Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Tears well in my eyes, and I bury my face into her shoulder. “I’m not ready to say goodbye.”
“We’ll never be ready,” she tells me, her hand gently roaming up and down my back. “Now, what do you say we sneak out of here before your father figures out I’ve kidnapped you?”
“I don’t think it counts as kidnapping when you’re my mom.”
She gives me a wicked smirk. “For today, let’s pretend it does.”
As if on cue, Hazel barges back into my room ready to go, complaining about us taking so long. Apparently, even after three servings of spaghetti and meatballs, she’s so starving she could eat a cow. Only then she mentions that the cow might just be named Molly.
Taking my time down the stairs, we make our way out of the house, and before I know it, I’m buckled into the front of Mom’s car. We start driving toward the creamery and are halfway there when Mom turns to me. “Where’s Noah today? He disappeared this afternoon.”
My gaze lingers on the street, watching the world as we pass. “One of the seniors on his team had a baby this past weekend, so Coach Sanderson is hosting a full team baby-pushing party in the spirit of team bonding. He should be back in the next hour or so.”
“Oh, that’s lovely,” she says. “But tell me Coach Sanderson didn’t actually call it a baby-pushing party?”
I laugh, a smirk pulling at the corner of my lips. “I honestly don’t know,” I tell her. “That’s just what Noah said when he got the message this morning.”
“You know what? I’ve been with your father for over twenty-five years, and I’m still completely baffled by the opposite sex.”
Hazel scoffs from the backseat. “Don’t worry, Mom. I know everything there is to know about them,” she says. “I’ll walk you through it.”
Mom and I both roll our eyes, and the rest of the way to the creamery, we listen to Hazel’s long, drawn-out explanations of how a man’s brain works, and honestly, I think she’s got it down. Maybe I won’t need to worry about her as much as I thought I would.
Choosing the right flavor is the biggest challenge I’ve ever had to face, and considering the two failed rounds of chemotherapy, that’s a strong statement to make. I mean . . . okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit. Nothing is worse than chemo, especially that second round. That shit was brutal. Just the thought of it sends chills down my spine.
I end up with a strawberry and white chocolate swirl on a cone, and as we wander back to the car, Mom takes a deep breath, breathing in the warm evening. “Perhaps we should drive down to the lake and eat our ice cream there? Have you ever been there at night?”
I scoff as we reach the car and get back in. “Mom, I’ve not only been there at night, but I’ve been wildly drunk and partying like nobody’s business there at night, and well into the morning, too.”
She gapes at me, her jaw dropping. “You’ve done what?”
I laugh and bat my eyelashes. “You think that’s bad?” I say. “Did I ever tell you about the night Hope and I snuck out and shared a joint? Noah had to carry my ass home. I couldn’t see straight for days.”
“What’s a joint?” Hazel asks from the backseat.
I laugh a little harder, having to clutch my stomach when it starts to hurt.
“Nothing,” Mom says, shaking her head as she pulls out of her parking spot and takes off toward the lake, but I see a glimmer of happiness in her eyes, and despite the reckless things I’m admitting to, I know she’s glad that I’ve had my chance to walk on the wild side, that I haven’t spent these past eighteen years being an overly good girl who never got a chance to really live. But since the second Noah stormed back into my life, he’s made sure that I’ve lived so enormously that it’ll be enough for a million lifetimes, and yet, not nearly enough for just this one.
We pull up at the lake a moment later, driving through the twisty dirt road to get in. Then, instead of having to get out to walk, Mom drives straight past the parking lot and right up to the water. “Should we get out and sit by the water?” Mom asks, despite all of us already finished with our ice cream.
It’s a no-brainer, and we all pile out of the car, tossing our shoes aside so we can stroll right down to the water’s edge. I stand with Mom, her arm around my waist to hold me up as Hazel pulls up her pant legs and walks calf-deep into the water.
As I search for a log to sit on, a throat clears behind us, and the sound is all too familiar. I whip around to find Noah standing a little further down the lake, looking just as sexy as last night. Instead of the black suit he wore to prom, he’s in a gray one, and the top few buttons are undone just the way I like it.