Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Fuck, I haven’t seen her in months, and she still takes my breath away.
I take a second to calm myself as she approaches the sidewalk. I know she can’t see me yet and I take the opportunity to enjoy looking at her before I take this risk.
Then I walk forward, through the doors, and step outside as she approaches.
Her eyes widen when she sees me. I look back at her, head tilted to the side like I vaguely recognize her but can’t quite place her name. She looks like she’s about to panic and starts glancing around as if someone might jump out from behind the bushes.
“Hey,” I say and tilt my chin up. “You look familiar.”
“Uh, Ford—”
“Are you here visiting someone?”
She pauses and crosses her arms protectively over her chest. “My mom.”
“That’s nice. I was just seeing a friend in there. My name’s Ford, by the way.” I hold my hand out.
She stares at it like I sprouted tentacles and started speaking in a foreign language. My hand hangs there between us, breaking the space in half, trying to close the gap but not quite making it. She doesn’t move.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“Introducing myself. This is the part where you say your name.”
“Ford. This is weird. You know who I am.”
I keep on staring and, god, she’s beautiful, so fucking beautiful it breaks my heart. “I was thinking, maybe we’ve never met. Maybe you’re the daughter of a friend of mine and we just happen to bump into each other here.”
“Did you know I was coming?” she asks, her eyes narrowing. “I thought I said—”
“No,” I say and keep my hand extended. “Like I said, I was just visiting a friend. If we happened to be scheduled back-to-back, you can blame her for that.”
Kat’s expression softs. “Mom,” she says and bites her lip as she stares at my palm. “You said your name is Ford Arc?”
“That’s right.”
“I hear the Arc family is pretty awful. Lots of assholes.”
“Different Arc family. I’m an orphan now.”
A little smile twitches at her mouth. “Sorry to hear it.”
“I’m not. What did you say your name was again?”
The moment stretches. She stands there, staring at my hand, and slowly her eyes move up to meet mine. She steps forward and her palm slips into mine, and it’s soft and warm and feels like heaven, like I always imagined she would, and she gives me a firm squeeze.
“Katherine Stockton. Nice to meet you.”
I hold her hand there between us. She smells like lemon and there are little tufts of white dog fur on her clothes. She tilts her head, studying me in return, and she lets a smile break free.
“Would you like to get coffee with me, Katherine?”
“Call me Kat. And maybe, I don’t know—”
“We could go right now. There’s a decent place nearby and I know Jackie wouldn’t mind.”
“Oh, yeah, you think so?”
“Trust me. She practically made this happen.”
She laughs and sighs and shakes her head. “All right, Ford Arc. Let’s go have coffee.”
Finally, I let her hand go. She turns away from the rehab place and falls into step beside me as we move out toward the parking lot. She looks up and the sunlight falls between her hair. She’s smiling at me like she just found a treasure on the sidewalk, and I’m smiling back because I just found something even better.
“Nice ride,” I say. “You want to drive?”
“Oh, no, don’t tell me you don’t have a car.” She squints at me. “You do have a job, don’t you?”
“I don’t work.”
“Great. A deadbeat. Am I going to pay for the drinks too?”
“Tell you what. I’ll buy the coffee if you promise to stick around for an hour.”
“An hour, huh? You sure you’re not a deadbeat?”
“Promise.”
“All right. You’ve got one hour to impress me, Ford Arc, and that hour’s starting now.”
We climb into her car together. It’s old, it’s stained, but it’s hers, and I’m hers, and that’s enough.
Chapter 31
Kat
Six Months Later
“You may kiss the bride.”
The words I’ve waited for my whole life.
Ford leans down, presses his lips to mine, and I let myself flow against him like water down a steep cliff. We hold there until someone whistles and someone laughs, and the church breaks into applause. I’m blushing bright pink when we pull away, and Ford’s grinning like a lunatic, and we face the audience like a pair of actors bowing at the end of a perfect play.
My mom’s in the front row next to Carmine’s wife, Brice. Mom is the only person from my family that we invited. Sara Lynn reached out to make amends shortly after Ford and I got back together, but I’m not ready to accept her apologies yet, and I’m not sure I ever will be. At least I heard her nose is still slightly crooked from where I broke it, which I’m not too proud to admit brings me immense pleasure.