Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
I also knew Thomas was there.
I went in spite of those things.
Maybe it was because Thomas was there that I went.
I didn’t know exactly what it was that I felt for him, but I knew it was more baffling and confusing than anything else I’d ever felt for another person. It was something I simultaneously wanted to throw away and hold onto, and I had no idea how to handle it all.
In the insane lead up to my sister’s wedding, Thomas felt like my only escape from the pressure. He expected nothing from me, and despite our prickly past, he’d never once judged me when I’d unloaded my problems on him.
Maybe that was why I was letting him drag me into the toy store when I didn’t need to buy any toys.
“What on Earth do you think I need to buy in here?” I asked, looking around at the stacked shelves of LEGO he’d led me to. “I’m not sure Grandpa can manage the little pieces these days.”
“You met Danny yesterday morning, right?” He glanced down at me. “He’s kind of spoilt by my mother.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“I want an excuse to build a cool LEGO set,” he said after a moment. “What can I buy him that I can build and pretend it’s for him?”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever been asked.” I laughed, scanning the shelves. “I know next to nothing about LEGO, nor about what little boys like.”
“Fine. Then humour me.”
I pressed my lips together to fight my smile. “Humour you?”
He leant towards me, lowering his face until his lips were close to my ear. “Humour me,” he said in a low voice. “And let me win right now, all right?”
Let him win?
Ah.
Of course.
He was trying to distract me from my own annoyances. He was trying to give me a place to escape to.
I was going to give in.
I was going to let him distract me.
I was going to humour him.
I wanted to. I wanted to let him drag me into another world where I didn’t have to think about Hazel and her wedding and all the stress that was weighing me down.
Just for now, I wanted to be selfish and think about myself.
Not her last-minute request to change the fucking wedding favours and adjust the whole seating plan because our pseudo-cultist aunt had a bug up her arse about not being at one of the front tables.
If you asked me, the damn woman was lucky she hadn’t had her invitation rescinded. If it were my wedding, I’d have told her to fuck off a long time ago.
“Oi. Pay attention.” Thomas poked me in the side of the head. “What do you think about this cool fire engine?”
I blinked at the box he was pointing at. “I cannot believe I just heard you say that.”
He laughed and let go of my hand to reach up for it. My hand felt empty, and I folded my arms, tucking it tightly against my side as if the pressure would reduce that effect.
These unneeded feelings of mine were getting stronger by the day.
No.
By the minute.
“A Star Wars ship is probably taking the piss a bit, don’t you think?”
I stared at him. “You mean that eight-hundred-piece, ninety-quid spaceship you’re eying up? For a six-year-old? It’s a bit excessive, yes.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Do you have a cousin you could justify buying it for?”
“None that I like enough to spend that much on a LEGO set.”
“You could pretend to.”
“Why? So nobody knows that the esteemed and noble Duke of Castleton wants to play with Star Wars LEGO?”
Thomas met my eyes. “That wouldn’t do my reputation any good. It’s already taken a beating after I’ve spent the last two weeks publicly bickering with you.”
“You can’t really say that after you’ve dragged me halfway down the high street while holding my hand.”
“Hm. You’re right. I’ll just have to tell everyone it’s a lover’s quarrel.”
“If you do that, you won’t have a tongue to tell anyone anything,” I grumbled, nudging past him and grabbing the set he was lusting after. “Let’s say I have a cousin who needs a Christmas present, shall we? Failing that, it’s weighty enough that it’d do some damage if I hit my sister over the head with it.”
Thomas sighed and handed me the fire engine. “Let me grab a basket while you get over your murderous intent.”
“How optimistic of you to think such a thing is possible.”
“Stranger things have happened.” He grinned and swept past me, disappearing around the end of the aisle and towards the front of the shop.
Was I really about to buy this man a bloody LEGO set? For almost a hundred pounds?
Yes.
Yes, I was.
Surely, this was further proof that I, Sylvie Harding, was losing my flipping mind.
Whatever. He had helped me out an awful lot, and if a stupid LEGO set would make him happy, then I supposed I could buy it for him for Christmas.