Total pages in book: 14
Estimated words: 13099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 65(@200wpm)___ 52(@250wpm)___ 44(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 13099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 65(@200wpm)___ 52(@250wpm)___ 44(@300wpm)
No. He couldn’t have my heart. Could he?
The last six weeks or so of my life flashed through my brain. Stu laughing as we played the video game. Stu feeding me spicy chicken. Stu looking blissed out after sex. Stu showing me his latest painting. Stu welcoming me in with a grin.
Oh fuck. I’d gone and fallen for the guy.
I stumbled back to my place, unlocked the door, and threw myself into my recliner. The same recliner I’d been dozing in when Stu had arrived with a hot dish and rocked my world. I surveyed my blank walls, brown couch, and perfectly boring existence. This was what I had to look forward to. I could go back to flirting with strangers, living my life in monochrome, a word I now knew because, apparently, I’d been unintentionally dating an art teacher.
Fuck me.
Or rather, fuck, Stu. Had I ever had a better sex partner? Ever? He was feisty and competitive outside of bed, submissive and pliant in it, and brought the same creativity to sex that he did everything else. He made me feel sexy and powerful. Did I really want to give that up?
Did he want to give that up? He’d been only too happy to show me the door. Maybe he was getting tired of me too. A siren sounded in the distance, and I reflexively reached for my phone, making sure I wasn’t getting called in. However, even after I verified there wasn’t a missed message, my pulse continued to pound. I felt like I had as a kid after losing my dad, when every siren had made me think of him.
Oh. Stu knew loss and pain too. We shared that early wound. He just hid it better. All the evidence I had from the last month said he liked me as much as I liked him. I was the one being stupid, but we were both running scared.
Well, shit. I glanced down at my silent phone again. How exactly did one ask out the guy he’d been dating for the last month?
Chapter Six
Stu
Lately, all I wanted to paint was trees. Big, bushy, evergreen trees. Pine trees and cedar. Hillsides covered in trees. Mountain valleys. Close-up studies of individual trees. Trees. Trees. Trees. I’d never used so much green paint in a week before. My latest painting was a tall, narrow tree with speckles of frost on the branches. I was attempting to add a squat little pine cone when the doorbell sounded.
Both kids were home, so I wasn’t too concerned. Likely a friend of theirs or a salesperson Soren could dispense with as easily as I. Besides, I was in a terrible mood and had been all week. I went back to the pine cone only to hear Shelby behind me.
“Dad. The paramedic guy is back.”
“Tell him I’m fine.” I didn’t bother turning around. And yes, I was being all kinds of chicken, but avoiding Percy had served me well thus far. “Ankle is all healed. I’ll text him later.”
“Tell him yourself,” Shelby shot back, and I whirled to find Percy standing alongside Shelby.
“Oh.” I swallowed hard. “Hey, Percy.”
“I’m making loco moco for dinner.” Shelby’s cooking phase had continued after the school year started, and she was now having fun exploring many of the Hawaiian dishes of my childhood. She gestured between Percy and me. “You should ask Percy to stay.”
“I don’t think…” I trailed off because she was already heading back to the house, undoubtedly as sick of my mopey mood as I was. And now that Shelby was gone, I was alone with Percy, who looked at me expectantly.
“So, you’re fine?”
“Yeah.” I stretched out my healed leg. “All better.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’ve been avoiding me.” He gave me a harsh stare. And he wasn’t wrong. I’d ducked into my car rather than do the driveway wave thing and left two texts on Read.
“I wasn’t sure what there was to say.” I shrugged, fully aware I sounded closer to Shelby’s age than Percy’s.
“Plenty.” He blew out a breath. “Would you like to go somewhere with me on Saturday night?”
“Go?” I blinked. “Where? Why?”
“I’m asking you on a date, Stu.” Percy sounded less than thrilled about this fact.
“Oh.” I let my jaw hang open for several long seconds. “You sure you want to do that?”
“I miss you.” He spread his hands wide like holding an empty basket. And lord knew I missed him too. I hadn’t realized how much we’d fallen into a routine with daily texts, funny memes, and frequent visits until it was gone.
“I’ve missed you too,” I admitted.
“And you’re the one who pointed out we’ve pretty much been dating. You deserve the real deal. Let me take you out.”
I nodded, considering this as I stared at my row of tree paintings. Somehow, it was easier to point it out when I’d assumed Percy was bailing on us than to accept his invite. I wanted what we had back, but I remained doubtful that Percy truly wanted to stick around.