is harder than I thought.”
“See?”
She drops her chin and looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “It’s not that hard. First-world problems, buddy.”
“I’m aware of that.”
She takes a long, deep breath. “You know what I think I’d do?”
“What’s that?”
Palmer shakes her head and shrugs, sprinkling a light, bright laugh through the air like pixie dust.
“I don’t think I’d do anything differently,” she says. “How weird is that? I mean, I’m a thousand times more likely to tell Burt to fuck off, I’d never cook again, and I’d take a vacation every other month. But I think that’s it.”
She reclines again, pressing her lips together. Her brows pull together, and I can’t quite read what she’s thinking.
“Should I ask you how you feel about it?” I ask, laughing. “You seem perplexed and on the brink of a crisis.”
She turns her head toward me and smiles. “I’m always on the brink of a crisis.”
“You play it off so well.”
We chuckle. Our voices mix together, dancing around the room in a comfortable familiarity that feels nice. If only she knew that I think I might be on the brink of a crisis too. I just hope I play it off as well as she does.
She opens her mouth but is interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.
“Pizza,” she says, getting to her feet. “If you want to wait here, I’ll bring it down.”
“I’ll come up and pay.”
“I got it.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I’m not letting you pay for dinner.”
“Well, I foresaw this conversation and paid for it when I ordered. Already tipped the driver too.” She winks. “Be right back.”
I watch her take the stairs two at a time, wishing I had her energy and joy.
“You know what I think I’d do? I don’t think I’d do anything differently.”
How do I get that? How do I get to that place of contentment?
Maybe if I had a home to come home to, I’d be the same. But I’ll have to file that under Things I’ll Probably Never Have.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
PALMER
No,” I say, patting my full tummy. “You’re wrong. He was the one that slept with her sister and knocked her up.”
Cole’s brows pull together. He points at the screen. “Him? Are you sure? Isn’t that the other dude’s twin?”