Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
I put my menu down and lean back in my chair, relaxing. “I think I can take Estafania.”
Irina giggles again. “But she comes with a team. Floramaria and Lisandra will be here next. Oh, my God, I bet Nandy is already on her way. She’s probably blowing up my phone right now, but I left it at your place.” Irina finds this so funny, she almost snorts.
I have an urge to chastise her. Tell her to stop being so childish. She really does act like a teenager, but who am I to tell her to grow up? Her childhood was so much worse than mine, and my father sold me. She’s never had a chance to act like a silly girl. She’s never been on a real date. Never brought a boyfriend ‘home,’ and this place—at least in this period of her life—is the closest thing she’s got to home. She’s having fun with her family members, making them stress over her bad choice—i.e. me—and laughing about it, because it’s a joke. I’m just… part of her joke.
I smile at her instead. It would be criminal to take this away from her. “Should I make them crazy, Irina? Tell them about… my motorcycle?”
She nods, still laughing. “Oh, and your prison time!”
“Motorcycle. Prison time. What else?”
“Mmmm… ex-wife.”
“You’re insane.”
“Two ex-wives.”
“I’m twenty-four. I haven’t even had time to make that mistake twice.”
“And kids. You’ve got three kids from two women.”
“Stop it. No ex-wives, no kids.”
She calms down a little and leans back in her chair. “Have you ever dated anyone serious, Eason?”
“Of course not. When would I have had the chance?”
“You’ve been free for seven years.”
“So have you. And you’ve never dated anyone serious either.”
“Yeah, but I was on a supply ship for two of those years and in the jungle for a third.”
“And here for the last four.”
She shrugs. “You seem a lot more confident than me, so it’s just surprising that you didn’t go looking for a new family the first chance you got.”
“Is that what you did? Is that what this is?” I pan my hands to indicate the restaurant.
“They are. Yeah. But I didn’t go looking for it. It just happened.”
“Well, I’m not looking for it and it hasn’t happened for me yet.”
“You have Wade and Davis.”
“I do. And they are family at this point. But I get the feeling—sometimes, at least—that they keep me around because they feel responsible for me. But then, other times, I feel like they’re just hanging about until something better comes along.”
“I bet that’s not true.”
“You wouldn’t know though, would you?”
“Sometimes people see things better from the outside. I think they really care. But you asked them to come home earlier, didn’t you? When you were on the phone and I came out of the bedroom.”
I nod. “I did. But they’re in LA right now. They’re looking into opening a gym there.”
“Leaving Miami?”
“Maybe.”
“Will you miss them? Or will you follow?”
“I don’t think they want me to follow. I think they’re tired of me and my moods. I’m maybe, possibly… high-maintenance.”
She holds in her laugh. “No. You? But you’re so easy-going.”
I smile at her. “You, Irina, are pretty easy-going yourself.”
But Irina isn’t looking at me. Her eyes have darted to the door leading back into the restaurant. I turn, looking over my shoulder, and see a woman’s silhouette backlit by the bar lights inside.
Irina leans forward towards me, whispering, “There’s Nandy. Be nice to her. And don’t say anything about our pasts.” Then she straightens and smiles at her approaching friend. “Hi, Nandy! Come meet my boyfriend!”
She’s still playing her little game. But I pause here. Do I want to be the ex-con boyfriend? It’s very cliché. And if I have to play this game, wouldn’t it be better to be something unexpected?
I stand up, smile, extend my hand, and formally introduce myself to Nandy Jardinez. “Hi. I’m Eason. Nice to meet you.”
Nandy is taken aback a little, and so is Irina, because she has gone quiet across the table from me. I step away from my chair and pan my hand towards it. “Here, sit. I’ll grab another.”
Both girls are still speechless, but Nandy sits. I can hear them frantically whispering as I grab an empty chair from a nearby table, but they quickly stop once I turn back around.
Smiles appear. They are pretending. Nandy has a lot of questions, but I’m not gonna give her the chance to ask them.
I set my chair down between them at the side of the table, then turn to Nandy. “You’re the best friend. Irina talks about you non-stop.”
“Funny.” Nandy shoots Irina a look. “She’s never mentioned you. And what is that accent? Dublin?” She squints her eyes at me. “No.” I’m about to correct her—I really am from Dublin—but she’s still talking. “It was Dublin, but… say it again.”