Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 86972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 435(@200wpm)___ 348(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
“I carried each tool box to the car by myself. I think you can manage,” I replied.
“Then lead the way.”
I did as instructed, and Rio fell into step beside me. We walked back out into the open air and I slid my sunglasses back down over my eyes when we left the shade of the building. I was just about convinced this would be a silent endeavor when he cleared his throat.
“Pop called you Henley. That your name?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Heard about you,” he said then.
“From who?” I asked, already sure I knew this answer.
“Some friends. They mentioned you the other night.” He was grinning as if he knew I wanted more details and he wasn’t going to give them to me.
“Must be the same friends that bailed you out of jail,” I replied in my most casual tone.
His head turned toward me then and he chuckled. “Heard about that, did you?”
I shrugged. Two could play this game. He didn’t want to give details then neither would I.
We reached my car then and I opened the back door and stepped back. “There they are,” I stated the obvious.
Rio didn’t make a move to get them. Instead, he leaned up against the passenger side door and crossed his arms over his chest then turned his head to study me. “So, tell me Henley, how would you like to go to a party with me tonight?” he asked.
I laughed. “Sorry, I think I’ll pass. I’ve already been invited to one of those parties and I can assure you I am not wanted there.” I think he already knew that too. Which was why he was asking.
His grin showcased dimples on each cheek. “I mighta heard about that,” he replied.
I didn’t respond. This conversation was pointless.
“Look, I tell you what. You come to the party with me tonight and I swear it will be a friends’ only thing. I’m not looking to hook up. You’re safe with me.”
So he was looking to annoy the guy who bailed him out of jail. The guy who couldn’t have as much access to money as he did. I shook my head no.
“I much prefer Netflix or a book over going to one of those parties,” I told him.
“You’ve never been, how would you know?”
“I hear them. Y’all have them nightly. Or almost nightly. Last night was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday. Do you people not have anything better to do?”
He laughed this time. “We aren’t going to Callie’s. Her step-mommy showed up for the next few weeks so Callie left for Nantucket.”
Nantucket? Seriously? “How unfortunate for her,” I replied.
“You’ve not met her newest stepmother,” he said and waggled his eyebrows.
I didn’t want to meet her either. I didn’t want to be a part of that life. It wasn’t a life I was looking for. Their world wasn’t why I had come to this town.
“Thanks for the invite but my answer remains the same,” I told him.
He shook his head while looking as if I was missing out on something truly remarkable. “That’s a shame. Might have wanted to get to know me. You never know what we might have in common.” He said this smiling, but it wasn’t a dimple-flashing smile. This one was forced.
“I’m not looking to date,” I said then, wondering if I had hurt his ego.
“I think I already mentioned this would be just as friends. I’m not looking to date you either. That is not why I invited you. Trust me.”
He was being sincere. That much I was sure about. I just didn’t trust his reasons for inviting me. “Listen, I need to be somewhere. This conversation is going nowhere. Can you just take the tool boxes for your dad?” I asked as politely as I could.
He laughed. “Pops ain’t my dad. He’s my grandfather,” Rio said then and straightened up from his relaxed position on my car.
“Oh. Well, the girl who brought me back there, she called him dad,” I was trying to work this out in my head. The girl had to be younger than him. She looked several years younger.
“Yep. My aunt is five years younger than me,” he said with an amused smirk on his face.
“Oh,” I heard myself say again.
Rio leaned into the back of the car and pulled out both of the tool boxes. When he looked at me again, he said, “Welcome to Alabama,” as if that explained everything.
I nodded, slightly unsure what to say to that.
He chuckled then closed the car door. I thought he was about to walk off and finally leave me alone when his gaze turned serious. “I didn’t know your gran personally but I’m thinking her reason for sending you here with these tool boxes had little to do with my Pop,” he said and for a moment I thought he was going to say more. He didn’t. Instead he just started walking away.