Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
I finished serving myself a heaping portion of the pasta into a bowl and grabbed a fork before plunking it down on the kitchen table and taking the seat next to where he was perched. “I’m starving.”
“Starving, when you just came from dinner?” Lolo’s eyes widened. “Oh, have your family become fruitarians or something? I dated a guy like that once. ‘Watermelon for dinner again, Bryce? No, no, it’s great! So delicious and nutritious and… watery!’” He chomped a pretzel thoughtfully. “Always felt a bit like I was cheating on him when I’d hit the Thai place on my way home.”
I snorted. “They’re not fruitarians. It’s just that Flower Family dinners are… boisterous,” I decided. “Ask Rose to pass the potatoes, and suddenly, every eye turns like you’re a gazelle who wandered into a lions’ den, and the whole crew yells at once. ‘I didn’t know Oscar loved potatoes!’ ‘Oscar, why have you never mentioned that potatoes are your favorite food?’ ‘Here, Oscar, have my potatoes.’ ‘Hey, Oscar, I’m going to set you up with a potato farmer I know. You guys would be perfect for one another.’” I forked up a bite of pasta. “It’s perhaps the one situation in my life where I’ve decided it’s best not to call attention to myself.”
Lolo laughed, then quickly sobered. “Wait, you’re serious? You’re sitting there hungry because you won’t let them share? That’s not the Oscar I know and love. Not that I’m a great expert on all things family, darling, but it certainly seems they like you—”
“Of course. I’m very likable.” I winked, and Lolo rolled his eyes. “I like them too. We get along fine. I knew them all when they were children, for heaven’s sake. But it’s different now that my mother is their mother. I don’t want anyone to feel pressured to… to do, or be, or feel, or say the right things. Including me.”
He stared at me with his mouth open, pretzel dust coating his lips. “Oscar. Sweetheart. Babykins—”
“And I’m not sitting around hungry, clearly.” I took another large bite of pasta and chewed with satisfaction. “Now, pour us some more wine and tell me what you’ve been up to.”
I needed the distraction. Dealing with my family made me feel unsettled, and the last thing I wanted was to cave and contact Hugh in a moment of weakness.
Lolo started telling me about a recent stint traveling around the Mediterranean consulting with a “silver Daddy” on the necessary refurbishments for the interior of his yacht. I listened with half an ear while also trying to figure out a strategy for surviving Hyacinth’s wedding shower the next day.
As usual, Lolo was content to talk at me with minimal response necessary from me except nods and a few mmhm’s. So when my phone rang after a while, he simply kept talking, unconcerned. But when I glanced at the screen, I did a double take and blinked repeatedly before I could force my brain to believe what I saw.
Hugh.
Seeing his name was the most wonderful gift and the worst sort of temptation all rolled into one, but in the end, there wasn’t a single doubt about whether I would pick up. If Hugh called, I would always answer.
“Hey,” I breathed.
“I need a favor,” he began.
14
HUGH
“Anything,” he said before I could say what the favor was.
I squeezed my eyes closed and took a breath. Oscar making things easier was already making things harder. “I know this is beyond weird, after… everything, but I need your help.”
“Yes,” he agreed instantly. “Of course. Always.”
His instant support made my stomach swoop. I both loved it and hated it in equal measure. But I couldn’t help thinking Oscar wouldn’t be so agreeable when he found out what the favor was.
“You remember me telling you how I needed a date to my sister’s wedding because I didn’t want to see Jared alone?” I asked. “Well, it turns out there won’t be a wedding. Abby and Dex got married at a courthouse last month because she says she cares more about her marriage than her wedding. But she is having a marriage celebration party, and Rafa can’t make it, so I wondered if you’d come—”
“Oh, Hugh, I’m sorry.”
I swallowed. Stupid to feel the sting of disappointment when I’d known it was a long shot. “No, don’t be sorry. It was silly of me to ask. You’re busy, and I know you were joking when you offered before—”
“I meant I’m sorry that Abby and Dex decided not to have a wedding,” he said, his voice low and oh-so kind. “I know how much you were looking forward to her having a perfect wedding day so she’d know how special she is.”
“Y-yeah.” The word came out with a little wobble, not because of Abby’s changed plans—I was over that, mostly—but because Oscar got it. No one else had understood my disappointment—not Rafa or Dex or even Abby—and I’d had trouble articulating it even to myself. It wasn’t a surprise that Oscar saw what no one else had, but damn, it hurt.