Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 740(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Yeah. He could absolutely see that being his life. But he needed to push those thoughts from his head. Because that wasn’t his future.
Even though it felt like Maya belonged in his bed.
She seemed so relaxed right now. She was talking to him far more easily. He liked it.
A lot.
“What’s that?”
“Ice cream!” She threw her hands into the air and Dougie barked in agreement.
He glanced back at the animals. Gummy was fast asleep and he couldn’t see Tank so he thought he might be the same. Berry had her back to him. But Dougie was still sitting up, panting heavily.
“Does Dougie ever run out of energy?” he asked.
“Not that I’ve seen. Dougie, you want some ice cream?” she asked. “One woof for yes. Two for hell yes.”
Woof-Woof!
“That means hell yes!”
“Just because Dougie likes to bark doesn’t mean we’re all getting ice cream.”
“Please,” she begged. “We have to stop to get the food for dinner. Why can’t we get ice cream too? Please. Pretty please with a cherry on top. I’ll even do all the dishes tonight.”
“You’re off dishes duty,” he told her. Her punishment had ended.
“Yeah, which must mean I really want ice cream.”
He glanced over to find she had her hands together, staring up at him with a pout on her lips and blinking her eyes rapidly.
Yeah, it would take a stronger man than him to say no to that face.
“All right, Spitfire. You can have ice cream.”
“Yay! Yay!”
They stopped and got ice cream. She even grabbed some in cups for Big Berry and Tank who weren’t keen on getting out of the car.
“I can’t believe you mixed those flavors together,” Matthieu said as she finished up her ice cream in the car.
“What? Why? What’s wrong with having cherry and coffee together?”
“I don’t know, it just doesn’t seem right.”
“Well, neither is getting vanilla.” She nodded to his tub which was almost empty. “I mean who gets vanilla? Serial killers. That’s who.”
“Why would serial killers get vanilla?” he asked as he started the car.
“Duh. Because they want to blend in.”
“Seriously?”
“Uh-huh. I thought everyone knew that,” she told him.
“Well, it seems I’m just ignorant then.”
“Don’t worry. Stick with me and I’ll teach you everything that you need to know.”
32
Too bad she didn’t know how to cook.
Maya stared at the rice in horror. Why was it so wet? She’d drained it and now it looked kind of . . . mushy. How had she managed to mess it up so badly? She’d thought it was easy. Put it in water and boil.
Oh, well, once she put the chili on top you wouldn’t see the rice, right?
There. That looked kind of edible.
Hopefully, the chili tasted good. It looked okay. She’d added plenty of chili powder. That could only make it taste better, right?
The chili looked . . . interesting.
Better than the rice anyway. He could tell it was a gloopy mess, but he kept that thought off his face.
She’d tried.
And he would eat it.
He took a bite of the chili, swallowing it hastily. And immediately fire burst through his mouth.
Merde!
She had a forkful of chili and he quickly reached over and knocked it out of her hand before it reached her mouth.
“Hey! What are you doing?” she cried.
But he was up and racing for the fridge. He grabbed the carton of milk and gulped it down.
“Oh no!” she cried, following him. “Is it too spicy?”
“Just a bit,” he said hoarsely. “Whatever you do, don’t eat it.”
“This is terrible!” she cried. “I was trying to make you a nice meal and I nearly set your mouth on fire.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said hoarsely as he gulped down milk.
She shook her head. “No. This is my fault. I wanted to show you that I can cook. But the truth is that I can’t. I’m useless in the kitchen. Like I am at everything! I’m so sorry. I’m just going to . . . I have to go . . . ”
Turning, she ran off.
Shit.
She wished she’d thought to stash some chocolate in her bedroom. Because she could really use some right now.
Chocolate made everything better.
Well, she hoped it would. Right now, it didn’t seem like anything would.
What had she been thinking? She couldn’t cook.
Toast and jelly was more her style.
Or chocolate cake. She made an awesome chocolate cake.
Chili? Really?
There was a knock on her door, but she ignored it. She didn’t feel like peopling right now.
Today had been amazing. Tank had looked like he’d had fun. And when they’d gotten home, instead of immediately retreating to his bed in the spare bedroom, he’d stayed out in the living room for twenty minutes.
It was small but it was definitely progress.
Then you go and ruin everything. You are the great ruiner.
“Maya, come out here, please.”
“Maya isn’t here,” she called out as she hugged Dicky tight. What she wouldn’t give to be able to slip into Little headspace and pretend this never happened.