Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 120838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Looked at the routes and this one is supposed to be more scenic.”
“It’ll also take longer.”
“Do we have somewhere to be?”
“Yes, a particularly good jewelry story in Sedona,” I retorted.
“I’ll get ye there.”
“Yes, perhaps after someone buys a pair of earrings I would have wanted to own,” I shot back.
He sounded in dire need of laughing when he asked, “So you’re on my back about the route because of a pair of earrings that may or may not exist?”
I decided to shut up.
We then had words over who was going to pay for lunch (he won).
And last, we had words over when we were going to head back.
I wanted to go a bit early. He wanted to stay.
When I told him I wanted to check on his mum, that discussion, I won.
That said, the day was fun. Even, I had to admit, bickering with Dair was fun.
It felt good to watch Dair marvel at the beauty of Sedona. Not to mention, he was no less witty and charming than ever.
And it felt good to be able to be just me. I could be argumentative and stubborn all I wanted, he didn’t mind.
I think he even liked it.
And he bought me a pair of earrings at that store, ones that I liked a great deal, but I was going to pass them up even knowing full well I’d probably obsess about them when I did, which would necessitate me contacting the store and having them shipped to me.
They were dangling square hoops made of round semi-precious stones set in silver.
I’d been attempting to create a Prescott wardrobe, with accessories, that I could leave at the house so I didn’t have to pack so much when I went there, and they were the perfect addition, because they’d go with a multitude of outfits.
All of this was awesome, but the best part was it was an incredibly lovely gesture from Dair.
Outside of our squabbling (that I still enjoyed), the day was just…easy.
Conversation flowed. We had history. We knew some of the same people. From afar, we even ran in the same circles. Thus, we had a myriad of connections and connected interests.
Not to mention, Dair was physical, demonstrative, and before him, I didn’t think I liked that. And then he did it, and I realized I liked it very much.
To put it plainly, I was proud to be on his arm.
He was so handsome, he got his fair share of looks from the female population, and I felt like preening at his side, because he chose me.
This man chose me.
When we arrived home, we discovered that Kenna had indeed commandeered the kitchen. She made a hearty stew that wasn’t my idea of summer fare, but it was delicious. And unsurprisingly, considering Dair had known her all his life and he said this would be so, she seemed much more settled after making dinner, having had something to do, and doing it for people she cared about.
We didn’t play a game or watch a movie after dinner.
We all sat on the deck, talking and reminiscing and enjoying each other’s company.
That was easy too.
It was marvelous.
And scary as all hell.
But now, they were leaving.
And I wasn’t conflicted about that.
I was coming to the realization no man I’d ever dated, no man I’d ever been with, was a man I picked.
They were men I thought my mother would approve of. And if not her, then Dad.
Some of them were men in my set I didn’t even like.
For the first time, I was with a man I chose. A man I wanted to be with. A man I really, really liked being with.
And he was leaving.
On this thought, and a heavy sigh, I got up to head back down to the kitchen to rummage around and see what to make everyone for breakfast. Their plane didn’t leave until the evening from Sky Harbor in Phoenix, but they had to check in two hours early, and it was a two-hour drive, so they had to leave right after lunch.
This brought something else to mind.
I’d always been very late to bed, very late to rise. Hell, in my mean girl heyday, it was rare I was out of bed before noon.
Now, it was the exact opposite.
If I wasn’t in bed with a book by nine thirty, I considered it “up late.”
But if I wasn’t out of bed by six thirty, I thought I’d wasted the day (I was usually up, latest, by six).
It didn’t occur to me, until Dair shoved up in my face, how much I’d changed.
But I’d changed.
A lot.
It didn’t only make me happy, realizing I had, it made me happy that Dair had held that mirror up to my face and forced me to see the woman who had become me.
The woman he saw me to be.