Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92547 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92547 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
The line went quiet for a moment. “He’s holding a grudge because of some words you wrote a decade ago?”
“I don’t know, Liz. I wouldn’t blame him if he was. It was a pretty scathing letter, even if I can’t remember exactly what I wrote. Only Evan really knows.”
“Damn.” She sighed. “So you’re just driving around right now with no plan?”
“I’m gonna go back there, get my stuff…and probably sleep in my car.”
“You said it gets chilly in Wyoming in October. It’s too cold for that.”
“Trust me. Evan is even colder.”
Chapter 2
* * *
CHLOE
“Red Face is back!” Effie shouted as I entered the house. She had pasta sauce all over her own face.
“You’re one to talk about a red face,” I noted. “But I’m happy you’re enjoying your spaghetti.”
Evan tossed her a napkin and muttered, “Wipe yourself, honey.”
Effie swiped it across her mouth and turned to me. “Your box came.”
Box? Shit. I’d ordered some stuff to be shipped here, since I didn’t want to bring everything from Chicago with me.
“I opened it,” she added.
I stilled. “You did?”
Evan cleared his throat. “We didn’t realize it was your name on the address label. Effie had been expecting a fort I ordered her. That was supposed to be delivered today, too.”
I swallowed. “I see.”
“Can you curl my hair?” she asked eagerly.
“Huh?”
“With the wand you bought,” she said.
“Wand?”
“Yeah.” Effie nodded. “I didn’t know what it was, so I asked Daddy, and he said it was a wand to curl your hair.”
My face had to be flaming now, because it hit me that the “wand” was a brand-new vibrator I’d ordered. When I looked over at Evan, he was stifling a smirk. Just when I’d thought this night couldn’t get any worse, the universe turned it up a notch. This was definitely my cue to get the hell out of here.
I gestured toward the bedroom with my thumb. “I’m just gonna grab my things and be out of your way.”
Evan arched a brow. “You found a place?”
Looking down at my feet, I shook my head. “No.”
“Well, then you can’t leave,” Effie insisted.
My mouth curved into a sad smile. “Sure I can, sweetie.”
After I started down the hallway, I felt the floor creak beneath Evan’s heavy footsteps behind me.
“Don’t be stupid, Chloe,” he said, his voice vibrating against my back. “There’s no reason you have to sleep on the damn streets just because you hate me. You can resume looking for another place tomorrow.”
I shuddered. His use of the word hate felt jarring and confirmed my suspicions that the letter I’d written him was still playing in his head all these years later.
But I didn’t hate Evan at all, and I never had. I’d just been hurt that he didn’t return my feelings. Had I used the word hate? I barely remembered what I’d written in that letter. Still, I attempted to deny.
“I never said I hated you, Evan.” I turned to face him after he followed me into the bedroom.
“Actually, you did.”
Great. I looked down in shame. “Anyway, I won’t be sleeping on the street. I’ll be sleeping in my car.”
He gestured to the bed. “That’s ridiculous when you have a warm bed to sleep in right here. Just close the door. You won’t even have to look at me.”
To think he assumed I didn’t want to look at him. Little did he know, I wished I could look at him all I wanted, just without him knowing. And now that he was standing so close, I could smell his intoxicating leathery scent, which caused another rush of awareness.
“There’s got to be some other place to stay in this godforsaken town.” I huffed.
His jaw flexed. “You used to like this town. If I remember correctly, I was the one who had to convince you to leave. Sorry if you think you’re too good for us now.”
“You’re putting words in my mouth,” I protested. “I don’t think I’m too good. If anything, I feel like Dry River left me behind. I don’t recognize it, mainly because there’s no place for me here anymore with my family dismantled the way it is.”
Evan was misguided, thinking I was being a snob about Dry River when he was the biggest reason I couldn’t handle being here at the moment. But he was right about one thing: I’d loved living here back then. At nineteen, though, I’d felt obligated to accept the full scholarship Northwestern had offered me after I’d taken a gap year between high school and college. Yet I might’ve turned it down if Evan and I had become something. But we never got that far.
Effie called from the kitchen, “Daddy, can I have a Fruit Roll-Up for dessert?”
“Yeah. Go ahead,” he shouted back, not taking his eyes off me.
His incendiary stare practically made my skin sizzle. My body felt more activated than it had in years. “This isn’t easy, Evan. I certainly never imagined I’d run into you so soon after getting here, let alone be in your way like this. I thought I’d have this house all to myself, be able to decompress and live in peace.”