Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Cautiously, I said, “I wanted to agree with you, but I didn’t know if it would annoy you. I’m trying not to heap extra stress on you right now.”
He closed his fingers around mine and lifted my hand to his lips, brushing a kiss along my knuckles. “You’re not extra stress. I’m glad you’re here.”
“Even after I said all that horrible shit to your mom?” I flinched as the words came out. He didn’t need to reassure me again. My guilt was my own problem.
“I told you, that’s not an issue. It was something she needed to hear.” He dropped my hand gently into my lap and scratched the back of his head. “You still haven’t heard back from Scott?”
“No.” I picked up my phone, as if it would magically make a text appear. Nothing.
“Maybe they’re on a plane, then. Headed to Nevada to get hitched.” His expression hardened. “You know what? I hope they are. I hope they’re on a plane to Las Vegas and they get married by an Elvis impersonator and my sister comes back and runs the photos with a wedding announcement in every important paper in Connecticut. And New York. Fuck, I’ll help her take out a full-page ad in the New York Times to spite my mother.”
I wasn’t used to him talking about his mom in such a negative way. It didn’t give me the satisfaction it might have earlier in our visit.
I shifted toward Matt and slapped a hand on my knee. “Okay. We’re talking Vegas, let’s place our bets.”
Matt raised an eyebrow.
“Who’s going to call first?” I held up my phone as a visual aid. “Will it be Catherine, or will it be Scott? And who will they call?”
“Catherine isn’t going to call mother,” Matt said firmly. “And she damn sure isn’t going to call me.”
“So, you think Scott is going to call first?”
“I think so.”
“Who will he call?”
Matt considered for a long moment. I was interested to hear his answer, because while I hoped Scott would call me first, since I was his sister, I wondered how Matt would feel about communication from Scott.
“You, I think,” Matt said. “Yeah. He’s going to call you, first.”
“What if he calls you?” I couldn’t imagine that Matt would freak out over an outcome he’d been rooting for, but his emotions had been high all day.
Even when he was actually high.
“I don’t know. I don’t think I should congratulate someone for falling in love with my sister. It’s a horrible thing to happen to anyone.”
I poked his side. “Stop joking.”
“Fine.” He let out a long sigh. “I want my best friend to be happy. I’m not psyched over the fact that he had to be persuaded into feeling happy for me, especially since the circumstances are so different. You weren’t married with two children when I decided to fuck your brains out in that pool.”
“Technically, it was on the patio,” I reminded him. “And you were pretty blase about your sister cheating on her husband when I caught her.”
“Yeah, but that was when she was cheating on someone I didn’t like.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and squinched his eyes shut. “I’m getting such a headache.”
“I’ll get you some ibuprofen.” As I stood to go to our overnight bag, my phone rang.
It was Scott. I knew it before I even looked at the screen. I didn’t know many people who used the phone like an actual phone, except for my brother and my parents. Well, and Matt. I hated to lump him in with the group of elderlies, but it was what it was.
Matt gestured toward the door, silently asking if he should leave.
I shook my head, swiped the screen, and greeted my brother with, “Matt’s here with me and you’re on speaker. Explain yourself.”
“Wow, okay, Holly,” Scott responded.
“Is Catherine with you?” Matt asked, betraying his worry. He acted like he didn’t care about his sister, but for all of their very real personal issues with each other, I knew he would be devastated if something happened to her.
“She is,” Scott confirmed. “She’s not in the room at the moment.”
I strained to see if I could hear slot machines in the background.
“Are you in Las Vegas?” I blurted.
“No…” he replied, audibly perplexed. “Do you want to keep guessing cities or do you want me to tell you where I am?”
“Matt thought you were eloping,” I said, ignoring the sharp look he sent me.
“How? She’s still married,” Scott reminded us.
Matt and I exchanged a sheepish glance that I was glad Scott couldn’t see. Neither of us had thought of that important legal detail.
“Let me guess, you two are—”
“At mother’s house, yes,” Matt interrupted him. “Trying to smooth things over for the two of you.”
“No one asked you to do that,” Scott said firmly. “No one asked you two to meddle in this at all.”