Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 130(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 130(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Timothy’s blue eyes went wide. “Hold up. Go back to the moving in together part. And yes, I probably will want some of your stuff, but really? That’s happening?”
I nodded. “It probably seems quick, but I love them.”
“I know you do. I think I knew it before you did! And I’m happy for you. I’m going to miss you, though. This place was pretty lonely before you moved in across the hall.”
“You know what you should do? Rent Kel’s room in the pink Victorian. Everyone there is really nice. Actually, it’s breaking his heart to move out, because they’re such an amazing group of people. But the three of us need more space and Hudson owns a roomy flat, so it made the most sense for us to move in there.”
“It’s something to think about,” he said. “You’ve been raving about that place forever, and if it’s as good as you say, then maybe.”
“You already said you’ll join me for the Pink Victorian Crew’s New Year’s party, so while you’re there you can meet everyone and take a look at the room. I know what he’s paying, by the way, and it’s about a third of the cost of your studio apartment.”
“Well, you’re certainly making it sound appealing. I’m still going to miss you, though.”
I reached over the dog and squeezed Timothy’s shoulder as I told him, “You and I are friends for life, Tim-Tam. I’ll miss having you right across the hall, but this isn’t goodbye. Not by a long shot.”
“You know what I’m not going to miss? That annoying nickname.”
I grinned and pointed out, “In Australia, it’s the name of a delicious cookie.”
“And here, it’s a pain in my ass.” He got up and asked, “Now, what do you need to pack to take to your new love nest? And do we have time to go shopping? Because I’ve seen those busted-ass droopy gym shorts you usually wear around the house, and you don’t want your new boyfriends to see that shit. They’ll think the honeymoon’s over.”
A couple of hours later, Sadie and I arrived at Hudson’s upscale building with a backpack and four mismatched tote bags. Most of the stuff was actually the dog’s.
He’d given me the code to unlock the main entrance, and I juggled the bags as I punched in the numbers and grabbed the door handle. Then Sadie and I made our way to the second floor.
Hudson answered so quickly when I knocked that he must have been hovering near the door. His blond hair was damp from a shower, and he looked fresh and sunny in his yellow polo shirt and pristine white shorts.
He seemed nervous, so I put down Sadie’s leash and the bags and drew him into a gentle embrace as I said, “Hi, baby. How are you?”
“I’m okay. I just feel like there’s a bunch of stuff I should be doing to welcome you and Kel to your new home, but I don’t really know what those things are.” He let go of me and turned to look at Sadie. She was sitting beside us, wagging her tail and closely watching everything that was happening. “I stopped at a pet store on the way home, though, and got some things for your dog. I asked the sales clerk for help, since I’ve never had a pet before. I figured that was one thing I could try to take care of, at least.”
“That was really sweet of you. Come say hi to Sadie.”
I crouched down next to her, and he hesitantly held his hand out so she could sniff it. He’d seen my dog several times, because I always brought her to work with me and he dropped by often. But like a lot of people who’d grown up without pets, dogs made him a bit nervous.
Fortunately, she was the sweetest dog ever. He grinned when she licked his fingers, and then he took a seat on the floor and petted her carefully. I sat down right beside him, and he leaned against me and admitted, “I was worried about this. I didn’t know what I’d do if she didn’t like me.”
“She loves you, just like I do,” I said, and he smiled at me.
They bonded for a few minutes, and then he got up and held his hand out. As he pulled me to my feet, he said, “Let me show you what I got her. The pet store’s open until six, so I can go back if I forgot anything.” This seemed important to him, so I let him give me a tour, instead of mentioning the fact that I’d brought a lot of stuff along for her.
Sadie followed us through the foyer and the flawless white and gray living room, where Hudson pointed out a new dog bed in front of the fireplace. When we reached the crisp, white and stainless steel kitchen, he indicated two ceramic dog bowls on a white mat, one of which was full of water. Then he opened the door to one of the two balconies and said, “This might seem weird, but I didn’t know how she was supposed to go to the bathroom.” He’d bought what was basically a three-by-four-foot patch of lawn in a foot-deep planter box.