Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
I shake my head. “Unbelievable,” I mumble before my mouth agrees that the kiss was the best we’ve ever had.
“When I saw you for the first time again,” he starts, “it felt like a box I locked two years ago was suddenly opened, and I saw the light again.”
“Hold on while I go get the violin and you sing me a sad song,” I mock him. “You were fucking engaged to another woman.” My anger now comes out. “You literally asked another woman to spend the rest of her life with you.”
“No, I didn’t.” He shakes his head and all I can do is gasp at him.
“I met your fiancée!” I shout, pushing away from the island. “Literally, I was planning your wedding.”
“But I never asked her to marry me.” I stare at him, not sure what the hell he is saying to me. “It was just like she said we should get married, and I was like, yeah okay. Then we were engaged.” My mouth hangs open. “It was just sort of the next step.” He shrugs his shoulders. “Truth be told, we should have moved in with each other first.”
“You weren’t living with her?” I ask, my head spinning with this information.
“Nope. She sometimes stayed over, but not really,” he explains and I don’t know what to say. The minute we became a couple, we spent almost every night together, if I didn’t go to him, he would come to me. I can count on one hand the nights we didn’t spend together. “I thought it was the logical next step, but I quickly saw that it was a mistake. I’m sorry I hurt her.” He looks up at me now. “I’ll be forever sorry for that, but I can’t hate it too much because it brought you back into my life.” He taps his fingers on the counter nervously. “The minute I saw you, I knew it was wrong.”
“What if you hadn’t seen me?” I ask, my voice no more than a whisper. “If you never saw me again, you would have married her.”
“I don’t think so,” he says as if nothing happened. “Something felt off from the beginning, but it really came to light when I saw you.”
“This is not happening right now.” I put my hand on my forehead, trying to see if I have a fever and am delirious.
“My family is coming down this weekend to attend the game, and I’d like you to come also,” he informs me as if he didn’t just drop a bomb in my lap.
“Absolutely not. Are you out of your mind?” I don’t know if I’m asking him or telling him.
“Could be,” he concedes, smiling at me as he gets up. “Either way, I want you to come this weekend.”
“I have to get ready for work,” I tell him because I can’t think of anything else to say. My heart is speeding so fast in my chest that it’s all I hear in my ears.
He comes over to me and looks in my eyes while he pushes away the hair from my face. “You are beautiful,” he says softly before he bends his head and kisses me until I have trouble remembering what we were just talking about. “I’ll call you later.” He rubs his nose with mine before walking out and closing the door behind him.
Just like that, he’s gone as if I dreamed the whole thing. I blink my eyes a couple of times, and I’m about to pinch myself. “Did this just happen?”
matthew
“We leave Sunday morning until Wednesday,” I hear someone say from the other side of the room.
Everyone groans, including me. “Back-to-back games in Philadelphia and then Pittsburgh.”
“Pack your hats and coats, people.” I turn to see the public relations guy say, “They got snow two days ago.”
“Snow isn’t that bad,” I state, getting up and slipping on my sweater with the team logo in the middle and my number forty-five on the corner of it in small numbers. “If it’s snowing, it means it’s not below zero outside.”
“Good point,” Brock says from his side of the bench. “Remember last year when we went to Winnipeg, my nostrils froze walking off the plane.”
I laugh at the guys telling stories of when it was the coldest, grabbing my phone and keys. “See you tomorrow, boys,” I say, walking out toward my car. Pushing the steel door open, I step into the underground parking lot.
Looking down at my phone, I pull up her name and smile when I press the call button. I unlock my car door as it starts the second ring. “Ugh, hello,” she says, huffing.
“Good afternoon,” I greet, my voice chipper.
“What do you want, Matthew?” she returns, and I can just imagine the scowl on her face.
“Do you want to have dinner with me?” I ask, knowing full well what her answer is going to be.