Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“That hockey flow.” I laugh at their long hair.
“Don’t knock that haircut,” he retorts, “it’s making a comeback too.”
“So is the mullet, who would have thought?” I mumble as we look through pictures. He finds one of the two of us, sitting side by side, our hair wet from the pool with towels on our laps, his arm around my neck, hanging. “I’m keeping this one.” I show it to him.
“No, you aren’t.” He snatches it from me. “It’s mine, go find your own.”
“Where?” I get up.
“Where do you think I got these from?” He holds up the pictures. “Your parents.”
“You’re so annoying.” I grab my cup. “I’m going to get dressed to slay the day.”
“You do that. I’m going to sit here and watch my trophy.” He smirks at me. I slap it off the counter and watch it fall to the floor.
It rolls over twice and just lies there. “Oops”—I put one hand in front of my mouth—“my bad.”
I walk upstairs and head for the shower. “We have to be there at eleven!” he screams up at me.
“Worry about yourself,” I tell him before walking into the bathroom and finishing my coffee as I wait for the water to warm up.
“If I never see this venue again,” I say to Nate as I get out of his truck, “it’ll still be too soon.”
He laughs at me as I look over at him with his white sneakers today. His light blue jeans are just right with their fit and show off his package and his ass, as if they were made for him and only him. The white hem of his T-shirt is sticking out below his light gray-and-black long-sleeved sweater. The front of his black puffer jacket is open, showing you his outfit. His hair is pushed back, and you can see where his fingers pushed through it. It’s annoying how hot he is with no effort at all.
He holds open the door for me and I step into the room and see rectangular tables set up all around. Two chairs are on each side with small bowls in the middle of the tables.
“There he is,” Joshua greets, walking to us, “the winner of the scavenger hunt.”
“I think you mean the cheater of the scavenger hunt,” I correct him as he slaps his shoulder, trying not to laugh.
“It’s all hearsay.” Joshua sticks up for him and I look around to see Evie is here talking to my mother, with Jack holding her fist in his hand.
We make our way to them. “Morning,” I say to the group and Jack side-eyes me, “how is everyone?”
“Great,” Evie grumbles, “just peachy.” She tries to get her hand away from Jack, who just smirks at her. “Let me go.”
He releases her hand but it’s only to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her to him. “Never,” he vows, looking into her eyes and I roll my eyes when I see softness come into her expression. “I’ll never let you go.”
“He’s just the sweetest,” my mother coos as Jack kisses Evie softly and then turns back to smile at Mom.
“He just made me throw up a little in my mouth,” I tell her. “And that one”—I point to Joshua—“he’s lucky I got here before he told me about all these fucking events, or I wouldn’t have come. If anything happens to him, my defense is going to be that he lured me here under false pretenses.”
“Don’t say that,” she hisses at me.
“Mom, I feel like by the time he gets married, no one is going to give a shit,” I tell her as everyone but her laughs. “Also, I’m eloping and not telling anyone.”
“Don’t you dare take that away from me,” she warns, putting her hand to her chest like I just told her I would never talk to her again for the rest of my life.
“Relax there,” I console her, “you have had two out of three, that’s like sixty-six percent. You are still winning.”
“Wait until I tell your father.” She storms away from me to find my father.
“We should grab a table,” Evie says to us, and we walk over to a table. I pull out a chair and expect Evie to sit next to me, but instead Nate pulls out the chair beside me. He shrugs off his jacket and puts it on the back of his chair, and I do the same thing with the vest I’m wearing.
I look down at the place setting in front of me, seeing two sides of what will be the gingerbread house with two holes for the windows and two rectangular solid pieces that are for the roof. There are two other pieces for the front and back of the house, with a hole in each of them. Then there are four smaller pieces that we could use for doors maybe, not sure. In the middle of the table are two tin gingerbread-shaped trays, with all the fixings you would need to help decorate it. Around the gingerbread trays are more decoration in round tins.