Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 97364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Theo looks up and I don’t feel crazy or judged. I wish Daniel could have looked at me like this. Just once.
“I needed out, and I couldn’t really explain it. I had to leave.”
He nods slowly.
“That’s why I won’t hold on to you. If you still have to leave, knowing how desperately I want you to stay, then I won’t stand in the way.”
His chin dips down and his throat bobs. “I’ll try to come back,” he mumbles.
I don’t want even a thread of a promise, a possibility that will leave me constantly holding my breath—waiting, hoping, dying a little each day he doesn’t return.
“I won’t wait for you.”
I detect a hint of a nod. Is it as painful for him to think about me not being here if he does return as it is for me thinking about him not returning? If so, then Karma is back on her game today.
Leaning forward, I playfully tug his beard until he looks up at me. I don’t imagine Theodore Reed has shed a tear since his parents died, but right now, I swear I see tears in his bloodshot eyes.
“If there’s another life after this one, we should make a date.”
The corner of his mouth curls a bit.
“Food. Small talk. Maybe I say something that makes you grin. Maybe you say something that makes me giggle. Maybe the food is crap so we drink too much wine. Maybe the full moon beckons us to the beach where we walk in the shadows of the night. Maybe you tell me something about yourself. But maybe … just maybe it’s something so honest I can’t help but fall in love with you. And maybe you build me a house and fill it with hundreds of plants and even a dog. I’ve never had a dog.”
He cradles my face in his hands as I do his in mine, and we just … breathe in … and breathe out …
One.
Two.
Three.
“It’s a date.” He smiles and I cry.
Fuck it. Life is too short to hold in a single tear, a single laugh, a single breath. Biology is how we exist. Emotions are how we live.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
My name is Scarlet Stone, and I see the people around me as opportunities to see different sides of myself.
“What’s with the chair?” Theo asks, one arm folded behind his head, his other hugging me to his side, his hand cupping my breast.
I look out the bedroom door to the perfect view of my picnic chair. “Now? Really? Now you’ve decided to be observant?”
“And these sheets … fucking hideous.”
Resting my chin on his chest, I bite back my grin, content with just looking at him. “Anything else?”
He dips his head toward me. “Your hair.”
“It’s short. Lie to me. This is one thing I don’t want you to have an opinion on. I cut it. It will be a very long time before it grows back out, but had I had chemo I probably would have lost it anyway so—”
“It’s fucking gorgeous.”
My eyebrows perk. “Really?” I whisper.
“Really.”
I smile and for this moment, these breaths, I don’t feel sad. “The chair was all I could afford and the sheets were in the sale. The hair is laziness. It’s easier.”
“You need money?”
My name is Scarlet Stone, and I see the people around me as opportunities to see different sides of myself.
“No. My financial situation is a choice at the moment. I could get a better paying job or go back to lying, cheating, and stealing, but I’m fascinated by the whole living payday to payday thing. It’s humbling and challenging at the same time. Much like the Argonaut octopus. It’s a type of nautilus. Its penis, which is essentially a ball of sperm in a tentacle, can completely detach to look for lady parts to wiggle into—challenging. But … once it lets go of the goods, it soon dies—humbling.”
Theo’s chest vibrates with laughter. “How does ‘do you need money’ turn into a detachable penis story?”
“Oh … so to answer your question, I’m good. I’ll survive.”
“And your head?”
“My head?”
He releases my breast long enough to smooth the pad of his finger over my cut.
I frown. “Work injury.”
“Nellie more of a handful than you thought?”
My chin rolls back and forth on his chest as I shake my head. “Harold.”
Theo’s brow knits together.
“He’s worried I’m going to do something to stir up trouble.”
“Your face. What happened to your face?” His voice deepens as his teeth clench.
“He had a word with me, but he thought I’d listen better if he pinned me to the wall.”
Theo bolts to sitting, practically shoving me off the bed. “He fucking did this on purpose?”
“The pinning, yes. The cut was an accident. I think.” My nose scrunches.
“I’m going to end that son of a bitch.” He tosses the covers aside.
For a few insane seconds, I feel a bit of a rush, like I did the night he threatened the tosser from the pub on the beach. Then I think about Nellie. “Wait. No!” I grab his arm as he goes to stand.