Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
I’d take a percentage hit on Willow’s Good Stuff, but I wouldn’t have to deliver (it wasn’t good to give my home address to clients). I could add my ingredients on SC’s food orders and get them for less. I could do my work in a shiny, happy, big kitchen. I didn’t have to run my business out of my own place, essentially driving back and forth to two workplaces. I’d be doing more baking, but I wouldn’t be serving (and again, not offering deliveries), so it was without a doubt I would shave off a good four or five work hours a day, so I wouldn’t be working twelve-to-fourteen-hour days, but something akin to what normal people worked.
“You can think about it,” Tex said. “You like the way it is…” He shrugged. “Your body too run down. Though, think it’d be good for you and us.”
“Thanks,” I choked.
Otis, who helped Tex in the coffee cubby, came in whistling.
He smiled at me and said, “Hey, Willow,” then looked to Tex. “You ready to face the under-caffeinated mob, big man?”
Tex answered by lumbering behind the coffee cubby.
I raced to the staff room, hearing Raye (who I’d already greeted with a happy hug and gushed over her ring) call, “You okay, Will?”
I ignored her, hit the staff room, yanked my phone out of my server apron and called Gabe.
“What’s up, babe?” he answered on the second ring.
“I-I-I…” I stammered again. Then in a rush, I told him what Tex just offered me.
“Fuck, that’s awesome,” Gabe said when I quit blathering.
I didn’t reply.
“Isn’t it awesome?” he asked.
It was so awesome, it redefined the meaning of awesome.
That was why I burst into tears.
Within seconds, I was in Raye’s arms and Luna had slid my phone out of my hand.
I heard her murmuring to Gabe. Raye led me to the bench in front of the lockers and sat me down. Lucia brought me a glass of water.
And when I recovered from the earth-shattering blitzkrieg of emotions caused by realizing…
No, understanding—truly, deeply, to my soul understanding that it was over.
Shit would happen but it was over.
I could deal with my dad because he wasn’t really in my life. From what I could tell, he didn’t have any friends. He didn’t have a woman. Two of his three daughters fleeced him for everything they could. But he was a wallet they could dip into, not a man they treated with love and respect. I barely saw him, often didn’t take his calls because I was busy or not in the mood and having him in my life at all was a combination of duty and pity, and I had a feeling he knew it.
After years of fighting and scratching, for her and for me, my mom was in the perfect place. She had a part-time job she loved, a friend posse as cool as mine and a husband who thought the world of her. Their life was quiet and laid-back. They didn’t need for a thing, they didn’t want for much, and they weren’t only happy, they were content.
Kevin was long gone, and even if he came back, he’d never be back.
I’d loved him, and he’d played me.
But even Glorious Gabriel Stark had someone play him.
It happened.
It was part of the process of finding the one.
And I’d found the one.
He was rough and ready, like Robbie, and as easygoing and easy to be with too. He was into me. He was sure of that. He was protective. He was smart. He had a great job.
And straight up, even if I sucked in bed and he had to train me, I’d be down with that.
Or vice versa (though, I already knew that wasn’t going to be the case on Gabe’s side of things).
I felt safe with him.
I knew who I was with him.
I was that girl in the cute tee and baggy jeans and sneaks, and that was all I needed to be because I didn’t have to find my style, I already had it. That was me. I bought clothes I liked and felt comfortable in. The end.
And Gabe wanted me.
I had the bestest best bestie in the world and a friend crew that couldn’t be beat.
And now, when I said yes to Tex and Tito, I was going to have my dream job.
I never doubted it, honey, Dreamer cooed in my ear. It was always just going to take hard work and a little time. You gave it that, and here we are.
Yeah.
Here we were.
So, when I recovered from understanding all of that, wiped my eyes and came back into the room, I saw Luna, Tex, Tito, Otis and Lucia all staring down at me, and I was still being held in Raye’s arms.
Here we are, My Heart chimed in.
“I accept,” I said Tex and Tito’s way.